Did Adam have a choice of whether to sin or not, or was it predestined by God? Our choices are determined by our DNA and our environment. Yes?
Question:
Do you believe Adam had an alternative to not to sin or God has predestined the sin of Adam and Adam had not an alternative and he must only have sinned?
Since our choices are determined by our DNA, our environment, our past experiences, our education (all factors we have not chosen) do you believe we can have a real choice with alternatives or we can act only in the unique way we are pre-determined to act? If we can’t choose with alternatives, how can God can rightly judge us since we what we choose is determined by factors we have not chosen? For example: I make a choice today determined by my environment and my past experiences but I have not chosen the environment where I lived and I have not chosen the experiences I had who today determined me to choose one way instead of the other. Do we really have alternatives in our choices?
Answer:
God does not predestine whether we will or will not sin. We have free will, as is shown by both hundreds of scriptures (I am not exaggerating) and by common sense about human beings. Please consider James 1:13-15 as a sample passage of scripture to explain this. Our own evil desire allows us to be enticed, but then we make a choice as to whether or not we will give in to that temptation. God gave both Adam and Eve the choice of whether or not they would eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Our choices are NOT determined by our DNA. This is NOT true. We are affected by our DNA is am sure. Some of us are more predisposed toward anger, others toward certain addictions, others toward pridefulness, others perhaps even toward different sexual orientation, but our DNA is never an excuse for sin and rebellion against God. We are affected by our environment and by our DNA, but they do not determine what we do. Even our legal system recognizes this fact. In court one cannot say to the judge, my DNA made me do it. You would be laughed out of court. Before God it is the same. God has given us choice and he will hold us responsible for that choice. Let me suggest that you read all of Ezekiel chapter 18 and you will see this concept very clearly.
You chose to write me this letter. Did your DNA make you write to me? Did your environment make you write to me? NO!!! You chose to write to me. This is a very small example, of course, but God does not predestine what we do, and neither does our DNA or our environment determine what we do, otherwise it would be unjust for God to hold us accountable for our actions, but God will hold us accountable for our actions. There are literally hundreds of passages in scripture which make this abundantly clear. I will let 2 Corinthians 5:10 represent those passages. “All will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body; whether good or bad. We are held accountable because we have free will. Otherwise God is an unjust judge.
John Oakes
