THE ORIGIN OF SIN AND WHO SATAN IS (PART II)

Question: Please! Can you handle the issue of the ORIGIN of evil/sin? It disturbs me a lot! Can this theory of it having its origin in heaven hold water? And who is SATAN (my grandmother 100+yrs old, asked me this last yr. It was then that I discovered that I don’t know who Satan is).

Elitwatz from Tanzania

Response: Last time, I made several assertions that need to be reviewed and observed. Here are the assertions that I made which I would like to list and briefly explain. 

• The first one I made was that the origin of sin is mysterious. 
• Secondly, its mystery is in the fact that it appeared in a good and perfect environment. 
• Third, it is God who first recognises and warns creation against the existence of Evil. 
• Fourth, Origin is mysterious to us but not excluded from God’s omniscience.
• Finally, what we mean by evil/sin is not a corrupted entity (something that has fallen from a particular standard-good to a low and evil one) but rather an essentially and substantially (in nature) evil thing.

These are the claims I made in the first response that needs to be explained briefly for us to understand the argument made.

The Origin of Sin Is Mysterious

A mystery is something that is not just difficult to explain but one that is impossible to resolve. To ask a question: ‘What is the origin of sin?’ is almost the same as asking the origin of God. According to Genesis 2:17, Evil WAS (in existence) even before man and the God who too WAS, was aware of its existence. That is why, in a perfect creation, there WAS something that wasn’t good (therefore evil) that God began by solving (Genesis 2:18 – ‘it is not good’). What we have in the mythology of the Genesis (book of beginnings) account therefore is not the beginning of God, for God never begun (Genesis 1:1) and neither the known-to-us beginning of evil.

The beginning of evil is exclusively known to God, for it WAS before humanity and all creation WERE. That is why after our creation we were warned about its existence and danger, therefore (Genesis 2:17-18). When we say that the origin of Sin/evil is a mystery, we are not hiding behind the assertion that God has kept some things from us (Deuteronomy 29:29) and therefore, not supposed to know but rather we are demonstrating our perceptual limited-ness of the same. What we have in the Biblical narratives is that both God and Sin are realities in existence before our existence (Revelations 12:7-18; Genesis 2:16-18, 3:1-24).

By Default

The mystery of sin, therefore, is in the fact that it WAS. By ‘WAS’ I intend Time and Space. Sin is an equal (in effect) but contrary principal-evil to the principal-good we have termed as ‘God’. Sin, therefore, assumes its presence in the unknown moment when God resolved to create Humanity in his image (Freedom of choice). The mystery of the origin of sin is in the fact that we cannot tell, when (Time) and where (space) God resolved to create such a being like a man (one with the ability to choose even against God). But what we can conclude with here, is that the divine resolution to create a human being had a default result of Sin as an alternative.

I have to seriously warn my reader here not to rashly conclude that God created sin, therefore but to instead focus on the fact that the creation of man has a default result of Sin as a choice for a free-will being like a man. Sin is a by-default-choice resultant of the divine will and intentions to create humanity. God’s resolution to create human being puts sin into existence by default. This default-result is possible only in the actual identity of God. 

Who God is

God is, substantially, a freedom being and when he created man in his image. He created humanity, not just as a free-will creature, but as free beings. One must note that we were created as free beings (within the realm of right and wrong = Genesis 2:16-17) but not beings at liberty (without right and wrong). The creation of Free-beings (humanity) by a God of freedom, meant that humanity had to exercise their freedom of choice within two alternatives (good and evil). What makes God who he is, is his sovereign providence in letting free beings (humanity) exercise their will (for or against God’s Will) without him interrupting. It compromises the identity of God if he acts defensive and gets rid of Sin/evil (as an alternative) to prohibit man from the possibility of that choice. 

For God to establish himself as sovereign, he must allow a contrary principal-power like Sin exercise its will to the fullest. Human choices, evil and good, should be allowed by an omnipotent God without interruption by influence or coercion for God to be accepted as a just God. In both the process and the end, the divine purpose must be achieved to prove its authenticity over evil and its purpose. The achievement of the divine purpose (good) however, doesn’t mean that evil is a loser without causalities (free-will humanity that has chosen evil = Revelation 21:8) on its end, but rather it means that Good emerges as the eternal winner over Evil (Romans 12:21). The mystery of the origin of sin, therefore, is in the fact that it is a power that originated in the fact God’s immutability (unchanging) identity and his resolution to create humanity in his image (ability to choose even against its creator). 

God bless you, I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM, and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)

Priest M.I.T WHITE (+256-775 822833 for further inquiries)

iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)

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