The Fall of Mankind

Topic Notes

• Throughout the history of the world, only a handful of events could be considered both “small actions” in and of themselves, and “giant actions” with colossal lasting repercussions.
• the “Shot heard ‘round the world” in April of 1775.
• April 20, 1889, the day a young baby named Adolf Hitler was born,
• In the pre-fallen world… “we were created to glorify God, indicating that we are important to God himself.” – Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology.
• Jeff and Dave admit they are screw-ups!?!
• Everything Adam and Eve did, glorified God!
• Jeff does some boring astronomy.
• But astronomy isn’t boring to someone who KNOWS it!
• Before the fall, God walked and talked with Adam!
• But why did God stop interacting with mankind?
• Isaiah 6 describes the Throne Room of God.
• Adam lived in “luxury prepared for him, better than this earth – excelling in air, beauty, light, food, plants, fruit, waters, and every other thing needful – and its name was Paradise. And so beautiful and good was the Paradise, [that] the Word of God was always walking in it.”
• Before the fall, work was pure production! “stuff got done”!
• After the fall, we became cursed in everything we did
• READ A BOOK!
  • “True Reason” by Tom Gilson
• Today, we try to find meaning in life… but we start with OURSELVES. This is a problem.
• Affirmation is good as long as it is followed up with transformation
• The shamefully sad truth is that the very thing humans seek by self-glorification (which is self-satisfaction) will never be found because self-satisfaction can only be found in God-glorification.
• Part of the fall was us ‘losing our purpose’
• “when we realize that God created us to glorify him, and when we start to act in ways that fulfill that purpose, then we begin to experience an intensity of joy in the Lord that we have never before known.”9
• BIBLE CONTRADICTION via the Freedom from Religion Foundation (ffrf.org)
  • How many gods are there?
  • Deuteronomy 6:4 vs Genesis 1:26, Genesis 3:22, I John 5:7
• In the post fallen world, only Moses has seen God face to face
• Before sin, punishment and judgement wasn’t necessary, but THAT changed after the fall
• The good news is that GOD HAD A PLAN!
• Had we not fallen, we never would have known the DEPTH of God’s love, that He would sacrifice of HIMSELF!
• All the pain and anguish that we experience in this world can NEVER compare to God’s love
• God’s relationship to creation changed after the fall as well!
• Romans 8:20
• Everything in creation was made to GLORIFY GOD!
• Nature is currently frustrated with its current state
• “God has so made us to enjoy imitating, in a creaturely way, his creative activity. And one of the amazing aspects of humanity – in distinction from the rest of creation – is our ability to create new things… In all of these activities we reflect in small measure the creative activity of God [in creation], and we should delight in it and thank him for it.” – Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology
• LISTENER QUESTION
  • How should we as Christians defend the Bible? One of my co-workers said that like all other religions it was written by men. I referenced the scripture in Timothy that says all scripture is God-breathed (inspired by God) but then he countered with, “yeah but a man wrote that too.”

Extra Stuff

True Reason by Tom Gilson on Amazon

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