Are we prisoners of sin

Hi Cedre, I do not claim to be a Christian according to my definition and the Bibical definition of Christian is.I am working on being Christlike every moment of every day.The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. Acts 11:26The Greek word transliterated Christianos translated Christian has the definition of, "a follower of Christ".That means someone who is living a life like Christ did. It is because you inherited a body that is separated from God and the nature of that body is to sin. That does not leave anybody out. The first man in the Garden of Eden was given a rule to live and die by.He was told the day you eat the fruit you will die.He disobeyed God and death came to all mankind.You can't get out of this world alive. You must die. After that the judgment. The law was to show us we could not satisfy a just God and that faith in God is required.God offers man a free full pardon for all his sins and shortcommings. But man MUST believe that God IS and can and will do what He says He will do. Man is unsaved because he will not accept God's offer of a pardon.Not because he has not kept the 10 commandments, been baptized, feed the poor, or anyother good deed you can name.Only because he has not believed.A couple of my favorite verses are: We do not have an option.Jesus said His sheep follow Him and He gives them eternal life.Jesus says His sheep will never perish.Jesus says no certain being (Satan) can pluck them out of my hand.A man must accept God's offer of a free full pardon or spend eternity separated from Him.God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

Hi Phaqe, I have no Idea where you are headed.But in the Garden of Eden a man was given a direct order by God.That man chose on purpose to disobey God because the woman had eaten the fruit and was going to die. So he chose to eat and die with her.No where does the Bible say by the woman sin entered into the world but it does say by one man sin entered into the world. Man could not be involved in the production of the flesh body Jesus had.Jesus had to have a body like the first man that disobeyed God and chose to eat the fruit.For that reason God chose Mary to provide the flesh body for Jesus to inhabit during His earthly journey.Was Mary sinless? By no streach of the imagination. You can conclude anything you desire.You can conclude sin does not exist.What you choose to believe or not to believe has no bearing on what is true or false.There will be a point in your existence you will know the truth.Is there some things that are right and others wrong?Or does might make right?God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

Hi Perdition, Could you explain in detail why you state Adam was not able to distinguish between right and wrong? Man was given a direct order not to eat the fruit of a specific tree.Nothing is said about it being good or evil, right or wrong.He was just commanded not to do it.The woman was deceived into eating the fruit of the forbidden tree.The man was not deceived. He chose to eat the fruit.But you are probably one of those that think the man was standing there when the woman was deceived.The problem is that the Bible does not say that.The translators added "with her" to the text as it is not translated from a Hebrew word. You notice she took of the fruit and did eat.Her eyes were not opened. She did not know good and evil.She gave to her husband and when he had eaten of the fruit their eyes were opened.The woman was not commanded not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.That choice was given to the man.He concluded when the woman had eaten of the fruit she would die so he chose to eat and die with her.In Genesis 2:23, 24: The man had become one flesh with the woman and was willing to give up everything to share the fate of the woman even death.He decided life was not worth living without her.The man decided his desires was more important to him that God's desires.Man is still making that decision today just as you have.You are not a prisoner of sin.But you are a prisoner of your sinful desires.God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

Hi Straggler, I believe that to be correct. Where there is not law there is no transgression.The man had told the woman what God had said and even added a little to God's commandment. She mentioned to even touch the fruit.But the commandment was given to the man before the woman existed. To eat the fruit carried a death penalty.Therefore he assumed the woman would die and therefore he chose to eat and die with her. According to what Romans 4:15 says no. If the man had not disobey God and eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would both still be in the garden of Eden today. God's desire then was the same it is today.God desires man to obey. It is better to obey than sacrifice.God wanted man to obey.Just as He wants me to obey Him today.He wants me to put Him first.He then wants me to love everybody as much as I love myself.I don't like being cold, hungry, hurt, or without a place to stay. Since I love myself I provide a way I don't have to experience those things.If I love my neighbor as much as I love myself I will try to see that he/she does not have to suffer those things also.And if everyone participated in that program we would eliminate all those things.I can only do what my limited resources will allow me to do. Straggler, it is not God's inability to make his laws clear.They are specifically stated in no uncertain terms.Many will not believe or accept them. The man ate the fruit so now man makes the decisions.The major cause for people not following Him is man's sinful desires, you know like greed, and nothing matters except what I want.But if you want to really put the blame where it should be as to the reason people don't know what God's law is, you have to place it on those who were instructed to carry the message to the world.The Church.Because of greed and the selfishness of man everything has been taught except what God commanded.God teaches me to love, and I think a lot about that at this time of the year. Jesus lay down His life for me. I should be willing to do the same for you.So we are not prisoners of sin.We are prisoners of our selfish desires that comes from our ability to decide and choose what is good and what is evil.God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

Hi Straggler,Why do you keep putting words in my mouth? Read what I wrote and you quoted. The first man knew eating the fruit carried the death penalty.God had made that plain to him.That is the reason he assumed it applied to the first woman also. The choice the man made is the reason for your existence today.But there is no ultimate price you or anyone must pay unless you/they choose to do so.That debt has been paid. A free full pardon has been offered, it only has to be received. He understood the rule.The rule was given to the first man, "In the day ye eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you will die".That was the rule with no explanation necessary.He was not deceived and no one made him eat of the fruit.He freely chose to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.No matter how you slice it and dice it.So you are not a prisoner of sin unless you choose to be.God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."