Conclusion of WHY WAS A RANSOM NEEDED?

Megan: That's right. And when they did-when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God-they sinned. In effect, they chose to become imperfect, to become sinners. That choice would have disastrous consequences not just for Adam and Eve but also for their offspring. 

Shirley: What do you mean? 

Megan: Well, maybe I could use an illustration. Let me ask you, do you like to bake? 

Shirley: Yes! I love to. 

Megan: Let's say that you have a nice new pan for baking bread. Before you have an opportunity to use it even once, though, it falls on the floor and gets a big dent. Now, what will happen to any loaves of bread you bake in that pan? Won't they too have a dent in them? 

Shirley: Yes, of course.

Megan: In a similar way, when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, they became "dented," or blemished, by sin and imperfection. And because they became sinners before they had any children, all their children would be born with the same "dent."  They would be born in sinful  condition. In the Bible, the word "sin" refers not only to an act but also to the condition that we have inherited.  The end result is that even though you and I hadn't done anything wrong-we hadn't even been born when Adam and Eve sinned-they doomed us and all  their future offspring and ours to a life of imperfection and sin that would end in death. As we read Romans 6:23, the penalty for sin is death.

Shirley That doesn't seem fair. Why should all humans suffer forever because of the sin of Adam and Eve? 

Megan: You're right-it doesn't seem fair. But there is more to it than that. In his perfect justice, God determined that Adam and Eve  should die for their sins, but we as their offspring were not left without hope. God made a way for us to get out of this predicament. That is where the ransom sacrifice of Jesus comes in. Look again at Romans 6:23, after mentioning that "the wages sins pays is death," the verse says;  "But the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord."  So it's the death of Jesus that opens the way for us to escape from sin and death." 

Next time: Why Commemorate the Death of Jesus - THE RANSOM-GOD'S GREATEST GIFT

From the Watchtower magazine, 2015