Someone asked how could Adam be "easily manipulated" if man was made in God's image?
If you have a shorter answer than mine below,
please reply and I will share it with that person who asked.
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At that early stage in human development
which Adam represents, starting with natural obedience to God's laws,
man has gained *self awareness* by opening our eyes to the nature of good and evil
and choice between them.
However, we STILL have not fully matured to self discipline and self govern ourselves,
but to THIS DAY human run institutions still fall to greed for control and selfish biases.
That is why our justice system is NOT PERFECT (nor our govts) but prone to
favor ONE group over OTHER interests and causing ENDLESS wars and conflicts.
That is why nations are at war over controlling economic resources, populations and boundaries,
defending one group from another threatening to invade or dominate.
We see this ALL the time.
Human beings are prone to selfish ego, biases and flaws which lead to corruption and abuse.
Easily "manipulated" by our fears and self interests to compromise the rights and equal protection of other groups and beliefs.
How is this not anything new?
The whole REASON that Christians celebrate and honor the sacrifice and redemption in Christ Jesus
is this represents breaking free from selfish conditions and receiving divine forgiveness, grace
and authority to establish TRUE universal and equal justice, which man is too selfish and flawed to achieve otherwise.
Before, with only Adam's "childlike" obedience to God's laws, this was NOT enough to
prevent the abuses of free will that lead to corruption by FEAR and selfishness.
To RESTORE the natural childlike state takes the process that JESUS represents,
of FORGIVING past transgressions to overcome FEAR with LOVE and restore
the natural image of man that reflects God again.
This ability to receive and RESTORE "Equal Justice" and live by the Spirit and Authority of higher laws
comes with the incarnation of JESUS into the world of man made corrupted by selfish ego and greed,
which the original sin represents.
When we reach an agreed understanding of what Jesus means as Equal Justice
Universal to all people, then we can finally mature and create peaceful means of maintaining justice in society.
Right now, no, we are still seeing selfish politics pit one group as superior over others.
Not quite ready to receive yet, but enough people ARE demanding corrections,
that if we CAN unite "in Christ" or "by Conscience" then we CAN agree on
how to establish true EQUAL JUSTICE and quit fighting over which way or which group is
going to dominate the process. It will really take ALL groups working together equally
to achieve Equal Justice and Peace for all people. Not just one group having all the right answers.
This is what we are going through now, that realization that for each
person or group teaching wrong things, that same person/group has right answers
that are part of the global solution.
When we forgive the wrongs and correct them by focusing on the right ideas
that each person/group has to offer, then we can put the collective solutions together
where everyone shares equal credit and responsibility for solving problems.
This is the process that the END of the Bible points to.
So from the BEGINNING of the process when Adam and Eve
represent the lineage of man with self awareness and conscience,
to the END stages where human conscience reaches full
realization of what it takes to establish universal truth, justice and peace,
the rest of the process in between is where all the changes and stages
of spiritual/social growth and development to maturity
occur over human history, and generational struggles,
that we are still seeing and going through today.
