NOTE: All comments in brackets [ ] or in parentheses ( ) as well as highlighted text (bolded and/or in blue) are from the author of this study.
Bible quotations are in maroon.
According to the teachings of the Worldwide Church of God in the days of Mr. Armstrong, the decision made by Adam and Eve when they were tested by Satan was to learn by experience rather than to rely on God for the knowledge of good and evil.
However, what can be seen in recorded history is that mankind does not learn from experience. It is blind when it comes to linking the results they achieve with the actions they take. This is especially and mostly true when it comes to domains of human interaction that are not controlled by physical laws.
The physical laws that govern the material universe in which we all live are very real and unbreakable. Their existence and the results of following them or not are unavoidable and unchangeable regardless of one’s personal feelings about them or one’s strongly held belief about how things should be. They permeate the material world in which we live, are always in force, are unchangeable and don’t care one bit about how anyone feels about them. Anyone can easily verify this by a number of simple tests like defying the law of gravity by walking off the end of a tall building. Even for someone who has fully persuaded himself that this can be done without causing themselves grievous injuries or whether this happens accidentally, the result will be the same. They will be drawn at increasing speed toward the ground and either die or be seriously injured when they hit it. This experience can be repeated as many times as one wishes with inanimate objects such as stones, pieces of metal, etc. and the same result will be achieved every time.
Moreover, human beings also live in a world where there are non-physical laws that are also real and always in force and which also have good or bad effects depending on whether they are followed or not. But, a problem arises with these non-physical laws which does not exist with the physical laws of the universe and that is that they do not lend themselves to the same kind of experimentation as do the physical laws whose existence and effect can be clearly and uniformly demonstrated by anyone. It then becomes much more difficult for the human mind to define them and categorize their impact on human interaction in a manner that is commonly and universally understood. This is what leads to people having their own views on what are the right and wrong things to do when it comes to dealing with their fellow human beings with no real means existing to prove to them in a clear and easily repeatable manner the rightfulness or error of their way of thinking especially, that the results of breaking a spiritual law is often not as immediately felt as breaking a physical law whose impact one can usually see right away.
These non-physical laws are as real as the physical laws of the universe and their impact for conducting our lives in accordance with them or not is as sure and unavoidable as those of physical laws. And this is where mankind runs into and causes itself huge problems such as repeated wars on a lesser or greater scale which cause incomprehensible suffering, death and great material destruction. Even now in our supposedly advanced and enlightened civilization we find wars ongoing in different regions of the world and where there are no wars, we find nations eyeing each other warily, building up their war machinery and waiting for the opportune moment to strike a first blow from which the other will not be able to recover. Not very pleasant or reassuring to say the least.
Mankind has shown itself incapable of determining correctly right from wrong and this inability is the root cause of nations not being able to live in peace with each other as their criteria of right and wrong are not the same. This state of affair is true when it comes to relationships between men and women right on up to the great and mighty nations of the world.
Simply stated, the unresolved question at the root cause of man-made suffering and misery is: “What is truth?” This was Pilate’s question to Christ.
Joh 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Joh 18:38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
If we examine Christ’s answer to Pilate (John 18:37) it is clear that the “truth” is something that only those that are : “….of the truth hears….” and they hear it from Christ, His voice. In other words, those that are “of the truth” are those called, chosen and faithful and they hear Christ’s voice giving them the truth as they pray and study their Bible (Heb 1:1-2). And, the truth that they have is spiritual i.e., it is from the spirit of God to the minds of men that have been called and chosen by God (1Co 2:11-12).
This is why God calls this present world “Babylon” which is a word that means “confusion.” This confusion is with respect to right and wrong and, good and evil. Everyone has their own self-serving definitions which inevitably clash with the self-serving definitions used by others leading to strife, violence and ultimately war. Where do wars in the world come from; they come from opposing, individually and strongly held, and resistant to change versions of right and wrong.
Mankind has not known the way to peace nor can it know it because of its inability by themselves with their human minds to come to a universal agreement on what is the truth, on what is right and what is wrong as this is defined by God’s spiritual laws that are unknowable to men but by revelation.
Isa 59:8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
Rom 3:17 And the way of peace have they not known:
We are presently in the lull between the 2nd and the 3rd World War which along with the plagues of the Day of the Lord will be the worst time of trouble to come upon mankind since the creation of Adam and Eve.
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
There will be huge losses of lives, massive destruction of property and great disruption to the environment. It will be such a wide ranging, comprehensive and extensive destruction of animal and human life and of the environment that there will never again come such a great catastrophe upon men and the earth.
This is why after the pouring out of the last plagues, it will be necessary for God to restore the earth to a state making it possible for mankind to continue living on it. The environment, the weather, animal life, the forests, the seas, etc. will all need to be restored so great will have been the destruction of the events of the Day of the Lord. It will be somewhat like the time when God had to restore the surface of the earth as recounted in the first few chapters of the book of Genesis following Satan’s rebellion.
Even after the Great Tribulation and the events of the Day of the Lord which will have brought planetary-scale destruction of the environment and of human and animal life, mankind will not have learned anything from the experience. The dilemma remains, while every sane individual wants peace and safety somehow wars keep on happening. And so it is that early on in the Millennium, there will be the supernatural destruction of the physical nations of Gog and Magog that will have come up against Israel and Jerusalem to destroy it.
Eze 38:16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
Eze 38:18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
Eze 38:20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
Eze 38:22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
And at the end of the Millennium, you would think that mankind would no longer be interested in war but yet there will be one more great uprising against Israel which will be attacked by a post-millennial Gog and Magog. These are not the physical descendants of the physical Gog and Magog that attacked Israel early on during the Millennium and was destroyed. These people come from all four quarters of the earth i.e., from all over the world and their number is as the sand of the sea i.e., a vast, uncountable multitude. They have been referred to as spiritual Gog and Magog as they are all those individuals from all the nations of the world who were called and rejected their calling or who followed it for a time and then turned away from it and they are a very great number of them.
Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Do men learn from experience? If we will believe the Bible and history, it is clear that mankind does not learn all that much from experience and keeps on repeating the same mistakes leading to great catastrophes, loss of life and material destruction. There is this saying that “History bores itself repeating itself? Many say that the study of history is a useless pursuit as mankind never learns from its past errors and keeps on repeating them with increasingly more disastrous results as technology makes our weaponry massively more destructive as the years go by. General MacArthur at the end of the Second World War made the following statement and here I paraphrase: “Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.”
So, what did Satan offer Eve that was so tempting? Was it to learn right and wrong by trial and error or was it something else.
Satan’s Offer
What was the choice given Adam and Eve by Satan?
Did it have anything to do with salvation; if so how?
Let’s go back to Genesis and see what it is that Satan offered Eve.
Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Here in these verses we see that it was very clear in Eve’s mind that neither Adam nor she were to take of the tree which was in the midst of the garden. God had only said that they were not to eat of it but in Eve’s mind God’s warning was so strong that she understood it as also meaning that they were not to even touch it. If they ate of the forbidden tree they would surely die. Satan to allay her fears reassures her that she would not surely die:
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
And in the next verse Satan adds that the only reason why God told them not to take of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden was that if they did they would be like Him, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
“….knowing good and evil….” is a short expression that carries a lot of meaning and which has been the source of much confusion. What does it mean for someone to know good and evil like God knows good and evil?
Looking at the Bible as a whole, we learn that God is the only lawgiver, that sin is the transgression of God’s law and that the law that comes from God is both physical and spiritual. God rules over the material universe through the physical laws that govern matter and God’s spiritual law defines what is good and what is evil. In other words, and this is the essential meaning that has to be understood, God is the only One that can define correctly good and evil. Satan told Eve that if she ate of the forbidden fruit she would become like God i.e., she too would become able to determine correctly for herself good and evil just like God and that this was an ability that God was keeping for Himself rather than sharing it with them as He should.
Eve obviously wanted what she then believed it was that God was withholding from her and still not quite sure that it was alright to take of the tree, she did an analysis of the situation herself.
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
She looked at the tree and saw that it was a beautiful tree; that it bore fruit that was good to eat and moreover, it was something that would make her wise. How could it be a bad thing to take of it? What could go wrong? She disregarded God’s warning and wanting to know good and evil like God i.e., to be able to correctly determine good and evil, she took of the fruit and gave some to Adam who also ate of it.
So, what was Satan’s offer to Adam and Eve? Was it to become his slaves, to be subject to him? Or, was it that they should decide good and evil for themselves and be the highest authority in their lives as he had chosen to do when he rebelled against God refusing His authority over him. He proposed to Adam and Eve that like him they should not accept God’s authority over them and be themselves the highest authority in their own lives deciding for themselves good and evil? In doing so they would be like God, a very hard-to-resist offer.
Once that had come to pass, Satan’s work by and large was done. Through Adam and Eve refusing to submit to God, sin entered the world and through sin, death i.e., the first death which came upon all mankind (Rom 5:12) and which is temporary (Heb 9:27). The first and second death will be explained shortly as this study continues.
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Mal 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.[No possibility of living again.]
Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
The First and the Second Death
This topic should be the subject of a stand alone study but since I have mentioned it, I think it would be appropriate to provide the reader with an explanation of the differences between the first and the second death..
The Bible tells us that all human beings are to die a first death because of the sin of Adam.
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Eve had a part in the original sin but Adam bears the responsibility (by one man sin entered the world) because he was not deceived.
1Ti 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Though all men die the first death because of the sin of Adam, they will not all remain dead.
1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
All shall be made alive, for some it will be to eternal life. Christ was the first one to be resurrected to eternal life to be followed by those that are Christ’s at His Second Coming. But, they are not the only ones. All of mankind not called in the first 6,000 years of God’s plan of salvation will rise up in a resurrection to flesh-and-blood life at the beginning of the Last Great Day.
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
All men are to be judged as to what they do with God’s truth when it is revealed to them at the time of their calling and after being chosen.
Judgment is now only on God’s Church for only it, for the time being, has understanding of God’s truth.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
The word “judgment” here is referring to a period of testing to determine whether those who have been given to know the truth will attempt to live it to the best of their abilities or will they be the lip and eye servant spoken of by Christ i.e., they say they want to obey and when others are around they put on a pretense of obeying but in their minds and in their private life they conduct their lives according to their own standards, not God’s. The word judgment also has the meaning of making a final evaluation that something is good or bad, has been a success or a failure and, that a person has effectively been obeying or disobeying God after having been given the truth. The disobedient are then punished and the obedient are rewarded which is God’s judgment on them. It is a final act following a period of evaluation.
Judgment is both a period of evaluation and the making of a final decision at the end of the testing period which results in a reward or punishment.
Since the day of Pentecost, all those called who did not follow their calling and all those who did and were chosen are under judgment. Those that follow their calling and remain faithful until the end of their natural lives will be resurrected in the First Resurrection at the time of Christ’s 2nd Coming.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
When do the rest of the dead which “lived not again” as part of the First Resurrection, live again? Rev 20:5 makes it clear they are resurrected after the thousand years are finished after the destruction of spiritual Gog and Magog which occurs shortly after the end of the Millennium (Rev 20:7-9).
Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
The Last Great Day begins with the resurrection of all those who “lived not again” at the time of Christ’s Second Coming. These are all those who, from the time of the creation of man until just before the beginning of the Millennium, have died without ever having been called. In the Last Great Day will be their first and only opportunity for salvation. This Last Great Day is to last 100 years; it will be a time of judgment in both senses of the word as has just been explained.
Isa 65:20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
All those rising up to flesh-and-blood life will live 100 years. There will not be an infant of days nor an old man that has not filled his days; the child shall die a hundred years old and an old man in the Second Resurrection will also live 100 years. Their period of evaluation will last 100 years. And, the child and the old man upon reaching the end of their 100 year period of evaluation will be judged i.e., sentence will be pronounced on them. The sinner will be accursed and those under grace will inherit salvation.
This is the time of the Great White Throne Judgment which occurs at the end of the Last Great Day.
Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
It is also the time when all those who since the creation of man were called and rejected their calling or who followed the truth for a while and then went back into the world, are resurrected to flesh-and-blood existence. This is a Third Resurrection of the wicked; they willfully rejected the truth offered them by God. The final judgment then takes place with the dividing of the sheep from the goats (Rev 20:11-14; Mat 25). The sheep inherit the kingdom and eternal life and the goats go into everlasting punishment (the second death) (Mat 25:46).
Now, let’s go back to determining what was the choice made by Adam. Let’s review the factors which made it possible for Adam and Eve to commit the first sin.
Animal Brains and the Human Brain
Mankind was created with animal brains to which God added a spirit essence that gives it mind power. In order to understand the very great difference between the animal brain and the human brain we again have to go back to the beginning.
In Genesis we read that man was created in the image of God and according to his likeness.
Gen 1:27 And God said, let Us make man in our image, [as beings with mind power and free will] after our likeness [physical appearance] and let them have dominion over fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth (King James version)
The first part of the verse “…..in our image….” refers to the mind power with which man was created and the second part of the verse “…..after our likeness…..” refers to man’s physical appearance. Every animal was created after its own kind but man was created after the God kind i.e., with a brain that has mind power (most animals have brains but none of them have mind power) and men, in their physical appearance, look like God.
How can we know this for sure?
When the disciples wanted to be sure that Jesus was the Son of God one of them, Philip said unto Jesus:
Joh 14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Joh 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Man’s physical appearance is similar to God’s appearance. In the Bible we read that God has feet, hands, fingers, hair, etc. and all this should be already very familiar to you.
Man was created in the image of God or with mind power and free will which is the ability to acquire knowledge and think independently from any other being God created including God Himself. All other animals created by God function by instinct and have an extremely limited ability to acquire knowledge. Their reactions to different situations are set and, but exceptionally and in a very limited way, they do not have the ability to deviate from them even if doing so would save their lives.
Man however has the ability to acquire, use and link together a tremendous amount of information all throughout his life and, his behavior is not set by instinct like those of animals. He can analyze and react to diverse situations in accordance with past accumulated knowledge; he is not bound by preestablished rules that govern his reaction to the different situations that he will encounter in his life time and from which he cannot deviate in any significant way.
In addition to mind power, God gave man absolute free moral agency or free will.
What does it mean for a being to have absolute free moral agency?
Absolute Free Moral Agency
You will recall that God gives man the command to choose. What does it mean to be able to choose? It’s a bit more complicated than it looks at first glance.
Deu 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
This is the Scripture that allows us to know and understand Gen 1:27 where God says “…..let Us make man in our image……” Part of the answer is that God gave man absolute free moral agency i.e., He gave mankind the freedom to choose.
What does it mean for a being to have freedom to choose? The answer would seem to be self-evident to many but there is more to it that is not that self-evident and which will allow us to understand things about God’s plan of salvation we had not realized before.
The freedom to choose means that there is no other being created by God that has the power to force man to believe something against his will. If such a being exists then man is not free to choose as the only choices he can make are controlled by the more powerful being which controls him. In practical terms this means that neither God nor any of His spirit being creations such as Satan and his fallen angels have the power to force man to choose good or evil; otherwise, man would have no power to choose and God could not have commanded him to choose as He does in Deu 30:19. If there were such a being, man would effectively be under the control of a more powerful beings which controls his choices. God would then not be able to judge mankind as the choices that it makes would not be their own but that of the more powerful being which controls them. And, that being would be more powerful than God.
We now have to look at how it is that man’s brain has mind power while all other animal brains, some of which are much bigger than man’s, do not. Having mind power and free moral agency are essential requirements of God’s plan of salvation for mankind. Without either one, salvation would be impossible.
Mind Power
Science has struggled to understand the vast difference in the ability of man’s brain to amass and use huge amounts of knowledge as compared to the brains of all other animals who have not such capability.
Brains of great geniuses who have been among us and of high intelligence quotient (IQ) individuals have been dissected and analyzed using man’s most powerful microscopes and still there is no answer and only puzzlement as to why it is that a human brain is so much more able to acquire and use knowledge than that of any other animals.
The Bible however gives us the answer as to why man’s brain has mind power and why it is that science cannot discover why this is so.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
What gives man’s animal brain mind power is a spirit essence (the spirit of man) which God gave only to mankind. Spirit is invisible and unknowable to mankind unless specially revealed by God. Man’s science will never be able to know and demonstrate how man’s animal brain has mind power.
But this spirit essence is not part of the man. It is like a marble that one would swallow; the marble would be in the man but not be a part of him. At the time of death, this spirit essence does not remain in the man; it returns to God (Ecc 12:7) and the body returns to the dust of the ground from which it was formed.
Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
As a last point which may be of interest, in the book of Ecclesiastes it is made clear that no man has the power to prevent the spirit from leaving the body or delay the time of his death.
Ecc 8:8 There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
When this spirit essence leaves the physical body, the body is irretrievably dead.
Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Man’s mind can come to know and understand many of the physical laws of the universe, however for man to be able to come to know God’s truth it is necessary for him to be given access to another spirit, God’s Spirit and this is what we will explore in the next section of this study.
God’s Truth
Mankind was created with the kind of mind that can deal with physical matter and this we can readily see by just looking at the beautiful material things man has built. Man can come to know the material world through his 5 physical senses; discover the different laws that govern matter and the physical universe; and put this knowledge to practical use.
But when it comes to God’s truth, man is unable to know it because it is something that cannot be known through the physical senses which limits him to the physical and the material. Man has no ability on his own to come to know God’s truth whose essential nature is spiritual. However, spiritual does not solely mean invisible to physical human beings.
Here is an important distinction to keep in mind. The laws governing the physical universe are not made of physical, visible matter any more than God’s spiritual laws are i.e., they cannot be seen, tasted, touched, etc. like for example, the law of gravity. We know of its existence because we can do physical experiments which demonstrates its existence in a uniform and consistent manner but it is not something we can see directly with our eyes, hold in our hands, put on a shelf, etc.
God’s law come from the mind of God to the minds of men called and chosen by God. God’s laws are invisible in the same way the laws governing the material universe are invisible. The laws governing the universe are called physical laws because they regulate the a physical world while God’s laws are called spiritual laws because they come from God’s mind who is a spirit being.
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
How can it then be possible for physical beings limited to the physical and the material to come to know God’s truth which cannot be discovered by the experimental method i.e., it is not possible to demonstrate through easily repeatable physical experiments always producing the same results and that can be replicated by anyone the existence of God’s spiritual laws? Rather, God’s spiritual laws are abstract concepts greatly subject to individual interpretation and for which the cause-effect relationship is obscured by often lengthy delays between the time an action is taken and an effect is achieved with there still not being no real certainty that the effect achieved is a result of the action taken. Such is the complexity and unpredictability of interactions between human beings with mind power.
Knowing God’s truth and His spiritual law is through revelation from God. We would not know them unless God reveals them to us and that they have to be revealed proves that they cannot be deduced through experimentation that they exist nor is it possible to demonstrate their effect. True Christians by faith believe that they exist and that the result of following them yields good results as this cannot be demonstrated at the human level of existence.
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
But how can God do this? How does this process work? Paul gives us an example of this process at work when he says:
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
All men have the same spirit essence in them i.e., the spirit of man which allows man to know and understand the things of men. They have the same ability to know and understand the material-physical world and thus can understand and relate to each other.
Man at the time of creation received a spirit essence which gives his animal brain mind power but he did not receive another spirit which his mind is capable of receiving and which he needs in order to be able to understand the things of God in the same way that he can understand the things of men.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Men can receive another spirit that will give them the ability to know the things of God, God’s Holy Spirit.
Without this spirit being added to men’s minds, mankind is unable on its own to come to know the truth of God; it is something which only God can make possible by placing His Spirit with man. And what does God’s Spirit do? The Bible gives us the example of another spirit being to show us what a spirit being does.
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
God’s Spirit works in the minds of men in the same way that the spirit of Satan works in the minds of men. One works to help men obey and the other one to influence them to disobey.
God’s truth is knowable only by it being imparted from God’s mind to the minds of men called and chosen by God. It is beyond man’s mind abilities as created to know and understand God’s truth. This is why man cannot come to know and understand or learn God’s truth by experience and why there will always be no universal agreement on what is the truth. He cannot come to a correct knowledge of right and wrong by experimentation; it can only be obtained from God through His Spirit coming to dwell in their minds.
Mankind as represented by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden chose to learn right and wrong by experience even though God told them they would surely die as God knew the correct knowledge of right and wrong can only come from Him. It is not human level findable knowledge.
This is fundamental and critical knowledge and understanding which allows us to understand a very important aspect of God’s plan of salvation for mankind, CHARACTER.
Character
God will not force any man to choose salvation as made clear in the book of Deuteronomy; rather, He commands man to choose and all of mankind will have, at one time or another, to make a choice. All will be taken to the crossroads and given the opportunity to choose to go one way or the other.
Deu 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
As we have seen God created man a free moral agent which is to say there is no power in heaven or on earth that can force him to choose something contrary to his will. In practical terms this means that Satan cannot compel man to do evil. He can influence the minds of men but he cannot force them to obey him; if he could, man would not be free to choose and God could not have commanded man to choose.
Satan has the power to deceive men before their conversion regarding good and evil but he cannot force them to do evil. And, as an aside,, please note that converted man cannot be deceived about good and evil as they were before.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
If the elect, those who have chosen to follow their calling, could be deceived by a higher power like Satan regarding good and evil and right and wrong, God would not be able to hold them responsible for their actions as they would again be deceived as they were before their calling.
If deceived, they would not be able to choose correctly right from wrong and act accordingly.
Those who are to become part of God’s Kingdom have to correctly know the difference between right and wrong and have to freely choose God’s way; it has to be their own personal choice taken without anything or anyone forcing them to do so. In other words, man must self-willingly subject himself to God in all things when given to know the truth and maintain his attitude of obedience to God in all things until the time of his death. God’s Holy Spirit only ever leads.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
God will not force anyone to become converted or to remain converted.
And this is the basis of the character that God requires of men for them to be saved i.e., that they obey Him when no one is forcing them to do so; when no one is looking on and; even when to do so frustrates the fulfillment of some of their physical and mental lusts. They willfully restrain themselves and endure at times hardship because they have freely chosen to do so after having come to the knowledge of the truth. Only if it is their own decision freely and knowingly taken can God hold them responsible and judge them.
Satan nor any other beings created by God have the power to force men to decide one way or the other so that mankind can be held responsible for its decisions.
What Adam Chose
If we put together all that has been said so far we can understand what was the choice offered him by Satan.
Adam and Eve were created with mind power like God and with similar physical appearances because God wanted to reproduce Himself through man which was created after the God kind but made out of matter and without immortality. And mankind like the spirit beings created before them (the angels) who had both mind power and immortal life at the time of their creation, had to be given the opportunity to exercise the power of choice they had through the mind power they had been given.
The choice Lucifer and his angels had to make, as well as all those not placed on the earth with him, was whether to submit themselves to God’s authority or to themselves be the highest authority in their lives. God did not force them nor Adam and Eve to choose obedience or disobedience; they had to make that choice on their own after having been given knowledge and understanding of the consequence of their decision.
God told Adam and Eve they would surely die if they took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They would surely die because the penalty for sin (any disobedience to God, is death).
Eze 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
God could have forced Adam and Eve to make the right decision but that would have for effect to make it impossible for Him to reproduce Himself through man. The decision to obey God or not must be knowingly and freely taken; otherwise, men would lose their individuality and personality and simply become extensions of God’s own mind. They would have no minds of their own and be like animals whose brains have no mind power. They could be interesting to God as a pet animal is interesting and enjoyable to a human being with mind power but they would not be beings like themselves with whom they would be able to interact as one God being to another as God does with Christ presently. It is possible to love a pet animal but this animal cannot provide the same companionship that another human being can. God wants other beings like Himself who can be part of His Kingdom because they have the same kind of existence and mind power.
Adam and Eve’s sin or the original sin as it is often called was not to submit themselves to Satan’s rulership in their lives but rather, they were convinced by Satan to do what he had done and that is, to be the highest authority in their own lives instead of God. Satan’s temptation was essentially for mankind to choose to rule themselves rather than submit to God’s rule. They would be the god that they would follow in their own lives.
Adam and Eve did not choose to learn right and wrong by experience as by their choice they cut themselves off from God and became spiritually blind i.e., incapable of knowing about God’s spiritual law and that their happiness and salvation depends upon their applying it in their lives. By experience man can learn about the laws governing physical matter but it is impossible for him to come to a right knowledge of right and wrong which is defined by God’s law which is spiritual and unknowable to him unless revealed by God to him.
Mankind was blinded to God’s spiritual law and will remain blind until Christ’s 2nd Coming when God’s Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh.
The choice made by Adam and Eve was not to learn right and wrong by experience rather than trusting God to teach it to them as the correct knowledge of right and wrong is not something that can be learned by experience.
God's Spiritual Nation 