Original sin

I thank GMDebater for issuing this challenge. Things have come full circle in the Scriptures because just as Adam and Eve committed the original sin, Jesus became a man and died on the cross so that we could be forgiven of our sins.Contention 1: Death existed before the fall.Let's take a look at what happened in the Garden.First, God planted the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and told Adam and Eve not to eat from it (Genesis 2:9, 16-17). They were free to eat from any tree in the garden, save this one. Adam and Eve started life as perfect human beings because they had not yet sinned. God's standard for us is perfection, so He had to give them the possibility of sinning in order for them to truly be perfect (without the possibility of evil, there is no standard for good). God told them that disobedience would result in death (Gen. 2:17). Satan convinced Eve to eat the fruit because she "would not surely die," and indeed when she and Adam ate, they didn't die physically. However, the death in question was a spiritual death. By sinning, they were now separated from God and God was not able to fellowship with them as He had before (He actually walked and talked with Adam). Not only that, but by sinning death then entered the world (Romans 5:12). They were expelled from the garden so that they wouldn't become immortal again, but it was the act of sinning that made them mortal. Due to their sin, they were now going to die physically (Romans 6:23).ConclusionAs you can see, the fall happened when Adam and Eve sinned, and they were made mortal (death entered the world) at the point where they sinned. Death did not exist before the fall.Contention 2: One person cannot die for the sins of another"Therefore, we clearly see that the idea that we die because Adam and Eve sinned is contradictory to the fact that we cannot die because of someonelses sin."You're absolutely correct. We do not die for Adam and Eve's sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, it "opened the door," so to speak, for sin to run rampant in the world. All of creation was now cursed because of the original sin. However, as the Scriptures also attest, everyone sins (Romans 3:23), and that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). You sin and I sin. We die because we sin. That's a fact of Scripture. It's not because of Adam's sin, but our own, that we die. The result of Adam and Eve's sin is that all of creation now had a curse (Genesis 3:14-19).However, let's look at Jesus' atonement.When God told humanity that everyone must die for their own sins, He was talking about physical death. Even if we are forgiven by believing in Jesus and seeking repentance, we still must physically die. It's our own sin that we die for. When Jesus died on the cross, He did so to bring us back into reconciliation with God so that we can be forgiven. Even though we still physically die, we don't need to spiritually die and spend eternity in Hell (Hebrews 9:27-28).Even though God told humans that we must be held accountable for our own sins (we must die for our own sins), it was God Himself who offered a way out of sin's punishment by sending Jesus to the cross. God is the one who has the ultimate standard of good for humanity and who issued that we must die for our own sins. Therefore, God also has the right and authority to offer a way out of that if He so chooses.I look forward to our next round.