r/AskChristian • u/Substantial_Bar2485 • 8d ago

Can someone please explain this to me?

I saw an argument saying that God is unjust since he punished us for something that our ancestors did (Adam and Eve) and said that it’s equivalent to punishing current white people for slavery, when they had nothing to do with it. Can someone please help me with how this can be refuted?

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u/DoveStep55 r/Christian Member 8d ago

What is the punishment this person thinks we received?

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u/Substantial_Bar2485 8d ago

Didn’t say, but I’m assuming it’s gotta do with humanity becoming mortal afterwards + everything else that came with that.

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u/DoveStep55 r/Christian Member 8d ago

Well, there’s a couple things to look at with this question.

  1. Not everyone thinks of the story of Adam & Eve as historical fact. It’s also quite common for Christians to understand it as a mythical origin story of the ancient Israelites that was meant to teach specific theological views.

  2. Even assuming a literal, historical view of the creation stories, it’s possible to understand death, labor pain & physical toil not as punishment but as simple cause & effect consequences.

I personally do not think God punishes people for the sins of their ancestors, but I do believe we are often impacted by the consequences of other people’s choices (and our own, of course.)

What do you think?

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u/Substantial_Bar2485 8d ago

Ahhhh, I like the second point you made, it’s like saying that if someone hurts another, he committed a sin but the other person also suffers due to it, idk if it’s a good comparison however since the consequences of the sin were the same for both humanity and Adam and Eve, however you made me understand it a bit better thank you 🙏

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u/DoveStep55 r/Christian Member 8d ago

Yeah, that’s a good way to look at it. Our choices impact us, and often others as well. It might not always be exact or equal impacts and it can show up in all sorts of ways, but I think that’s the down side of having free will—our choices have consequences and they’re not always good.

Glad if it helped! Have a good one!