Are People Lost Because of Adam’s Sin? – Herbert Armstrong hwalibrary.com

Christian teachings concerning the “fall of man” hold that God made man complete, perfect, with an immortal spirit soul. Further, that this creation was then corrupted by Satan, forever condemning humanity to hell, and that God has ever since been trying to “save” men in a contest with Satan for these fallen souls. That’s not what the Bible says.

Man is mortal. He does not have an immortal soul. While made in the image and likeness of God, man never possessed spirit life. As such, man was not made a complete creation. He wasn’t perfect. Rather, man was made neutral, innocent, and given the mental capacity for both good and evil, and the free moral agency to choose.

Furthermore, God’s plan wasn’t thwarted by Satan, and God isn’t in competition with him. God knew, before creation, that man would sin and that redemption would be necessary. Giving mankind physical life was just one step in their creative process, and that creative process is still underway!

Because Adam and Eve, under Satan’s influence, chose to sin, they were cut off from the Tree of Life; i.e. from the path to immortality. They corrupted their innocence with the knowledge of both good and evil, but their fundamental created nature did not change.

Human beings are not born with a fundamentally sinful nature, consigned to everlasting hellfire. But because we enter a world under Satan’s influence, the master deceiver, rather than the Garden of Eden under God’s protection, sin is almost inevitable. The consequence of “Original Sin” is humanity being separated from God, not automatic eternal damnation. The death penalty from which we need redemption is the consequence of each person’s choices.

The beauty of God’s plan is that it anticipated this problem and provides a way for all men to receive eternal life. Understanding that plan, through the meaning of the Sabbath and annual Holy Days, is a source of great hope and encouragement.