Inevitable Sin? (QoW #1007)

A listener writes in with a philosophical challenge to the coherence of Christian doctrine: if God knowingly creates the exact conditions under which people will sin, how can he justly hold them responsible for sinning, and how can Christ's atonement make sense as a remedy for a failure that was effectively built into the system? Dr. Craig traces the problem to a hidden assumption in the question: theological necessitarianism, the idea that circumstances which make sin likely also make it inevitable. He argues that God's providence creates freedom-permitting circumstances, not deterministic ones, citing 1 Corinthians 10:13 on God's promise to supply a way of escape from every temptation. Craig also draws a key distinction between moral perfection, which he grants is impossible for finite creatures, and simply living without sin, using Adam and Eve's pre-fall innocence as an example of the latter without the former. He closes by addressing apostasy directly, denying that God ever places anyone in circumstances they are unable to handle.

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