Original post: Bone_Dancer
Dunhill;294121 wrote:She should have known not to eat it because God told her not to. The really funny thing about this whole situation as a proof of mankind's arrogance, need to explore and general stubbornness is that they both were told point blank-directly by God not to do something and they still went ahead and did it. Considering this I find it really naieve of evangelicals to expect people to follow, from their perspective, divinely inspired words in a book.
Well, evangelicals believe the Bible is inerrant and the literal words of god. After that you can sell them anything as long as you convince them their soul's on the line should they choose not to believe. I think when pastors of
the word say one has to set aside their intellect in order to have faith in god, it says quite a lot. Translation: One must choose to be stupid, to believe this religion.
I don't see it as a condemnation but rather a liberation. Manking is no longer given everything it wants but has to work for it and in doing so appreciate it. Man must learn from doing.
I dare say, in my understanding of the Bible and particularly the beginning as related in Genesis, it was never a matter of being given anything, when god planted two vehicles for newborn ignorant humans damnation into his created paradise and then told those possessed only of the intellect he invested into them: "Don't touch!" Instead, I read it as conditional love and as such Eden was a pseudo-paradise.
There is nothing Omniscience can not foresee. When god planted two tree's bearing such fruits as eternal life and Gnosis and then made them off limits at the very peril of mortals soul eternally, he said he wanted humans to be mortal and limited in life span as well as ignorant. Why would benevolence damn his creation for being exactly as made!?
Nothing was given Adam and Eve. They were made, tempted, cursed and expelled by an omnipotent father. Therefore, man was made to learn from doing in the beginning. When omnipresence cursed lesser beings after it tempted them in their ignorance.
If I tell a newborn, "Don't touch that flame on the candle!" And it does and burns itself, is it fit parenting to let the wound remain untreated until years later when I feel like healing it with a salve!?
Of course not. I would be called, and rightly so, an unfit parent. So the analogy best describes, in the garden, that very scenario. Adam and Eve were newborns without intellect or discretionary powers. They , in essence, touched that flame and they and their seed were cursed to suffer for it. Until god sent himself, (or not depending on which NT scripture one reads), to change the rules he made himself when he set forth that sin/barrier between himself and the inbred seed of his first human creation forever.
I don't see it as a liberation, when one is first made to inhabit a realm where there are planted two traps to divest one's self from a life free of the god given burden of sin.
Also, equating the serpent with the devil was a much later interpretation. On this note the Apolcalypse of Moses is an interesting tale of Eve trying to get back in the Garden to get the apple of life as Adam is dying.
Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 would relate that the serpent was indeed Satan. II Corinthians 11:3 and John 8:44 (Jesus speaks) all imply the serpent was the Devil/Satan, in the Garden.
An interesting side note. In Ezekiel 28:14-15, it is referring to the perfection of Satan, as he was made by god who has no beginning. (Alpha/Omega) And how Satan's perfection, remained
until iniquity was found in him. How can a perfect being (god) create a perfect being that then is found to be imperfect unless it's creator (god) made it so!?
This relates, in the characteristics attributed to god, in that a perfect being can not be imperfect, nor can it make imperfect beings unless it is by design. There is no free will in the lesser intelligence that is the possession of mere mortals, compared to the higher intelligence, "supreme being" that would necessarily qualify as god.
But manking is not separated for all eternity. Enter JC to allow humans to rejoin the Godhead. The only true separation between people and God is Hell.
And yet, god resides in hell and is both the evil and the good. (
Psalm 139:8 & Isaiah 45:7)
And if Jesus did die for the sins of the world then why is there still sin in the world!? Even as a burden that the Christian must be ever watchful against, even after they accepted Jesus as their savior!?
Then there's always this little verse:
1 John 3:9
If Eve didn't listen to the serpent, then neither of us would be having this conversation and A&E would never have had kids. Although those mysterious daughters of Eve that suddenly appeared to marry her sons might explain it. Consider this - if they had had kids before the fruit then there would be a lineage born without original sin.
Well, that would be true if the Bible account of our creation were true. It's not. Also remember, "Original Sin" was a concept contrived by St. Augustine of Hippo. Thus, OS was not something created by god, but by man.
A few comments on the two creation stories.
Some think Adam did have two wives. Lilith being the first who left him after he wouldn't allow her to be on top during sex.
Aquinas & Augustine really hit the second story hard as it fueled their thoughts regarding subserviant women in the church.
Ah yes, Lilith. Good for her! :p
However, I don't believe the two chapters I mentioned in Genesis related to Lilith but referenced the creation of the first man/woman. Also, I would imagine the copyists at the time would have omitted completely any reference alluding to a Lilith creation. Whereas chapters 1 & 2 and those aforementioned verses are glaring errors as to one creation in what is the Christian Bible and it's account of god's infallibility. Also, the Hebrew account of the creation of Lilith is in no wise related to chapter/verses in Genesis (1:27 & 2:7, 21 & 22).
Suggested reading - Pagels Adam, Eve and the Serpent. The Origin of Satan is also good.
I've heard of the Pagels book and shall look for it at the local library. In the meantime I'd also recommend, "The Secret History of Lucifer".
If you search it out @ Amazon.com you'll note they have amended the original title (above) to reference the DaVinci code. Quite unfortunate that the publisher (I can only presume) thought it a keen notion to ride on the coat tails of a questionable account. But it's still a fascinating read. Included is the research that led Ms.Picknett to discover some accounts/myths, that relate Lucifer was actually a Goddess or female figure, as opposed to the usual male imagery.
(*Just an aside. In your remarks above, did you intend to write: "Manking" ? Or is that a typo for, "Mankind"?

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