Plantinga 3 "Fall"

Once again we find ourselves immersed into Plantinga’s narrative, description, and insight into the Christian idea of the fall. Plantinga goes into several deep issues including powerful topics like good, evil, original sin, total depravity, and common grace. I will quickly go through each of these topics as presented by Plantinga and point out what I believe to be good points and weak points.
First we look at good and evil. Plantinga gives a relatively good description of evil. He states that evil is relatively everything apart from God. The only distinction that I would press upon Plantinga is that he pursues the idea that sin is anything that God does not want to happen. Now Plantinga may be using this definition to simplify such a complex issue, but what I would say is that sin although apart from God is not without his control. If God wants something to happen it will happen. Every sin, down to Judas’s betraying kiss, is subject Gods control and allowed to happen for Gods own design. I also have difficulty grasping the idea that in every evil there is a little good. It may be better to say that on occasion evil can be mixed with good, but to say that they must always be part of one another is technically incorrect, there is what I would call pure evil, absence of God, what scripture teaches as dead in sin. Where God is absent there is not good. There may be goodness at the start, but the two do not mix.
Second we look at original sin. I was impressed with Plantinga s description of original sin. As a whole Plantinga certainly has the right idea. The idea is that through the fall of Adam sin entered the world, and we were cursed and given over to (as Romans 1 states) to our own lust, and cursed (Gen. 3), by God. Sin entered the world and death through sin, “the wages of sin is death”. The only discrepancy I may have with Plantinga is that he give the notion, that we sin because of the world we are brought into, that we enter the world with a clean slate. This is not the case we are as a race, found guilty in Adam, he was our cooperate head, and because of his sin we are all at birth destitute and cursed in sin, that is the true reformed belief of original sin.
Third we look at the idea of total depravity, which Plantinga is not totally convinced off. He states that inside every person there is a little good leftover inside of us, and we are only partly depraved. Sadly such a view does not accurately describe what scripture teaches concerning the matter nor what the fathers of the reformation died fighting for. I have several times touched on the issue of total depravity in my blogs and in discussion. What it really boils down to is that man is subject completely and totally to sin. Scripture gives idea with many analogies blindness, darkness, slavery, and death. All of these examples are examples of absolutes there is no sight to the blind, there is no light in darkness, no freedom in bondage, and there is certainly no life in death. In the same way those of the traditional reformed interpretation of scripture believe there is no good in man. I would to love see a verse which describes man’s condition, outside of Christ, as only moderately bad or just partially off the mark salvation.
Fourthly I will only touch on Plantinga’s introduction of common grace, since I have a good feeling that the theology of the matter has yet to be truly stated by Plantinga later in the book. Plantinga introduces his idea on common grace, as God giving good things to bad and good people people. The only problem I have with this idea is the idea of a good thing to bad people. What really makes something good? The answer is not the object, action, or idea itself, but how it affects us. If you agree with this idea then you should see that God distributes objects, action, or ideas to all different people wicked and good. The object may be perceived as good by people and for people, but look at how those objects truly affect individuals in the long run. If the object is viewed outside of a gift from God it cannot be good (since God is good). People who receive objects, actions, or ideas from God and do not attribute them to God or thank God for them, not only make those things not good for them eternally, but those individuals will be judged by God for not attributing those things “gifts” to God, God does not see them as good, when they do not conform to both tables of the law.
Further discussion of these ideas and these theologies will be continued as we read through Plantinga. I would encourage those, especially if they profess to Reformed, to read, study, and analyze what the reformed church calls the three forms of unity if you have never done so. These three powerful documents give deep scriptural insights into all aspects of theology (based solely on scripture), and are, secondly only to scripture, the foundation the reformed faith. We must continue to pray for grace and humility as we give our small efforts to come closer and more fully understand the God we love so much.