Spiritual bipolar nature of fallen mankind (an evil pole and a good Pole)

[davidgeminden]

If just having knowledge of good and evil means that man is fallen and condemned, then why is not God’s nature fallen and condemned also because Gen. 3:22 states that man has become like God knowing good and evil? However, the majority of scripture indicates that God's nature is pure good (holy, righteous and just); therefore, it must not be just mere knowledge of good and evil that condemns fallen mankind since God already told Adam and Eve what was the good thing to do and what the evil thing to do was before they sinned by disobeying God's instructions; therefore, I believe it must be an inherent internal fallen bipolar nature (one pole is good and the other pole is evil) produced by the sin of Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God’s command that condemns fallen man, and this fallen bipolar nature is what internally drives mankind to do good and evil (at the discretion of their free wills) and gives mankind an inherent internal knowledge of good and evil. Calvinist’s teach that fallen mankind has only an inherent single poled nature of evil that does not move/drive men and women to do good. Many Calvinists teaches that a person has to be indwelt first by the (Holy Spirit) (regenerated, born again) in order to be made to do the good thing of believing in Christ as their savior. All Calvinists teach that man has to have God first perform an effective magical supernatural transformation of a person's will into a believing will (even if they do not call it regeneration, born again) because they believe man's internal single evil poled nature does not have any internal drive to do good, especially the good of making a free will decision to accept Jesus as their savior.

In the book of Romans, Paul gave evidence that mankind has a bipolar nature having two poles (one pole is good and the other pole is evil). In Rom. 2:15 the Holy Spirit states through the Apostle Paul that the gentiles have the law written in their hearts which I believe is biblical evidence of the good spiritual pole of the bipolar nature of fallen mankind. In Rom. 7:23 the Holy Spirit has the Apostle Paul state that a law of sin dwells in his members which I believe is biblical evidence of the evil spiritual pole of the bipolar nature of fallen mankind.

I believe humans are born corrupted bipolar sinners [The unsaved old man (Rom. 6:6; Eph.4:22; Col. 3:9)] having bipolar hearts/natures (“the heart is deceitful above all things….” – Jer. 17:9) with two spiritual poles (good and evil) because of Adam's and Eve's sin; that is, fallen/corrupted/sinful mankind has a spiritually bipolar nature, a good pole and an evil pole (Gen. 2:16-17; Gen. 3:1-7; Rom. 1:19, Rom. 2:14-15, Rom. 7:15-25), internally pulling on our free wills, rather than just externally pulling on our wills as took place with God’s external commands and instructions and the external temptation of the serpent that took place in the garden of Eden – thus, man knowing good and evil is the result of the fallen bipolar nature received when Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because one pole of man's bipolar fallen nature is evil, it inclines unsaved mankind and saved mankind towards sin and ensures that morally capable people will sin and not be able to live a perfect sinless life. The new man (born again person) is a Christian born again (indwelt by the Holy Spirit and should be willingly walking in/after the Spirit); that is, the new man has a good spiritual pole, an evil spiritual pole and the indwelling Holy Spirit and should be (of his own free will) willingly walking in/after the Spirit (Eph. 3:16, Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 7:24-8:26; Gal. 5:16-25).

I refer to myself as an "inherent-free-willer" Christian, which means I believe in the inherent ability of fallen unsaved mankind to accept/believe or reject God's call/drawing/convicting/convincing/persuading teaching work using the creation, the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit (Rom. 1:18-20; Rom. 10:8-17; 1Thess. 2:13; Heb. 4:12; Luke 8:21; Jn. 15:26, 16:13; 2 Thess. 2:13).

My limited knowledge of early Christian history led me to conclude that when the early Christians concluded that fallen mankind had only one nature that was evil, the door was opened for pagan unconditional determinism/predestination to be easily injected into Christianity ultimately resulting in the development of an anemic puppeteering sovereign God concept and the TULIP soteriology.

 

[gr8grace3]

So is this Armin VS Cal? You do know that there is a Biblical view right? Because both of those theologies have holes the size of the grand canyon in them.

Good and evil.........It is not about sin in Gen 3:5. Good and evil is the knowledge of DIVINE GOOD and human good/evil..........put those leaves on(EVIL/human good) Adam and cover your nakedness.

 

[GodsGrace]

If just having knowledge of good and evil means that man is fallen and condemned, then why is not God’s nature fallen and condemned also because Gen. 3:22 states that man has become like God knowing good and evil? However, the majority of scripture indicates that God's nature is pure good (holy, righteous and just); therefore, it must not be just mere knowledge of good and evil that condemns fallen mankind since God already told Adam and Eve what was the good thing to do and what the evil thing to do was before they sinned by disobeying God's instructions; therefore, I believe it must be an inherent internal fallen bipolar nature (one pole is good and the other pole is evil) produced by the sin of Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God’s command that condemns fallen man, and this fallen bipolar nature is what internally drives mankind to do good and evil (at the discretion of their free wills) and gives mankind an inherent internal knowledge of good and evil. Calvinist’s teach that fallen mankind has only an inherent single poled nature of evil that does not move/drive men and women to do good. Many Calvinists teaches that a person has to be indwelt first by the (Holy Spirit) (regenerated, born again) in order to be made to do the good thing of believing in Christ as their savior. All Calvinists teach that man has to have God first perform an effective magical supernatural transformation of a person's will into a believing will (even if they do not call it regeneration, born again) because they believe man's internal single evil poled nature does not have any internal drive to do good, especially the good of making a free will decision to accept Jesus as their savior.

In the book of Romans, Paul gave evidence that mankind has a bipolar nature having two poles (one pole is good and the other pole is evil). In Rom. 2:15 the Holy Spirit states through the Apostle Paul that the gentiles have the law written in their hearts which I believe is biblical evidence of the good spiritual pole of the bipolar nature of fallen mankind. In Rom. 7:23 the Holy Spirit has the Apostle Paul state that a law of sin dwells in his members which I believe is biblical evidence of the evil spiritual pole of the bipolar nature of fallen mankind.

I believe humans are born corrupted bipolar sinners [The unsaved old man (Rom. 6:6; Eph.4:22; Col. 3:9)] having bipolar hearts/natures (“the heart is deceitful above all things….” – Jer. 17:9) with two spiritual poles (good and evil) because of Adam's and Eve's sin; that is, fallen/corrupted/sinful mankind has a spiritually bipolar nature, a good pole and an evil pole (Gen. 2:16-17; Gen. 3:1-7; Rom. 1:19, Rom. 2:14-15, Rom. 7:15-25), internally pulling on our free wills, rather than just externally pulling on our wills as took place with God’s external commands and instructions and the external temptation of the serpent that took place in the garden of Eden – thus, man knowing good and evil is the result of the fallen bipolar nature received when Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because one pole of man's bipolar fallen nature is evil, it inclines unsaved mankind and saved mankind towards sin and ensures that morally capable people will sin and not be able to live a perfect sinless life. The new man (born again person) is a Christian born again (indwelt by the Holy Spirit and should be willingly walking in/after the Spirit); that is, the new man has a good spiritual pole, an evil spiritual pole and the indwelling Holy Spirit and should be (of his own free will) willingly walking in/after the Spirit (Eph. 3:16, Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 7:24-8:26; Gal. 5:16-25).

I refer to myself as an "inherent-free-willer" Christian, which means I believe in the inherent ability of fallen unsaved mankind to accept/believe or reject God's call/drawing/convicting/convincing/persuading teaching work using the creation, the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit (Rom. 1:18-20; Rom. 10:8-17; 1Thess. 2:13; Heb. 4:12; Luke 8:21; Jn. 15:26, 16:13; 2 Thess. 2:13).

My limited knowledge of early Christian history led me to conclude that when the early Christians concluded that fallen mankind had only one nature that was evil, the door was opened for pagan unconditional determinism/predestination to be easily injected into Christianity ultimately resulting in the development of an anemic puppeteering sovereign God concept and the TULIP soteriology.

Hi D
Welcome to the forum. I think it's a very good idea for you to be here and here's why...

Everything you've said above is correct except that you use terms that are unorthodox. It would be good for you to speak with Christian terms for a couple of reasons...you may want to witness or already are....it's easier to understand each other. Would you agree?

For instance the evil polar would be the sin nature.
The good polar would be our spirit.

As to the early church and calvinism...
Youre referring to Augustine here. And the year 400 AD.
I'd say the early church father's refers to those pre the Nicene Council of 325.
And I'd add A created a bit of a problem, and, he was the only one to come up with this idea of predestination. Calvin, of course, taught double predestination and that is a doctrine insulting to God's nature.

You put a lot out there!

 

[Jim Parker]

If just having knowledge of good and evil means that man is fallen and condemned

That's not what it means.
Having a "fallen nature" means that we exercise our free will to sin rather than to obey God.

 

[eddif]

Welcome aboard.

IMHO. Romans 1:20 KJV
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Genesis 2:17 KJV
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

The symbolism tree of good and evil.

Do not get your nourishment from the tree (especially live by tree derived knowledge).

Our senses use tree like nerve networks to transfer knowledge. The serpent tempted Eve to use her senses to gain knowledge.

Genesis 3:6 KJV
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it waspleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Eve heard: the serpent (hearing).
Eve saw:
More cranial nerves are used for sight.

So the Word of God was overcome by the senses.

We can use spiritual gifts to get information, but senses led by Satan will lead you astray.

eddif