Hi Ian,
We are all born in the carnal flesh subject to sin and since that first man sinned all have followed right along disobeying/sinning, which leads to death.
Rom 5:18 So, then, as through one offence to all men it is to condemnation...
v. 19 for as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were constituted sinners...
Of course that is not the end of the matter, but the beginning. We all live and do right/good and wrong/evil, this is partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil just as Adam and Eve did. By this we are forming a backdrop, a knowledge of both good and evil from life experiences. God always tells us what is right and good, even gave us the law so we would have it in writing and know exactly what is wrong. But we are made carnal and cannot obey, just as Paul said.
Rom 7:18 for I have known that there doth not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good: for to will is present with me, and to work that which is right I do not find,
God is giving us this "experience of evil" to teach us a very valuable lesson... that as we are, carnal, we are hopeless slaves to sin.
Ecc 1:13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all which is done under the heavens. It is a sad task God has given to the sons of men to be humbled by it.
Well there is a process being worked out and we are only at the beginning, for most, the many, they will die in the lost condition. But this life lived as a sinner is not the end, far from it. For a few, we are given repentance in this life and by Jesus Christ indwelling sin no longer reigns over us, as Paul said...
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
v. 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Rom 5:19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.
So as you ask, "does God allow for incompetence without judgement"? No not allow, but caused, because God is sovereign and the ultimate cause of all things. And judgement is on the elect now, and for the rest of the world they will come up in the resurrection to judgement.
Here is an email for more on this.
http://bible-truths.com/email14.htm -------------------
"Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name. That at the name of JESUS every knee should bow [that's worship], of things [them] in heaven, and them in earth, and them under the earth; And that every tongue should CONFESS that Jesus Christ IS LORD [that's REPENTANCE, and it can ONLY be done by the in-dwelling of God's Holy Spirit, '...no man CAN say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit' I Cor. 12:3], to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2;9-11).
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Phil. 2:9-11, where EVERY KNEE AND EVERY TONGUE bows and confesses that Jesus is LORD AND MASTER OF THEIR LIVES! Where do you see in these verses FAILURE to believe and accept Jesus?
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"WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE, through FAITH." GRACE IS FREE. GRACE SAVES US. Nothing but the GRACE OF JESUS CHRIST SAVES US--NOTHING ELSE! And we didn't "come to Christ," the Father DRAGGED US" (John 6:44), and we have not "chosen Christ," but rather Christ has "chosen us" (John 15:16).
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Once God GRACES His true elect, He then TEACHES, TRAINS, DISCIPLINES, CORRECTS, PUNISHES, CHASTISES us to live GODLY LIVES IN AN UNGODLY WORLD (Titus 2:11).
Grace is a VERB that does and accomplishes something in the true believer. It conquers the WORLD and its LUSTS inside of the true believer. Did Saul/Paul "ASK TO BE SAVED" on the road to Damascus? Well, DID HE?
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mercy, peace and love
Kat