Posted by Tobbin
Ok, I don't mean to sound blasphemous myself here, but I'd like to add my two cents as well:
1. Satan/Devil/Snake, whatever you want to call this entity, IMHO, came before Adam & Eve. It is my belief that Satan was the first creation towards mankind that GOD attempted. Satan didn't turn out exactly how GOD had wanted, so therefore decided to make another attempt. He/She did not destroy SATAN because GOD loved his creation (he/she was pretty lonely at this time. Besides, how many people like to destroy their very 1ST creation living or not?) Since God knew that Satan had the capacity for evil, he created the garden as a test for his newer creations. Up until now, good and evil were only concepts and not factual, but being GOD, he/she grabbed all of this ether and manifested it into a tree.
2. No matter how it was that the fruit was taken, it was in the capacity to transfer BOTH good and evil into mankind. God being as he/she was, had given the tree that ability to hold the concepts so that mankind would be able to prosper. God knew that his new creations had the capability to partake of the fruit and also knew that by partaking of the fruit, the people that they were, would cease to exist. Therefore God had not lied to his creations. Only that his creations had not realized his true meaning. In any event, evil came to be a part of mankind. That is why it is stated that you are born of sin. Because the concepts transfer to you when you are born/created.
3. No matter how it was that the fruit was taken, it was in the capacity to transfer BOTH good and evil into mankind. God being as he/she was, had given the tree that ability to hold the concepts so that mankind would be able to prosper. God knew that his new creations had the capability to partake of the fruit and also knew that by partaking of the fruit, the people that they were, would cease to exist. Therefore God had not lied to his creations. Only that his creations had not realized his true meaning. In any event, evil came to be a part of mankind. That is why it is stated that you are born of sin. Because the concepts transfer to you when you are born/created.[/b]
Flotsdale replies.
Tobbin, not to be insulting, honestly, but your point that I have marked #1 just cracked me up!
Can I ask you something, Tobbin? Do you believe the bible is god's word?
If you do, then you really need to reconsider point #1. Truly!!!
If you don't - then of course, your speculation is as good as any other, lol!
#2/3. It wasn't the fruit itself that had the power to 'transfer' good and evil into Adam and Eve - if that were the case, Eve's eyes would have 'been opened' as soon as she ate the fruit. They were not. It was the disobedience itself, which destroyed their innocence.
I take your point that they 'died' by 'becaming different people' inasmuch as they now had an understanding they did not have previously - but since they had expected physical death (no other type was ever suggested to them) then they would have believed god had spoken something not-True when they did not die.
Bear this in mind, too - if god had MEANT either a 'spiritual' death, or a 'death' of personality/innocence, then it was very remiss of him (to say the least) not to have informed them of that. While we cannot actually (I suppose) accuse god of an outright lie in that circumstance, we CAN accuse him of misleading those he was supposed to love, him being their dad, and all!
However, I do not believe that to have been the case.
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