My conviction is, that, near or far off, in ourselves, or in our ancestors — say Adam and Eve, for comprehension’s sake — all our ailments have a moral cause. I think that if we were all good, disease would, in the course of generations, disappear utterly from the face of the earth.

What a remarkable concept! I had read this story several times and obviously overlooked this gem. All of Christianity is pretty much in agreement that disease and death were a result of the “fall” in the Garden of Eden. But what if Adam and Eve weren’t kicked out of the garden because they had sinned, but rather because they continued to sin? And this started the pattern of sinning that they passed on to future generations.

Disease, then, is directly connected to practiced sin — whether outward or hidden. Does that mean that a person’s sickness is an indicator of personal sin? The greater the sickness, the more sin present?

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How did we come to be so bad?  Some folks don’t seem to be so bad, some are more consistently bad, and still others appear to be ”rotten to the core.”  As the saying goes, “Nobody’s perfect.”  Why is that?  Is badness contagious?   Does the Devil always make us do it?  Or do all of us have varying quantities of bad genes?

In the religious circles we’re taught that we can’t help being bad, that we’re born that way.  Ironically, they also teach us that our badness destines us for destruction — even though it wasn’t our fault.  We were born that way, right?

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What are you free from?  Are you free from any authority figures around you?  Not likely.  Can you do ANYTHING you want (within your ability, of course)?  Sure.  But expect some of those things to bring responses or consequences.

For the purpose of this discussion the question is, Does God make us do what he wants, or does he give us the authority to really choose — even if it means to reject him — FOREVER?   

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