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By the time most kids reach an age of reason they will ask the question:
Why do we have to die?
Well; the answer to that is explained in the fifth chapter of Romans:
everyone has to die, not because of any one particular mistake they make on
their own, rather, because of a mistake somebody else made for them back
at the very beginning.
• Rom 5:12a . . Sin entered the world through one man, and death through
sin, and in this way death came to all men.
• Rom 5:17 . . By the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that
one man
The Bible also says: "for all sinned" (Rom 5:12b)
In other words: way back there in the beginning, even before producing his
first child, God reckoned Adam's sin to be his entire posterity's sin; and
because it is reckoned their sin as well as his, then they are forced to accept
the consequence for that sin the same as he was forced to accept it.
• Gen 2:16-17 . . And the Lord God commanded the man, saying: From any
tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall
surely die.
Adam didn't pass away the very day he tasted the forbidden fruit. In point of
fact, his demise wouldn't come for another 800 years after the birth of his
son Seth (Gen 5:4). The death that came to Adam on the very day that he
tasted the forbidden fruit was mortality; which is a walking death that
gradually tore down Adam's body to the point where it could not continue.
• Gen 3:19 . . For dust thou are, and unto dust you shall return.
And that's why none of us live forever. Our bodies are infected with
mortality; a condition that, left untreated, is always 100% fatal.
FAQ: God himself decreed that a man's children are not responsible for his
mistakes (Ezek 18:20). How then was it right for God to sentence Adam's
posterity to death for something he did?
A: The laws of God do not have ex post facto jurisdiction, i.e. they aren't
retroactive. (Deut 5:2-4 & Gal 3:17)
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When God first created living creatures, He created them with the ability to create offsprings after their kind. So when the original creation of man sinned because they disobeyed and followed their own will, this tendency was handed down to their offsprings. God is not punishing us because of their sin, He is punishing each individual for their own sins.
Isaiah 55: 33-36 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Romans 11: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of (by) Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever.
Psalm 89:14 Righteousness and Justice are the habitation of Thy throne; Mercy and Truth shall go before Thy face.
Romans 9: 19-23 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast thou formed me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy , which He had before prepared unto glory,
God knew in advance that He was going to implement a plan of redemption for His fallen creation that would include a perfect manifestation of His Justice and a perfect expression of His Love and Mercy. The choices for God are: 1) Let Justice prevail and all humans go to hell or 2) All humans get saved or 3) Some humans get saved. If all humans go to hell, then God would not be Merciful. If all humans get saved, then His Kingdom would be full of disobedient humans that don't have to worry about the consequences of wrong-doing and therefore no Justice. His only choice is to save a few.
Romans 9: 15-16 For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So, then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.