Your implying that He was tricking the people. 8OThe tree was placed to taunt Adam and Eve, so that He can "teach" evil to them?. I think your moving on to breaking some pretty basic precepts of even Protestant religions. ;-)>>> AndyF
The story of Adam and Eve is at best the easiest way to introduce to mankind its creator and the reason for evil in the world.
In other wards, God created a situation by which mankind had to seek Him out.
There was no deceiving and there is no lie. The story shows how mankind acquires knowledge, and what that knowledge reveals.
That knowledge reveals a standard by which good and evil can be measured.
One finds out(Assuming one acquires a belief in God) that we fall short of Gods kingdom as depicted in the expulsion from the garden, and therefore, creating a need to seek redemption.
God provides that redemption for us, for He created the situation we find ourselves in.
Perhaps he placed it there because it simply was His and he wanted His earthly property respected and cared for and no one was to disrespect His wishes. He claimed earthly property elsewhere also. Remember the burning bush that Moses just happened to come upon?. God said that the ground it was on was holy ground. Was the ground holy just because he wanted to taunt people once again; just to see if Moses would walk on it with his sandles? >>> AndyF
The ground was Holy simply because the presence of God was there, and taking off the sandals represents shaking off earthly attachments that represent bondage to the soul.
When we comes to God, we come to Him in heart and in spirit only. No earthly attachments to hinder us from truly worshiping Him.
Your claiming it is an absolute that we need evil to compare good. Isn't heaven doing fine without evil? Do the angels need to review the day's evil accomplishments to analyze the day's cumulative good. Here is a place before your very eyes where evil does not exist and good get's created and celebrated continuously. >>> AndyF
Yes, it is an absolute. There can be no good apart from evil, hence the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.
Evil simply means everything that is not of God. One doesn’t have to do something bad to some one to constitute evil. Just simply gorging oneself with lustful things is evil in itself.
The world is a lustful place for the body belongs to it.
What we are asked to do is obey God as servants, and to observe that all acts are in conformance to the law. The good comes from those acts. If we are to watch anything, it is to be obedient. We can measure our good against other good in order to see if we can accomplish more, or in a better way, just as we would to see if a gift is well wrapped or more presentable. We can compare good with good, evil has no place in this exclusive club. >>> AndyF
If what you said is true, then God would have not given us any knowledge by which to make any choices.
The object of the whole matter is to teach us obedience by experiencing the two opposites and where good is born out of.
Not necessary. We were already told.....Servants.>>> AndyF
Servants as long as there is a law, but when grace came in, the law ceased to perform, thereby, we become friends of the groom who performed the letter of the law in our stead.
I think you need the New American Bible with footnotes that actually explain the passages rather than leaving the reader to his interpretations. My passage doesn't read the same either.>>> AndyF
The ability to understand the whole picture is not on footnotes alone, but by the thought that prevails through out the whole bible.
The interpretation must be inline with the theme of the whole bible so that we don’t take a few verses and make of it any application we want.
That is the main argument against individual interpretation, which will always go against the established norm.
That is why you see Sanctus against what I say, because his is an established norm for the Catholic Church.
I see passed all that, and to the core of what the Theme of the bible is, and then apply my views which encompass the acceptance of all human souls as bought and paid for by God in Jesus.
Therefore we are no longer servants to the law, but friends of God in Jesus.
Here Paul merely "considers the created world to be linked to human destiny through it's solidarity with man", etc. Nowhere does it say man cannot control his own acts,avoid evil, or make a difference on earth.>>> AndyF
The created world was created for mankind to experience knowledge of good and evil, so that mankind could be like as gods, and rule by choice.
The preferred choice is good over the evil, but not before first experiencing the evil.
Let me add that evil is present in this world as bait for the flesh, but Godliness is not of this world, so nothing less then perfect good can be accepted.
And the only possible way that we can get away from evil presence is to either die, or give God our hearts so that He may reckon us as perfect good, and acceptable to God.
Peace>>>AJ:love9:
