My Apologetic Paper

So, I literally just finished up a school program called Classical Conversations and I had to write an apologetic paper for the final day.
(For anyone who doesn't know what an apologetic paper is, I didn't know before, is a paper that defends a topic, usually a religious topic.)

This is my paper:

In John Blanchard's book ”Ultimate Questions" it says that, "From [the Fall in the Garden of Eden and] then on, like pollution at the source of a river, the poison of sin has flowed to all Adam’s descendants, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned."¹ This basically says that we are all inherently sinful.  There's a lot of people on earth. According to that statement from Ultimate Questions, all of us are inherently sinful. But a lot of people lead pretty good lives. And that brings us to a question: Should people be able to lead good lives if they're inherently sinful? I think that yes, people should lead good lives. Now some people believe that we should not be able to lead good lives because we are inherently sinful. But, like I said, I think otherwise. For one thing, Heavenly Father loves us. Second, because of His love, God wants us all to succeed; and lastly, I believe that none of us are inherently sinful.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son."¹ He loves us infinitely. "[Our] Heavenly Father loves [us]-each of [us]. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God's love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there."² His love is everlasting and eternal. And it's for every single person who has lived, is living or will live. 

"For behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."³ This is what Heavenly Father wants for us. He wants us to be able to live forever with Him. He loves us more than we could ever know and because of that everlasting love, He wants every single one of His children to succeed in life, temporally and spiritually. "Our Heavenly Father wishes to bless His children... He understands each of their needs, their pains, and their hopes."⁴

"We are, [Joseph Smith] declared, eternally existent, inherently innocent, boundlessly free and infinitely perfectible."⁵ I do not believe that man is inherently sinful. I believe that we are "punished for [our] own sins, and not for Adam's transgression."⁶ Because of this, we are not inherently sinful. I believe that we are innocent when we come to earth. We do not, however, stay innocent, since nobody is perfect. We are all guilty for our own sins; if a parent received a ticket for speeding, their child is not guilty as well; only the parent. I do not believe that our Heavenly Father sent us to this earth as sinners. He sent us here in an innocent state. Adam transgressed in the Garden of Eden but that remains Adam's transgression, not ours. "Some acts, like, murder are crimes because they are inherently wrong. Other acts, like operating without a [driver's] license, are crimes only because they are legally prohibited. Under these distinctions, the act that produced the Fall, was not a sin-inherently wrong-but a transgression-wrong because it was formally prohibited."⁷ This is another reason why man is not inherently sinful, Adam and Eve transgressed but did not sin. “Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.”⁸ "Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy."⁹ This means that because of the Fall, man came to be and because of that we can have joy through our righteous choices and actions. And vise versa, we will feel sorrow and sadness through our unrighteous actions, not through Adam's.

Heavenly Father loves us. He wants us to succeed, temporally and spiritually. I believe that I did not inherit Adam's sin when he partook of the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil. Because of those things, I can lead a good life. Heavenly Father loves everyone. He wants everyone to succeed. Nobody is accountable for Adam's transgression. With this knowledge in hand, I firmly believe that everyone and anyone should lead good lives.

Bibliography

[1] Ultimate Questions. John Blanchard. 1987.

[2] John 3:16

[3] "We Never Walk Alone." President Thomas S. Monson. October 2013 General Conference.

[4] Moses 1:39

[5] "Is This Not The Fast I Have Chosen?" President Henry B. Eyring. April 2015 General Conference.

[6] "'Lightning Out of Heaven': Joseph Smith and the Forging of Community." Terry Givens. Nov 29th 2005. BYU Speeches.

[7] Second Article of Faith

[8] "The Great Plan of Happiness" Dallin H. Oaks. Oct 1993 General Conference. lds.org.

[9] D&C 93:38

[10] 2 Nephi 2:25