Through one man, Adam, sin entered the world. Sin was not here before Adam. Neither was physical death and suffering. I disagree with your conclusions here. First, when Jesus speaks of the unclean spirit being cast out and wandering, I believe he is anthropomorphically of the state of man (not the nature of evil spirits). In Matthew 12 and Luke 11, for example, this seems to be a continuation of the previous passage (of his casting out the demon). The point being that the empty house will not remain empty long. In the absence of God evil resides. Likewise, the point in Matthew 8:31 and Mark 4:12 is the destructive nature of these spirits, not that they look for a body in which to rest or reside (they drove the swine off the cliff, after all, ridding themselves of the bodies they had requested to enter).
If you are speaking of those evil spirits as the “spiritually dead” then I disagree. Satan goes before the very presence of God. If you are speaking of something else, then I do not understand what you mean. I agree. It was subjected to futility because God subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will also be set free into the freedom of the glory of God’s children. So creation groans and suffers, and we alongside as we await for the redemption of our body.
You are partly right. Those who have not heard of Jesus and do not believe are condemned. But it is not because God has created them in a place and time that they could not hear that they are condemned. They were already condemned, as were we all. I do believe that this is Christ centered, but their rejection is not necessarily rejecting a clear presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Baptist doctrine teaches that what is being reconciled is this world (this physical world) and man. This is why we seek that God's will be done here as it is in Heaven. Scripture, fortunately, affirms this doctrine we hold. It is what Paul states as the foundation of our faith. The identity of the one sheep is “one of these” throughout the passages in Matthew. The 99 are not heavenly beings, but the sheep given to the Shepherd (we are talking about temptations and sin in those parables, not heavenly beings and man). I’m not sure we disagree on that point (I certainly hope we don’t, anyway).Jesus took upon himself the sin of humanity (our sinfulness, yet without sin). This is why Paul looks so intently on the resurrection of Christ and our own resurrection. Yes, I agree. God is glorified.
Pardon the format.
Sin did enter the physical world through Adam, but not the spiritual. Satan was here , even in the Garden, before Adam sinned. Satan entered the serpent, then influenced Eve.
Satan is here , excluded from the presence of God. He is just as accountable but separated from Heaven. If a sinner was allowed in back in Heaven, Christ's death would not be needed.
How does a "anthropomorphically of the state of man" speak and answer Jesus? The swine would not allow an evil spirit influence, but man did. The evil spirits did not drive the swine to drown, The swine did it to get rid of the evil spirits.
Another example, the evil spirit asks Jesus if He was there to torment them before their time? They were expecting further judgement.
"evil spirits" exist, they are here. They cannot experience the physical world with a living being.
The Bible does not teach the physical world will be reconciled with Heaven, All things will be reconciled unto Himself., by the cross. The physical world will be destroyed.
The lost sheep, coin, prodigal etc, show a previous relationship of the lost article with the seeker. From Jesus' POV, He is seeking the lost souls, Doctrine suggest that God seeks complete strangers to save. The parable show differently.
The point about place and time of birth is that God controls the soul of a person, in order to hear the Gospel. Our doctrine suggests that He does not allow all to hear..
no, Jesus became sin for us... God took the penalty , He had given. Through the shared flesh and blood, we share the death,
