By Gary Ray Branscome
While Satan is the primary
cause of sin in the world, the words, Every
man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed, tell
us that the efficient cause of sin is mans own corrupt will and sinful heart
(James 1:14).
The
words, God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good,
tell us that God did not create sin, nor was it part of His original creation
(Genesis 1:31), while the words, Sin entered the world by one man, and
death by sin, tell us that sin entered the world through the sin of Adam
(Romans 5:12). Furthermore, the fact that man was created without a sinful
nature tells us that God did not create man with an inclination to sin. On the
contrary, as originally created Adam and Eve had no desire to sin. It was
because they would not even think of lying to someone that they did not
question what the serpent said (Genesis 3:4-5).
The words, In all this Job did not sin, or accuse God
foolishly, tell us that those who blame God for the sin in the world, or
for their own troubles are foolish (Job
The words, For you are not a God
who has pleasure in wickedness: nor will evil dwell with you. The foolish will
not stand in your sight, you hate all who do evil, tell us that God
never approves of wickedness, or of those who do evil (Psalm 5:4-5). Those who
condemn God for allowing wickedness to continue, foolishly assume that if God
eliminated all evildoers they would be the exception, and that is just another
form of self-righteousness. Most of the suffering in the world is caused by
men, and the suffering caused by storms etc. is in the world because of sin. So
for God to eliminate sin, He would have to judge the world, and destroy it. And, that will come to pass. However, the words, Therefore having overlooked the times of
ignorance; God now commands all men every where to repent, tell us that
God has not eliminated sin because He is giving us a chance to repent (Acts
17:30).