A bit about Adam and Eve.

There is a difference about knowing what is sinful/evil and being "in" sin.

The tree did not literally impart the knowledge evil and good in sense that if I were to eat from say .. a tree of math that I would instantly be able to do Trig without flaw. (just an example to convey the idea) Yet there is a sense in which it did impart a clearer understanding and or awareness of the effects of sin once you have become apart of sin itself. But not that the tree itself conveyed this knowledge because it was inherent in the fruit like nutrients are.

The name was mearly a discription of what the tree reprented. Since it was forbidden to eat of the tree, that in and of itself gave them understanding of somthing right and wrong (thus the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). The obligation on the tree to not eat of it was the standard of fellowship and thus the impartation of truth and error, right and wrong. To maintain in not eating would be to grow in righteousness, fellowship, and truth. However to partake of it was to grow in sin/evil, seperation, and error.

 

One word, Innocence…

You ever seen a prejudiced or hateful baby? :thumbs:

 

Yes, actually.

Ever tried to give a baby to someone they don't know. Most often that baby will cry desiring his mother (someone they do know). Yes baby can be most prejudiced. :laugh:

 

I believe we all live in a Garden of Eden when we are very young and are removed from that garden when we sin and know that we sin. We may not know the word sin, but we know that we are doing something wrong and do it anyway. Naturally this will vary from child to child.

Example, a child sees something they want, but it is not theirs. They take it, but are too young to know this is wrong. They are still in the garden. Why? Because they do not yet have the knowledge of good and evil.

Same child some time later, sees something that is not theirs and they take it anyway knowing what they are doing is wrong. They are removed from the garden of innocence and may never return again. Why? Because now they have the knowledge of good and evil.

 

I have heard the question asked many times "what is the age of accountability?"

Your discription here of a child realizing at some point in his life that he is doing wrong is the best description of "accountability" that I have ever seen put into a short direct answer.

And I agree, when Adam and Eve became aware of their sin, that is when they became convicted and thus accountable.

AJ

 

Because God does not desire for man to sin. But God gave man the freedom of will that if he so chose he could sin or stay in fellowship.

God does not temp any man, so the tree in the garden was placed there not to be specifcally a tempation to them. We can also know this is true because until the serpent possesed by Satan came along we find no record of them ever being tempted to eat of that particular tree. They were told not to and they had (in their innocence) no reason to do it since they not being in sin saw any reason to think differently by or of themselves. However, when the serpent enters the picture, we see it was he by deception that gave rise to the choice which was offered to Eve.

Thus again, God does not temp any man, so the tree in the garden was placed there not to be specifcally a tempation to them. However this is not to say that God does not lead us to choices.

 

Can you tell me what scripture?

Does that mean that anyone under 20 is not responsible
for their actions?

Or that a person under 20 cant recieve salvation because they dont realize that they are a sinner yet?

AJ

 

No, there were varying ages for different things in Jewish customs and law.
Editted: However those ages that were according to the Jewish customs and Laws in part for the participation of religious observences and practices. Example: a boy was considered a man at 13 and could be married. Thus he could participate in the rites and rituals of that regarding him as a man and or a husband/father as well. But there were other aspects he still could not join in until he was yet even older at the age of 20. He was no longer a boy and thus responsible for himself in regard to sacrifices and offerings and other duties that he was not as a boy.

However we see the age of accountablilty regarding spiritual things is not bound to a specific age as their laws and customs.

Jesus states:

This illistrates that the biblical view concerning the age of accountablility.

 

Even Paul was a dispensationalist for he spoke of dispensations.

This is not true. I have knowledge of evolution but that does not necessitate that I believe it. Knowledge is merely having information about something and having at the very least a basic understanding of that information.

 

I'm no dispensationlist but perhaps they have a good point here. Man was clearly innocent before the fall in more ways than just sin/no sin. He didn't even realize he was naked nor did he know what it was like to want, suffer etc... No shame, no guilt... Man was pure in heart just like an infant...

This is where I think you strayed, your above statement defines obediance which is not the same as the knowledge of good and evil. When his heart said do not eat he was being obedient and when he ate he was disobedient which you are correct, being disobedient was the fall of man. However, the product of eating the fruit also caused man to become "as one of us" which meant to "know good and evil". Notice it doesn't say the difference between good FROM evil. It says to know good AND evil.

So here we were like a god but didn't know what to do with the knowledge. This is why God gave us the law, so we would know what was good and what was evil.

Ge 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

 

Great post... :thumbs:

 

Are you saying children are born without a sin nature?