Episode 4

If Adam was created perfect… why did he fall?

And if God knew he would fall… what does that mean for evil?

In Part 2 of Very Good Is Far from Perfect, we follow the logic of perfection all the way to the edge — into the question many people are afraid to ask:

Does our theology accidentally make evil necessary?

In this episode:

• Why “perfect Adam” creates pressure in theodicy
• A simple breakdown of free will: libertarianism, determinism, and compatibilism
• Why Arminians and Calvinists may share more assumptions than they realize
• What “God permitted the Fall” really means — and how that differs in Western and Orthodox theology
• Leibniz and the “Best of All Possible Worlds”
• Why evil becomes instrumental in some systems
• Evil as parasitic, not necessary
• “I am the Vine, you are the branches” — an organic vision of salvation

This episode isn’t about attacking traditions.

It’s about asking whether our starting assumptions — especially the idea that Adam was created perfect — force us into theological tensions that never fully resolve.

What if the problem isn’t sovereignty versus free will?

What if the problem is the assumption that Adam was perfect?

Very good is far from perfect.

And that difference changes how we speak about God.

Episode 3 - What if the entire Western understanding of salvation rests on a word the Bible never uses?

Genesis does not say Adam was created perfect. It says he was very good.

In this episode, we explore how that distinction reshapes everything:

• Was Adam created finished — or with potential?
• If humanity was perfect, why probation?
• Why command Adam to subdue the earth if creation was already complete?
• Why is Scripture filled with imagery of ascent — Jacob’s ladder, mountains, transformation “from glory to glory”?

We examine:

• The early Church Fathers (Irenaeus, Athanasius, Basil)
• Conditional immortality and participation in divine life
• Augustine’s shift toward inherited guilt
• How Covenantal probation assumes growth
• Calvin, decree, and the pressure toward inevitability
• The Essence–Energies distinction and divine freedom

We also ask uncomfortable questions:

If you define the Gospel as “going from hell to heaven,” are you already operating inside the framework of inherited condemnation — even if you say you reject Original Sin?

What does our treatment of children — communion, baptism, “age of accountability” — reveal about our anthropology?

If Adam was not created perfect but called to grow into communion, then salvation is not merely legal acquittal.

It is healing. Resurrection. Participation.

Very good, not perfect. Communion, not probation. Freedom, not inevitability.

And that difference changes everything.

Episode 2 — What Do Christians Mean by Original Sin?

Episode Overview

The doctrine of Original Sin has shaped how Western Christianity understands salvation, grace, human nature, and the Gospel itself. But what exactly is Original Sin, and how did this doctrine develop?

In this episode, we begin examining how different Christian traditions have understood humanity’s fall. We explore the historical development of Original Sin, how it became central to Western theology, and how Eastern Christianity approaches the problem of human brokenness differently.

This episode lays the foundation for understanding why differences in the doctrine of the Fall lead to very different understandings of salvation.

In This Episode

• What the doctrine of Original Sin teaches • The historical development of Original Sin in Western Christianity • Differences between inherited guilt and ancestral corruption • How Augustine influenced Western views of sin and human nature • Why theology built on Original Sin shapes doctrines like grace, election, and atonement • How Eastern Christianity frames the human problem in terms of death, corruption, and the fear of death • Why diagnosing the human problem differently changes how salvation is understood

Key Themes

The Diagnosis Determines the Cure How Christians understand humanity’s fall directly shapes how they understand salvation and the Gospel.

Historical Development of Doctrine The doctrine of Original Sin developed over time and became foundational to Western Christian theology.

Eastern vs. Western Christian Anthropology Different understandings of sin, death, and human nature lead to different theological frameworks.

Why This Matters

If humanity’s primary problem is understood as inherited guilt, salvation will be understood primarily as legal forgiveness.

If humanity’s primary problem is death and corruption, salvation becomes healing, restoration, and participation in divine life.

Understanding this difference helps explain why Eastern Orthodoxy often approaches salvation differently than Western Christianity.

Who This Episode Is For

• Christians wanting to understand the doctrine of Original Sin • Listeners exploring the differences between Western and Eastern Christianity • Catechumens and theological inquirers • Anyone interested in the historical development of Christian doctrine

Coming Next

In the next episode, we begin exploring how early Christianity described humanity before the Fall, including the distinction between being “very good” and being fully perfected.

Episode 1 — When the Story Became Bigger Than I Expected

What if the version of Christianity you inherited is built on an assumption no one ever asked you to question?

What if the way most Western Christians understand sin, salvation, and even the Gospel itself comes from a diagnosis of the human problem that might not be as universal—or as ancient—as we assume?

In this opening episode, I share the crisis that forced me to confront those questions. What began as late-night research into biblical authority and denominational division turned into a complete unraveling of how I understood Christianity. Reformed theology once gave me certainty, clarity, and a system that seemed logically unbreakable—until I began discovering how much of it depended on one foundational idea: Original Sin.

And when that foundation started to shift, everything connected to it started to shift too.

This episode explores how doctrines like election, atonement, assurance, saints, and even how Christians understand children and human nature may all trace back to one assumption about the Fall—and why encountering Eastern Christianity challenged that assumption in ways I never expected.

This is the podcast I wish existed when my faith felt like it was coming apart.

Podcast Trailer

About This Podcast

Most Western Christians are taught to understand salvation through guilt and forgiveness. But what if Christianity historically told a bigger story?

Trouble in Paradise explores how assumptions about the Fall, Original Sin, and human nature shape how Christians understand salvation, grace, freedom, and the Gospel itself.

Through personal story, historical theology, and honest reflection, this podcast examines why Eastern Orthodox Christianity often seems difficult for Western Christians to understand — and how reexamining humanity’s fall may reveal a deeper and more ancient vision of Christianity.

What You’ll Hear in This Podcast

• Personal journey through theological crisis and discovery • The history and development of Original Sin • Differences between Western and Eastern views of salvation • The relationship between sin, death, and human brokenness • Historical theology explained in accessible language • Honest wrestling with difficult theological questions

Who This Podcast Is For

• Christians wrestling with faith questions • Evangelical, Reformed, and Catholic listeners curious about Orthodoxy • Catechumens and Christian inquirers • Former Christians who stepped away because Christianity stopped making sense • Anyone interested in the historical development of Christian theology

Why This Podcast Exists

This is the podcast I wish existed when I began asking difficult theological questions — when answers were not simple, not systematic, and not easy to find.

Coming Soon

Early episodes explore:

• What Original Sin is and how it developed • How Eastern Christianity understands the Fall • How those differences change how salvation itself is understood