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Are We Responsible For Our Own Sins?

M____,

If you understand that God creates evil, "because the word says so," then why would you be asking me to blame myself if I slapped my wife or told my kids to steal? If I slapped my wife as men do every day, then this is what the word says about that:
Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Do you believe God is responsible for evil or are you still wanting to claim responsibility for something, even if it is just for your evil deeds?

I am not God. I cannot bring light out of darkness or good out of evil. But God can and God is doing that.

To answer your questions, if I told my kids to steal, then God would be responsible and I would be accountable. If I slapped my wife then God would be responsible and I would be accountable. If Adam ate of the tree as God knew he would while Adam was still "in the Potter's hand," then God was responsible and Adam is accountable, and must die and "suffer loss, yet he himself will be saved by [the lake of symbolic] fire."
1 Cor 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation [Christ] gold, silver, precious stones [obedience which comes only after disobedience and repentance], wood, hay, stubble [slapping wife, sending kids out to steal, etc.];
1 Cor 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1 Cor 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1 Cor 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1 Cor 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1 Cor 3:17  I f any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are.
I cannot make it any clearer than the apostle makes it. If you cannot receive his words, then you certainly cannot receive mine because all I can do is quote God's Word.

I'm not "missing your point." You are just like I was about twelve years ago. I saw all of this and like you I just didn't like the way God is doing things. Then God took my home away from me and I was out on the streets with a wife and five children. I then cried out to God to have mercy on my family and on me and just before the sheriff came to put us on the street I was given the opportunity to completely refinance my home and stay in it. That was what it took to crush me to the point that I was willing to say "Not my will but thine be done." God has mercy on whom He wills and whom He wills He hardens.
Rom 9:11  (For [the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Now you say that you believe God creates evil. If indeed God has opened your eyes to see that then quit fighting against that Truth by asking me who is responsible for my evil deeds. Get rid of your human reasonings and accept the fact that God creates evil in us while we are "in our mothers's wombs." He takes responsibility for it: "It is not of him that wills...the creature was made subject to vanity...I create evil..." and a thousand other verses just like those.

The 'strong delusion' you are struggling against is that you want to be responsible for something and you, just like me and every man "in Adam" just do not think that God is fair for "making us thus."
Again, I repeat:
Rom 9:16  So then [it is] not of him that willeth [to slap his wife...], nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
And knowing this, here is what you have asked me:
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
And I say to you what God tells me to answer:
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
The only reason you think I don't get your point is that you don't want to accept God's point, that He is responsible for creating both good and evil. He makes vessels to honor and vessels for dishonor. He is responsible for both. Both must be purified in the fire of His Word but some will be put through that fire now and will become that fire to purify the vessels of dishonor later in a symbolic lake of fire.

To answer your question again, if I slap my wife or tell my children to steal, I will be held accountable just as will Adam and Pharaoh. You don't understand that. You say you do but your question to me shows that you do not.

Ask God to give you the faith to accept Him as a Father who loves His creation, in spite of the way things appear to the carnal mind which doesn't appreciate God's sovereign ways.

1 Cor 3:18  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
1 Cor 3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
1 Cor 3:20  And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise , that they are vain.
God knows the thoughts of all men because those thoughts are "of the Lord."
Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man [good and evil], and the answer of the tongue, [good and evil] is from the LORD.
Yes, even the thought to slap your wife or tell your children to steal.
Joseph's brothers didn't accept the fact that their sending their brother as a slave into Egypt was actually of God. They certainly did not appreciate the fact that they were being tormented by Joseph for their actions for which they were not responsible. But when it was all said and done, when their father, who represents "the old man" in us, finally died, then they came to see the wisdom of God's ways. Their own salvation and the salvation of all Egypt made it all seem very wise. Here is the verse that explains the purpose for all evil. Whether you can receive it, that is all up to God:
Gen 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Gen 50:21  Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
Only God can "mean evil for good." Therefore He is responsible for both.

I hope this is of some help.

I see you understand that I do not condemn babes in Christ practicing outward rituals. That, too, is of the Lord. I pray that all of this serves His purpose as I know it does. I appreciate your need to know and to understand. Just don't allow the carnal mind to come between you and God's Word. It takes faith to believe and appreciate the fact that God is sovereign, and "without faith it is impossible to please God. Now faith just happens to be a gift. Ask God to give you faith in Him and in His Word.

Mike