In answer to your statement....Adam and Eve were born SINLESS (i.e, perfect as in 'free from sin')...BUT were also given a free will to obey or disobey.

Read Genesis 2 and 3. God gave both Adam and Eve ground rules and said anything in this garden that's edible you can freely partake of EXCEPT this one tree.

They obeyed Him until satan in the form of the serpent came along and reasoned them out of it.

Could God have made man to be blindly obedient? Yes.

But He wanted to offer perfect love in that He gave man FREE WILL to decide.

Ever been in love? Do you want the woman to love you because you make her or because she wants to? THAT'S the analogy here.

God loves His creation so much that He wants us to WILLINGLY come to Him and not through bondage or compulsion.

By the way...free will DOES negate perfection...because perfection is a standard...narrowly defined...and not whomever you or I determine it to be. When we exercise our will over God's Will (as did Adam & Eve), we break the standard.

Jerry refers to me and other like-minded believers as 'fanatical'. He misses the point that it is the WORD OF GOD who makes these claims and we are standing for it.

It is Jerry who runs the risk of being branded as a fanatic by his determination to believe a 50 year old set of rules, doctrines, and fantasies cooked up by some mortal man years ago.

However...it is proven time and time again that a person will advance almost any belief ahead of the bible in a desperate attempt to escape accountability to the Lord.

Remember...it is not ME you contend with. It is the Lord and His Word.

Bob