Adam

[Business_Man]

The Muslim View

Allah told Adam and his wife to live in the Garden and to eat what they wanted from any of the bountiful things growing there. However, he specified one tree from which they were not to eat. Satan whispered to Adam and his wife that he was a sincere adviser and that he could show them how to live forever with a never-fading kingdom. They were deceived by Satan and they tasted of the tree. They became aware of their nakedness. Allah called to them to answer for their actions. They confessed their fault, noting they had wronged their own souls. They appealed to the mercy of Allah. He sent them down to earth to dwell for a time. He instructed them that, because they had been stripped of their robes by Satan, they must now clothe themselves with righteousness by obeying Allah. Only in this way could they regain access to the Garden at their death.

 

 

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A Christian Response

In the Biblical account God created Adam first, then Eve out of Adam. He created them in His own image and gave them dominion over the whole earth. The Garden of Eden was part of this world, whereas in the Qur'an the Garden is not. God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan deceived Eve into eating from this tree. However, Adam was not deceived. He ate of the tree simply because Eve gave him the fruit in full knowledge of the evil he was committing. Then they both became aware of their nakedness. God walked through the garden in the evening and called out to Adam. He blamed Eve and Eve blamed Satan. God pronounced judgement and punishment upon His creatures. Eve was cursed with the pain of childbirth and male domination. Adam's curse brought death, weeds, decay and drudgery into the whole creation. God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.

 

 

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The Nature and Consequences of Sin

The Islamic View

In Islam sin is law-breaking. It does not corrupt the hearts and minds of wrong-doers. Adam's sin did not damage the world in any way. The punishment for the wrong-doing of Adam and his wife was to be sentenced to life on earth. The descendants of Adam are all put to the test of obedience, though according to most Muslims, no-one is considered to be guilty before they are born. Islamic law (Shari'a) and jurisprudence (Fiqh) mostly deal with lawbreaking. Man is created weak and makes faults and mistakes.

 

Allah has given a blueprint for every facet of life, including criminal, social, civil and religious laws. Deviaton from this pattern is sin resulting in failure in society, relationships, commerce and culture. Eternal sins are only applicable to unbelievers or apostates of Islam.

 

There is a gradation of sins

 

 

sayyia, khatia: mistakes (Suras 7:168; 17:31; 40:45; 47:19 48:2)

itada, junah, dhanb: immorality (Suras 2:190,229; 17:17 33:55)

haram: transgressions (Suras 5:4; 6:146)

ithm, dhulam, fujur, su, fasad, fisk, kufr: wickedness and depravity (Suras 2:99, 205; 4:50, 112, 123, 136; 12:79; 38:62; 82:14)

shirk: ascribing a partner to Allah (Sura 4:48)

Normally Muslims are protected by Allah from the above sins, though this protection is not afforded to non-Muslims.

 

There are, however, punishments for each and every sin. Much space in the Qur'an and Hadith is given over to these punishments. Muslims maintain that Allah may forgive them any of the sins except for the sin of Shirk. (Sura 4:48)

 

The Christian View

 

In Christianity this world was created perfect but has become full of pain, death, decay, disease and corruption because of the sin of Adam. Human beings were created good, but became corrupted, not just in the outward body which is now subject to death, but also in the inward heart which has become full of darkness, selfishness and evil. Sin is not just broken laws, but is the very corruption of life and creation itself. When anything or anyone falls under the power of sin and evil they are never left unaffected. Sin corrupts, enslaves, perverts, decays and eventually kills. Because Adam and Eve submitted to Satan they became enslaved to the power of sin. Due to their selfish desires, free and open friendship with God was ruined. God could not tolerate their presence any longer, though He had made them in His image to be His friends, even His children.

 

Adam's sin was not primarily the breaking of God's commandments, but the breaking of God's friendship. God called out for Adam because the first thing He focused on was the broken relationship. By hiding from his former friend Adam revealed that sin was like a divorce initiated by him. Adam knew he had betrayed the One who had come down to the garden to walk and talk with him. The trust and intimacy that had bound him to his Maker were gone and could not be restored with a simple word of forgiveness. The wounds of a friend always strike deepest and are the hardest to heal. This corruption and alienation from God is passed on to all of Adam's offspring, down to today. In the rest of the Bible we see God in various ways seeking to draw His beloved humanity back into relationship with Himself.

 

 

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Answering the Problem of Sin

In Islam sin or mistakes do not constitute a fundamental problem. If the relationship between Allah and humanity is a master-slave relationship, the slave can be sent back to work after a disobedience. Because sin is seen simply as disobedience, and not as a complete separation from the creator, Islam does not have a concept of the corrupting and distancing consequences of sin.

In Christianity, sin is the fundamental problem, not just with humanity, but with the universe itself. To break off relationship with God is much more than mere disobedience: it is to be cut off from life, health, vitality, peace, joy, safety and happiness. When Adam and Eve distrusted God, following Satan rather than their Friend, they caused a breach in the stability of the universe. Initially God and Adam walked and talked together in a complete intimate relationship (Genesis 3:8-9). Once sin was committed that relationship was impaired. God could no longer walk and talk with Adam and Eve, and banished them from His presence.

 

Divorced from their Friend, the Creator, humans cannot maintain their integrity but inevitably fall into death, decay, selfishness, disease, suffering and pain. Because all sinful life leads inexorably to death and decay, the only answer for the sin that had divorced humanity from God was the death of everything and the beginning of a new humanity and a new universe.

 

In the Old Testament God shows that sin finds its goal only in death and hell.

 

In the New Testament we find God the Son taking on an earthly, historical life, being born of the virgin Mary and living a life of perfect intimacy with His Father through the Spirit of God. When Jesus died He put the whole world to death in Himself. He bore in Himself all the death and corruption that sin produces and killed it in His own death. But when He rose from the dead, He was not the same as He had been before. He had a new body far more powerful and unconfined than His old human body.

 

 

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Restoring the Relationship

This new human life revealed at the resurrection of Jesus Christ is in perfect intimate friendship with God. In the death of Christ the serious issue of sin is resolved, and in the resurrection of Christ our broken relationship with God is finally restored.

Life in Jesus Christ is as if the sin of Adam, and all his descendants, had never happened. Jesus Christ is the Creator of a better human race and of a far more glorious universe. Consider; if a man murders the only child of a couple, there can be no true reconciliation unless the murderer can bring the child back, as though nothing had ever gone wrong.

 

Christians are people who are given the first part of this new human life. When they believe on Jesus Christ, then the Spirit of God gives them a new human spirit like the human spirit of the resurrected Jesus. Christians outwardly live in a world still alienated from God, yet inwardly they are part of a new creation, a new universe that will be visibly unveiled at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Outwardly Christians decay away like everything else in this world, but inwardly they grow stronger every day as they enjoy a renewed intimate relationship with the Living God. Because of this restored friendship with the Holy God, Christians are now able to behave in a holy, unselfish, God-pleasing way. According to the Bible good behaviour comes after a person has been reconciled to God, and is not truly possible before that.

 

 

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Conclusions

For Islam, sin or wrong-doing stands at the periphery of its teaching. Islam means submission to the will of Allah. The problem of past sin is resolved in present obedience to Allah's will, nothing more. This is because there is no intimate relationship between Allah and his creatures. He stands far above all human relationship or association, and is concerned only with his will being perfectly obeyed in his world.

For Christianity, sin is a central part of its teaching. The Gospel is centred upon the radical remedy for sin which is focused on the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. The problem of past sin, supremely Adam's sin, can never be solved by any amount of good behaviour now. The damage is done, the divorce has taken place. The message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a list of laws, but an offer to repair the relationship broken in Eden.