your web page<\/a>: In the paragraph that starts: “The answer is fairly straight forward.”<\/p>\nI have difficulty with your answer, here’s why. I agree with your premise that God gave man choice. Personally, I think when God says He made us in His image, it is as much about choice as it is about being spiritual. Man must make a choice, God already gave him the rule. Apparently, Adam and Eve were following the rule until God allows Satan in the Garden. Note: God created everything; Satan is God’s devil.<\/p>\n
An interesting analogy if you are into mechanical or nuclear engineering.<\/p>\nBrittle fracture is the sudden, catastrophic failure of a substance with little or no plastic deformation (It breaks badly). To get brittle fracture it takes
\n1) susceptible substance (man)
\n2) pre-existing flaw or crack (the rule to be broken – not implying the law as bad, and as you stated without the law no choice exists)
\n3) tensile stress (the devil)\n
You take away any one of those three, and you don’t get failure.<\/p>\n\n
If you have time to reply, thanks for your input! Have a blessed weekend.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
The analogies were poorly chosen because they selected topics in which there are strong emotional reactions (rape and child molestation). That means the presenter is looking for an emotional response where their answerer to the question is not thinking things through. When I hear someone trying to use a heavy emotional illustration in what should be a rational discussion, I go on high alert. There is likely to be a flaw in the argument that can’t be dealt with, so it is hidden under emotions.<\/p>\n
In both the case of rape and child molestation, the victims are forced into situations where actions are taking place against their choice. The scenarios are not ones of free will, so why are they being used as illustrations in a discussion of free will? What happens is that there is a shift in responsibility. The child and the one being raped are not responsible for the situation. But in the Garden, Adam and Eve were responsible. They were not forced into eating the fruit. Satan persuaded them, but the choice was their own. In fact, Paul said this: “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression<\/em>” (I Timothy 2:14). Thus God, through Paul, told us that Eve was tricked, but Adam understood that what he did was wrong. Adam and Eve were responsible because of the choices they made. Satan was also responsible for the role he chose to play in the matter.<\/p>\nWhich brings us to the second instance of shifting blame, which was a bit more subtle. Yes, God made everything, including Satan, but it is a false assumption to say that God created Satan as evil. This passage indicates that Satan and his angels were created good: “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day<\/em>” (Jude 6). You can’t leave if you were never there. To claim that God created evil is to contradict a simple fact: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone<\/em>” (James 1:13). God did not block Satan from the Garden, but what happened was the fault of those who made the choices: Satan, Eve, and Adam. The attempt was to push some of the blame on God but there never was blame there.<\/p>\nTo ask what would have happened is merely speculation. We don’t have enough information to draw a conclusion about what did not happen.<\/p>\n\t
Question:<\/h2>\n
Thanks for your answer!<\/p>\n
You are correct in the heavy emotional overtones in some of the questions. With them, it is difficult to navigate with reason when all they feel is pain and lashing out. Trying to pull the emotion that aside, I am stuck with the struggle to explain to someone the existence of Satan in the garden. The argument of the child’s playroom as a safe and secure environment isn’t emotional to me. What most “good” parents might try and provide for their children. Our minister added that man had to have a choice because love can’t be coerced. I don’t see where they don’t have a choice, however. There was a rule. They seemed to follow it.<\/p>\n
But adjusting to your statement: Eve was deceived, but only once an incredibly powerful being, a master liar and deceiver, Satan, was allowed in – the grenade if you will.<\/p>\n
I do approach God and righteousness from a slightly different, but important perspective worth pointing out.<\/p>\n
God does not<\/strong> do what is right (just), it is right (JUST) because God is the one doing it. Read that again. He is completely sovereign, completely justified in his actions. He owes no explanation. Job had it write when question by God, saying he would cover his mouth.<\/p>\nThis could add emotion but is not meant to. If God did something harsh (something someone didn’t agree with, whatever) he isn’t wrong. He makes all the rules, therefore can’t break any of the rules. That being said he won’t contradict His nature or His word.<\/p>\n
That all being said, you are right in that it is all speculation. There are many unanswered questions that may get answered in heaven, maybe not.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
An illustration serves the purpose of explaining a complex idea by giving a parallel to something more familiar. An illustration is not proof because you would first have to prove that the illustration does match the complex idea. Illustrations are also limited to only the parallel concept being illustrated. Thus, you claimed that the incident in the garden was like brittle fractures, but that isn’t proof. Nor can you take other aspects of brittle fractures and then say the incident in the garden must have those aspects either. Illustrations don’t work in that manner.<\/p>\n
I strongly disagree with the idea that anything God does is right simply because God defines right. That definition leads to arbitrariness. For example, “God, who cannot lie, promised before time began<\/em>” (Titus 1:2). The point is not that God chooses not to lie or that if God lies it is no longer wrong. Paul is stating that God cannot<\/em> lie; it is against His nature; it is something He is unable to do. That is because God is righteous. “And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments”<\/em>” (Revelation 16:7). It doesn’t say that because God makes a judgment, therefore it becomes righteous. What is claimed is that God’s judgments are<\/em> true and righteous. That is all they can be because that is who God is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: I was scanning around the web and found your article on the Tree in the Garden. Some brothers get together for breakfast and fellowship one day a week before work. This week we had both an elder and minister, two deacons, and another brother. We occasionally discuss issues that I would not normally talk about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[189,90,354,238,235],"class_list":["post-28336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-genesis","tag-god","tag-responsibility","tag-righteousness","tag-satan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15777,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-satan-be-a-fallen-angel-when-god-did-not-put-cherubim-in-the-garden-until-after-adam-and-eve-fell\/","url_meta":{"origin":28336,"position":0},"title":"How could Satan be a fallen angel when God did not put cherubim in the Garden until after Adam and Eve fell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Satan was in the garden in the form of a serpent (Genesis 3:1; Revelation 20:2). Since Satan is not God we know he was created and as all of creation, he was a part of the very good (Genesis 1:31). This one in the garden was a cherub. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90599,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/college-campus-topics\/","url_meta":{"origin":28336,"position":1},"title":"College Campus Topics","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Being All-Powerful Is an Impossibility \"Being all-powerful is an impossibility. For example, can God create a rock so large he cannot lift it?\" This question was asked on the college campus. I responded that this is a self-contradictory question and does not follow the laws of logic.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17791,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-there-other-animals-in-the-garden-beside-the-serpent\/","url_meta":{"origin":28336,"position":2},"title":"Were there other animals in the garden beside the serpent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Were there animals in the garden of Eden apart from the snake that Satan used as his tool? Answer: On the sixth day, prior to Eve being created, we are told: \"Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19079,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-god-gave-us-free-will-why-is-it-satan-can-still-tempt-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":28336,"position":3},"title":"If God gave us free will, why is it Satan can still tempt us?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Okay, I don't really know how to put this so here goes: If God gave us free will, why is it Satan can still tempt us? Answer: A good question. Free will means that God allows you to make choices in your life. God decided before making the world\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8254,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-put-the-forbidden-tree-in-the-garden\/","url_meta":{"origin":28336,"position":4},"title":"Why did God put the forbidden tree in the garden?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a couple of doubts and am hoping to get an answer from you. Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, which was a sin. Why did God has created that tree? If there is no tree, then there would have been no sin. Why\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27732,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-satan-corrupt-the-world-before-the-fall-of-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":28336,"position":5},"title":"How did Satan corrupt the world before the fall of man?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! May I ask a question, please? How is it that Lucifer was upon this earth in the Garden of Eden in an already fallen state as the serpent and deceiver or devil? Lucifer had already corrupted the whole earth, before his fall from grace, according to the Bible.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}