Is The Fall compatible with evolution?

[mitchellmckain (Scientist and Christian)]

@Anthony

@mitchellmckain

Now suppose I took people with both such imbalances and injected them with chemicals which corrected these problems so that it was impossible to predict the what they would do afterwards with any degree of certainty, do you think I bear all responsibility for what happens no matter what that may be?

What exactly are you referring to here?

It is an hypothetical question just like the one you asked me. I answered your question. Do you have a problem answering mine?

@Anthony

It seems like our negative traits can condemn us but our positive traits can’t save us

Close, but not quite. It is not our traits or any other circumstances which condemn us. It is our choices. Why? Because that is who we are – not our circumstances but our choices. (Perhaps you can say, that is my existentialist background speaking – existence precedes essence. It is only after we experience existence in whatever circumstances, that we find our essence in the choices we make.)

@Anthony

free will?

Not the question no, but my response here, definitely yes. I am an incompatibilist libertarian open theist.

@mitchellmckain

libertarian means I believe in free will not as a magical addition but as a part of the self-organizing process of life itself. It is not universal, absolute, or guaranteed, but varies considerable between people and can be damaged by a great number of different things. Sin destroys free will and makes people predictable and easy to manipulate.

incompatibilist means I do not believe that free will is compatible with determinism or absolute predestination. I don’t think an already written future is even compatible with consciousness.

open theist means the future only exists as a superposition of possibilities. Knowledge is a form of power and as we have discovered in quantum physics to know the future is to create the future. Omniscient means God has the ability to know whatever He chooses same as omnipotence means God has the ability to accomplish whatever He chooses and not that He must do so.

@Anthony

In the context of Romans 3:23, given that all have sinned, doesn’t it follow that the above has been pretty much useless in helping humans to avoid falling short of the glory of God?

That is correct. Why? Because sin is degenerative. It grows and it destroys until there is nothing left of any value within us. Like I have said elsewhere, sin consists of self-destructive habits.