The Role of Sin in God’S Plan

By George E Pfautsch

As Christians, we believe that our Lord is a loving, kind, and merciful God. Because of that belief, many Christians as well as non-Christians find it difficult to understand how a loving God can permit evil and sin in the world.

The role of sin in Gods divine plan is a complex, mysterious, spiritual issue, which humans can only partially understand. The acceptance of the belief that God is perfect in love and sent his only son to suffer and die for our sins can give us small insights and understandings of the role of sin in his divine plan.

The purpose of this book is to examine those small insights in order for us to better appreciate why our loving God would allow sin to be a part of his divine plan.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524656980

George E Pfautsch

George E Pfautsch spent most of his working life as a financial executive for a major forest products and paper company. His final years with Potlatch Corporation (now Potlatch Deltic Corporation) were spent as the Senior Vice-President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer. Following his retirement, he began writing about the national morality he believes was intended for this country by the founding fathers. He is the author of fifteen previous books covering the subjects of faith, freedom, morality, and justice. In addition, he is the co-author of a book written by Melitta Strandberg, which is the story of her family’s quest for freedom, before, during and after World War II. He is also the co-author of a book written by Leroy New, the “Guitar Wizard” of Branson, Missouri. George is married to Dodi, his wife of more than 60 years. He has two children, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

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© 2017 George E Pfautsch. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/27/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-5699-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-5698-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016921249

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scriptural passages have been taken from The New American Bible - Saint Joseph Edition and all catechetical passages have been taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 PRIDE - THE ROOT OF SIN

CHAPTER 2 THE FALLEN ANGELS AND THE FIRST SIN

CHAPTER 3 ADAM AND EVE

CHAPTER 4 THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

CHAPTER 5 THE SINS OF BETRAYAL

CHAPTER 6 THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS

CHAPTER 7 THE SEVEN REDEEMING VIRTUES

CHAPTER 8 THE SUFFERING AND DEATH OF OUR LORD

CHAPTER 9 THE RESURRECTION

CHAPTER 10 FAITH, HOPE AND SIN

CHAPTER 11 LOVE

CHAPTER 12 THE KINGDOM OF GOD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

The role of sin in God’s divine plan is a complex, mysterious, spiritual issue, which humans can only partially understand. But what we as humans, through our faith, know and can understand is that our God is perfect in love and also perfect in spiritual wisdom. Understanding and accepting that can give us small insights and understandings of the role of sin in his divine plan.

Because of his divine spiritual wisdom He understood perfectly that sin through his creation of angels and humans would become a reality. That, of course, leads to the question of why a good and gracious God would create sinful angels and humans.

Through our faith and Christian teachings, we accept that in his perfect wisdom God gave humans a free will whereby they could comply with his wishes or follow their own flawed reasoning and depart from his wishes (sin). We know less of the free will that was given to the angels, but Sacred Scripture provides us with enough reasons, to accept that they had the latitude to depart from his wishes.

In trying to better understand why the perfect, divine, spiritual wisdom of God permitted sin to be a part of his plan, we will rely heavily on Sacred Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. We must acknowledge and accept that much of the divine wisdom of God is a mystery and that extends to his reason to permit evil and sin. We must also acknowledge immediately that we cannot come close to understanding very deeply our Lord’s wisdom in our assessment of the role of sin in his plan. Most of his plans for his creation are a mystery. Therefore, we will attempt to note those occasions when we rely on our own faith opinions with the understanding of their limitations.

One thing we do know from Sacred Scripture is our Lord’s frequent admonitions to the Pharisees that they apply laws and procedures in a loving, forgiving, kind, compassionate and merciful manner. It is also a safe assumption to believe that those same admonitions apply to all of us on earth today and those who have lived on earth in the past and who will live on the earth in the future. Those admonitions explain a great deal of the sinful nature of humans.

A vast amount of laws and procedures do not eliminate the sinful pride of humans. It is through humility that we diminish sinful pride. And as Jesus kept reminding the Pharisees and all of us, humility demands forgiveness, repentance, love, kindness, mercy and compassion.

We also know that our Lord came to earth to give us a new covenant and to teach us regarding that new covenant. It was based on love of Him and love of our neighbor. His primary reason to come to earth and be one of us was to suffer and die for our sins so we would one day be able to spend eternity with Him in his Kingdom. In doing that He reminded us that no greater love could be demonstrated than to die for another. By dying for us He was able to demonstrate his great divine love for us.

Without sin in the world, there would have been no need for his suffering, death and resurrection. A wise and perfect God could foresee that the resurrection of his Son would one day become a reality.

It was through his suffering, death and resurrection that Jesus was able to demonstrate his great love for all humans. Without sin, that demonstration of his great love would not have been needed and thus it is reasonable for us to believe that sin may have been a part of God’s plan so He could demonstrate that great love for all his creation.

So sin and love are kindred. It is through one (sin), that the other (love) could be more vividly demonstrated. God is love and through the greatest sacrifice of all, the Crucifixion, He could demonstrate that love for all of us.

There are many questions that can be contemplated in the assessment of the role of sin in God’s plan. Some of those follow:

Could we understand God’s great love of us and all his creations if, because of our sins, He had not come to earth and suffered and died for our sins to earn us redemption?

How would God’s kingdom have been created if there had been no Resurrection?

What other means could God have chosen to