Q. 6. Did God create man evil and perverse like this?

A. No. On the contrary, God created man good and in his image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that he might rightly know God his Creator, love him with his whole heart, and live with him in eternal blessedness, praising and glorifying him.

Q. 7. Where, then, does this corruption of human nature come from?

A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden; whereby our human life is so poisoned that we are all conceived and born in the state of sin.

Q. 8. But are we so perverted that we are altogether unable to do good and prone to do evil?

A. Yes, unless we are born again through the Spirit of God.

 Is God to blame for the problem of sin in the world today?  Couldn’t God have prevented all the sin and evil in the world by just not putting the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden in the first place?

God created us so that we might know Him, love Him, and live with Him.  But we were not pre-programmed to do so; we were given a choice.  God wants us to come to Him freely, to choose to know Him, love Him, and glorify Him.  With the choice comes the tremendous potential for good and evil.

If we are honest with ourselves, each of us knows that, like Adam and Eve, we have placed ourselves in the center of the garden; we have put ourselves in the place of God.  Instead of trusting in God to be our source of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we have taken this role upon ourselves.  We have, as Satan promised, become like God, in that we are now the center of our universe.  But since we are not God, we cannot maintain this charade; we cannot live apart from the source of life so we are cursed with death.

The Reformed Faith is not pessimistic about the state of humanity, neither is it optimistic.  It is realistic.  We believe that humanity is fallen and in desperate need of a savior.  We are so perverted that we are altogether unable to do good and prone to do evil, unless we are born again through the Spirit of God.  “Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:24-25)

Prayer

Father God, in the light of your Word, I know who I really am.  I am a sinner, broken, in need of your forgiveness and healing.  God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner, and grant me peace. 

For Jesus’ sake.  Amen.