A & E. A natural death or murdered by God? A friend has a child with a peanut allergy. He keeps the life saving medicine in his home. He commanded his son not to eat peanuts but one day his son did. On noticing the situation, he quickly administered the drug. He recognized that the fright and discomfort to his child was punishment enough in and of itself and did not administer any other consequences. Not to his recovering child nor his siblings who had been with the child. He mentioned, in jest, that if God would have been of like mind, the world would never have been cursed by God and all of us would not have had death and original sin imposed on us. Genesis says that the first time that A & E did their own will and not the will of God, God administered, not only the known consequence of death on them, he also added a list of consequences that had yet not been discussed with anyone. In fact, the benefit of the gain of a moral sense, something quite valuable, was also never discussed. A & E had to gain that information from the talking snake. These facts indicate to me that some who say that Genesis if full of instances of injustice may be right. If I assume that A & E fell when they gained their moral sense, a strange concept to me as well as the Jews who see Genesis as man‘s elevation, Gen 3 22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil----then they truly made a mistake. Having done something that could make them surely die as God said, it would seem to me as with my friend and his child, God should have given them the medicine that would save them. Something any good parent would do. Instead, God put the medicine, the tree of life, in his safe, so to speak, and let A & E suffer and die as he watched. There are two moral questions that pop to mind for me. 1. Is it moral for either God or man to sit and do nothing, or even hold back, life saving measures from a dying child? Scripture shows God barring the way to the tree of life. 2. Is it Moral, for parents or God, to add on a group of as yet unknown consequences, to some infraction that a child may have done? Scripture shows God passing on A & E’s sin to us via original sin, cursing the earth etc. All consequences that he arbitrarily added on without any warning at all. Now I know that some say that we cannot judge God. I will let the Bible judge him then. On original sin and death being given to all of us. Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. On God’s action toward the evil disobedience. Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. A reply to both questions above would be appreciated. Regards DL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQBDGMj2h-c&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxyLZyBjyvY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XnnKA4o2Ao
GIA, The hebrew term for what is generally regarded as the ''serpent'' or as you put it ''the talking snake'' is "naw-khash", which literally translates as ''enchanter'' or ''magician'', not serpent, beast, or talking snake. If you didn't already know this, how does this new piece of information affect your current understanding? jan.
Not in the least. My belief in that myth is more like the Jewish one. They see Eden as man's elevation and not his fall. They see man gaining a moral sense. A good thing that Christianity thinks of as evil. To become as Gods is evil to them even as scriptures urge us to try to be as perfect as God. We cannot be so without a moral sense. When Christianity usurped their God, they reversed their interpretation of this classic myth of a right of passage. The truth I think is more along this line. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGx4IlppSgU Regards DL
