Editor:
Last week, Mr. Cantrell dismissed my argument that we die because we are sinners as an “old tired tradition.” He then declared it to be a contradiction of Genesis 1:26-27, which he says states that we are made in the image of God and therefore worthy of love.
I wonder why Mr. Cantrell would see fit to quote and believe one part of the Bible, but not the part two chapters later in Genesis 3 that tells about the fall of man into sin, and the death that passed upon the human race as a result of that sin. If Genesis 1:26-27 is true, then the subsequent narrative is equally true, and may not be dismissed as “old tired tradition.”
If he is going to believe one part of the Bible, he needs to believe all of it, for it all stands or falls together. Jesus declared this truth in John 10:35 when He said: “the scripture cannot be broken” — that is, no part of it is in error.
The point is, we are not in the condition of our original creation described in Genesis 1:26-27, we are now fallen and sinful, and therefore worthy of death, as we are told in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death…”
Does Mr. Cantrell not think himself to be a sinner? Has he perfectly kept the Ten Commandments? I certainly have not. I own myself to be a “lousy, rotten, dirty, wretched sinner,” as Mr. Cantrell describes. And if we are sinners, then we, by God’s just sentence, are worthy of death.
Mr. Cantrell then supplies his own explanation for death: We die because we are mortal, and mortality is terminal. This is an observation, not an explanation; it does nothing to explain why people die.
His quote from Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, that the dead know nothing, as a proof of the absence of physical immortality, ignores the plain meaning of the passage, which is that the dead know nothing regarding this world — they have passed on to the next.
In the next world they are clearly conscious, either in heaven or in hell, awaiting the resurrection of their bodies on the last day. The entire New Testament bears abundant witness to that fact.
Finally, Mr. Cantrell tries to charge God with responsibility for the entrance of sin into the world. This would be true if man were a robot and were coerced into sinning by God. In fact, man was and is a free moral agent who is responsible for his own actions, and he knew exactly what he was doing when he alone chose to defy God’s will and to bring on himself the forewarned consequences of that action.
Mr. Cantrell says he places his faith in humanity. It says in Psalm 118:8 “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” I think Mr.Cantrell has made a poor choice as to where to place his trust.
May we all repent of our sins and put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of our sins, and thereby experience resurrection to eternal life.
Max Doner
Sweet Home