Roadmap for the soul - Judaism, the bible and the tabernacle

And now we come to the really bad news...

Adam and Eve weren't the only ones who chose to try Satan's false brand of 'freedom'...
On that day in 'the garden' long ago, all of humanity 'voted' for independence...
That's right... you and I did too.

This concept may be a little hard for some folks to accept, but the key to understanding it can be found in the following passage ---

Hebrews 7:9-10 "Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, (v.10) for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him."

Rather than get bogged down with an in-depth identification of the various people in the above passage, I would simply like to draw your attention to two of the people named above --- "Levi" and "Melchizedek"... These two people were not contemporaries... they were actually generations apart. At the time when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still several generations down the line in Abraham's future. But even so, Levi is portrayed in the above passage as having been in some sense, 'present' when Abraham met Melchizedek.

So... how could this be?

The answer would seem to lie in the fact that unlike us, God sees everything at once (past, present, and future). This being the case, in God's view, Levi was very much 'present' (as a future descendant) "in the loins of his father." Although Levi was not yet present physically, as far as God was concerned, he was clearly counted as being present spiritually.

Similarly, this same principle applies to all of us having been present in 'the garden'... Although we may not have been present physically, we are counted as having been present spiritually, "in the loins of" our father, Adam.

This is why the bible describes all of mankind as having participated in the sin in the garden, as seen in the following passage ---

Romans 5:12 "... through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned..."

Here, it is plainly stated that "all men" (i.e. each and every one of us) are considered to have been present 'in the loins of' the "one man" (Adam), where we "all sinned"... thereby opening the door through which "sin entered the world, and death through sin."

Most of us are inclined to respond to this news by saying something like,
"No way!... If I had been there in the garden, things would have turned out differently....
I wouldn't have eaten that fruit."

Unfortunately, the bible disagrees.
It says we were all there... 'in Adam's loins'.
And sadly, we all 'ate the fruit'.

But if you still really believe that you could have done better, or you believe you didn't join in choosing sin, ask yourself one question ---
"Am I perfect"?

My guess is that if you're honest, the answer will be, "No".

Thus, as the evidence suggests, all of us succumbed to Satan's deception. And thus, when God came to the garden after the eating of the fruit, He was grieved for more than just Adam and Eve... He grieved for all of us (the future descendants) as well, because He saw all of mankind there,"in the loins of" Adam, where we had all chosen to reject His authority and boundaries. We all chose sin.

And because we all chose sin, the bible now describes humanity as being ---

Psalm 51:5 "... brought forth in iniquity ..."

The word "iniquity" above, is from a Hebrew word meaning 'sin'. 1 Thus the above passage is simply pointing out that we are all now 'brought forth in sin' or 'born in sin'.

And remember... as we have seen, 'sin' results in 'separation from God'. In other words then, the bible is saying that people are born in a state of sin and by default, are "separated from God".

Not surprisingly, this concept is one that greatly upsets a lot of people, largely because of the implications that it raises, such as the following one about children ---

If the bible teaches that everyone, including babies, are 'born in sin',
does this mean that babies who die are condemned to hell?

This question is worth addressing, because there are many people who say they refuse to believe in God and/or the bible, simply because they assume this is what the bible teaches.

Sadly, these folks are putting themselves at spiritual risk for no reason, because the bible teaches nothing of the sort. While the above verse from Psalm 51 rightly states that all of us are born in a state of 'sin' (or 'separation from God'), this passage does not in any way suggest the condemnation of babies.

The first step in resolving this question is to recognize that ---
While we all chose (from within Adam's loins) to join spiritually in choosing Satan's false 'freedom'...
...now, in the generations that follow, we are each being given the chance to
experience our new 'freedom' physically, while here on earth.

God allows us this opportunity in the hope that the painful consequences of our new false 'freedom'
will motivate us to return to Him.

Obviously though, before we can choose to return to God,
we would first need to be capable of recognizing that we are 'separated' from Him.
And this brings us to the key point regarding babies ---

Romans 3:20 "... by the Law is the knowledge of sin."

The Greek word "epignosis" (translated as "knowledge" here), literally means
"exact or full knowledge, recognition, and full perception." 2

In other words, the above passage is saying that "the Law" is designed to bring about a "full recognition" and "full perception" that we are separated from God by sin. Now, notice the next passage ---

Romans 5:13 "... sin is not imputed when there is no Law ..."

Now... let's apply these passages to the issue regarding the supposed condemnation of babies ---

As seen previously, "the Law" is designed to provoke and emphasize a full recognition of one's separation from God. It is through the Law that we fully perceive our separation, and thus the need to make a choice.

But here's the important question ---
Are babies going to be capable of "full perception or recognition" of the Law?
Obviously not.

Thus we come to the answer regarding the supposed condemnation of children ---

Since babies and small children etc. would hardly be capable of "full perception or recognition" of the Law, for them, sin would not be "imputed."

Babies and small children would hardly be subject to the same standard of judgment as someone who knowingly perceives and (and continually) rejects the Law .

God is not the angry, punitive God that so many people envision.
On the contrary, the bible says that God is ---

2 Peter 3:9 "... long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish ..."

That's why God patiently waits, allowing us a period of time in which to experience the consequences of the 'freedom' we've chosen, in the hope that we will experience a change of heart, once the Law exposes the need to make a choice.

For anyone to be subject to judgment, they would first have to have reached a point where they fully understand that they are separated from God, and be content to remain that way. God will not condemn anyone who is incapable of experiencing their independence on earth fully enough to truly understand the consequences of that choice.

Some of you are probably thinking, "That's great! All I need to do is just refuse to think about all this stuff... That way, if there is a God, I won't be subject to judgment, because I won't have understood the issues. I'll be just like a baby."

Such thinking may be dangerous to your spiritual health. There is a big difference between being incapable of comprehending the issues and being unwilling to.

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