Re: Origin of Sin & Theodicy [was [asa] Greg Boyd's Theodicy of Natural Evil]

Not to speak for David C., but I think what he's saying is consistent with a
"conditional immortality" view of death before sin, which is held by a
number of contemporary evangelicals (Walton in his Genesis commentary, and
Millard Erickson, for example). On this view, the human body was subject to
death and decay as it is now, but the process of death and decay would have
been perpetually arrested had man not sinned. Walton suggests that the tree
of life was a literal tree that somehow accomplished this.

While I think Walton's view of the tree of life is too literal, I think it's
interesting to consider what human technology would have been like absent
sin. Imagine the progress of technology if all people were in perfect
fellowship with God and with each other. Perhaps all the wondrous hopes we
now have for fields such as biotechnology -- like the senescence treatments
in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" series of sci-fi books -- could have been
realized. What if the tree of life is at least in part a metaphor for
knowledge and technology?

On 7/27/07, Steve Martin <steven.dale.martin@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Hi David,
>
> I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean by the option that:
>
>
> > it is only humans' sinful decisions that place humans in
> > danger from natural disasters and death
> >
>
> Do you mean by "danger" that physical death now includes spiritual
> death?
>
>
> Steve Martin (CSCA)
> http://evanevodialogue.blogspot.com/
>
>
> On 7/20/07, David Campbell <pleuronaia@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Has anyone seen any surveys of modern views (post-Darwin) of the
> > origin of
> > > sin and theodicy, in particular with respect to "natural evil" as
> > opposed to
> > > moral evil? Various views from my perspective include:
> > >
> > > 1. Human sin is the direct cause of natural evil (eg. Theodicy that
> > drives
> > > YEC)
> > > 2. Satan's / fallen angels' sin is the direct cause of natural evil
> > (eg.
> > > theodicy of Gap Theorists, Greg Boyd, maybe C.S. Lewis, and I guess
> > lots of
> > > others that Michael pointed too)
> > > 3. Human sin is the retroactive cause of natural evil (eg. See
> > Dembski's
> > > essay "Christian Theodicy in Light of Genesis and Modern Science ")
> > >
> > There would also be the option of arguing that "natural evil" is not
> > truly evil; it is only humans' sinful decisions that place humans in
> > danger from natural disasters and death or suffering of animals is not
> > inherently evil (though humans unnecessarily causing such is.)
> >
> > --
> > Dr. David Campbell
> > 425 Scientific Collections
> > University of Alabama
> > "I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
> >
> > To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
> > "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
> >
>
>

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Received on Fri Jul 27 16:21:11 2007