Plantinga Chapter 3: The Fall

There are several quotes that stood out to me.

O Lord, thou has set up many candlesticks, and kindled many lamps in me, but I have either blown them out, or carried them to guide me in forbidden ways.  (John Donne)

I think this quote really points out the sinful nature in people. God has given us many talents and skills, and one of the many ways we sin is by ignoring them, or by using them in ways that He has not intended us to. However, another quote sheds a bit of hope onto the matter:

We have plenty of examples in this world of poor things being used for good purposes. God can make any indifferent thing, as well as evil itself, an instrument for good; but I submit that to do this is the business of God and not of any human being.   (Flannery O'Connor)

 Another quote that stood out is by Jonathan Edwards.

The more excellent things are ... the more manifold will the counterfeits be. So there are perhaps no graces that have more counterfeits than love and humility, these being virtues wherein the beauty of a true Christian does especially appear.

I think it's very true that love and humility have the most counterfeits. Counterfeits of love include infidelity and pornography. A counterfeit of humility may be a person who shows off his how humbleness, such as a Christian who prays or sings louder than others. While these counterfeits are the most common ones, I believe that they are also the most damaging ones too. Infidelity splits marriages, pornography desensitizes, and a proud Christian leads others astray.

This chapter on the fall of Man and sin reminded me of a poem called "Reverse Creation," by Bernard Backman

In the end, we destroyed the heaven that was called Earth. The Earth had been beautiful until our spirit moved over it and destroyed all things.
And we said…
Let there be darkness… and there was darkness. And we liked the darkness; so we called the darkness, Security. And we divided ourselves into races and religions and classes of society. And there was no morning and no evening on the seventh day before the end.
And we said…
Let there be a strong government to control us in our darkness. Let there be armies to control our bodies so that we may learn to kill one another neatly and efficiently in our darkness. And there was no evening and no morning on the sixth day before the end.
And we said…
Let there be rockets and bombs to kill faster and easier; let there be gas chambers and furnaces to be more thorough. And there was no evening and no morning on the fifth day before the end.
And we said…
Let there be drugs and other forms of escape, for there is this constant annoyance – Reality – which is disturbing our comfort. And there was no evening and no morning on the fourth day before the end.
And we said…
Let there be divisions among the nations, so that we may know who is our common enemy. And there was no evening and no morning on the third day before the end.
And finally we said…
Let us create God in our image. Let some other God compete with us. Let us say that God thinks as we think, hates as we hate, and kills as we kill. And there was no morning and no evening on the second day before the end.
On the last day, there was a great noise on the face of the Earth. Fire consumed the beautiful globe, and there was silence. The blackened Earth now rested to worship the one true God; and God saw all that we had done, and in the silence over the smoldering ruins… God wept.