Fair point? Why be such a selfish God?
2007-01-31 10:57:23 · 39 answers · asked by zarnticolz 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
He was Jewish, remember???
2007-01-31 11:00:48 · answer #1 · answered by YDoncha_Blowme 6 · 1⤊ 11⤋
The One True God gives them the right to be possessors of the whole world and they barter it for an apple from satan.
Is it wise for a prince to barter his inherited kingdom for an apple from a traitor of the king. The traitor can do nothing for the king, but such a disobedient prince will learn all sorts of bad things from the family of the traitor to end himself in ruin.
But God is so merciful to give Adam and Eve their wise offsprings like you.
2007-01-31 11:10:29 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is a popular misunderstanding that apples were the fruit that Jehovah (Gods name..Exodus 6:3 or Psalms 83:18) told Adam and Eve to not eat. If you have a bible why don't you read the account for yourself. you will find it in the first book of the bible GENESIS. Gen 2;9 says that God created 'every tree desirable..for food' and verse 16 says that Adam could eat from these trees for his satisfaction. Verse 17 though is what your question is about. 'But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die' It wasn't about fruit it was about being faithful to God. It was a requirement that imposed no hardship whatsoever on them. While having access to all sorts of food in the garden of Eden, they were merely to refrain from eating the fruit of just one tree—“the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.” (Genesis 2:16, 17) Their faithfulness in obeying that simple command would have demonstrated that the first human couple were for Jehovah’s rulership.
2007-01-31 19:49:17 · answer #3 · answered by dunc 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yeah it is fair point. The whole omniscient thing makes you think that it was all part of the plan. Put yourself in Yahweh's shoes for moment.
You know the future (your all-knowing). You create a tree of 'apple's and then you create 2 creatures that will eat from the tree. Then you make them feel like they did something that you didn't know will happen and amuse yourself by taking away their 'paradise'.
Now why is Satan called the evil one?
2007-01-31 11:20:09 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Genesis 3: ...
"1 Now the serpent proved to be the most cautious of all the wild beasts of the field that Jehovah God had made. So it began to say to the woman: “Is it really so that God said YOU must not eat from every tree of the garden?” 2 At this the woman said to the serpent: “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. 3 But as for [eating] of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘YOU must not eat from it, no, YOU must not touch it that YOU do not die.’” 4 At this the serpent said to the woman: “YOU positively will not die. 5 For God knows that in the very day of YOUR eating from it YOUR eyes are bound to be opened and YOU are bound to be like God, KNOWING good and bad.”
"6 Consequently the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was something to be longed for to the eyes, yes, the tree was desirable to look upon. So she began taking of its fruit and eating it. Afterward she gave some also to her husband when with her and he began eating it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them became opened and they began to realize that they were naked. Hence they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings for themselves."
As you can see, the Bible does not name the fruit that was involved. That it was definately apples is a myth. That it matters, is also ...
Why would anyone want to learn Unhappiness?
THAT is what God was offering Protection from!
You can read more about this in the following online article ...
The Wonderful Gift of Free Will ...
- How We Are Made
- Given The Best Start
- Given Freedom Within Limits
- Whose Laws Are We Designed To Obey?
http://watchtower.org/library/dg/article_05.htm
"We were designed to be happiest when in subjection to God's laws."
2007-01-31 15:14:11 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Two point: 1) It may not have been an apple. 2) God can do anything he wants and you can't do anything about it. He is sovereign. It may rub you the wrong way but those are the facts. You can get down with him or "kick against the pricks," in which case you will lose. I'm sorry but he's not.
2007-01-31 11:04:46 · answer #6 · answered by Ron P 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Two points:
1. God is not selfish, He's sovereign.
2. He gave us free will, without it we'd be like animals relying on our instincts. Think of the news headlines about people being killed, and kids being raped - thats why He didn't want us to eat the "apples".
2007-01-31 11:05:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
God did say to Adam, of all the fruit in the garden you may eat but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you will not eat. (If I remeber correctly)
So you are not right when you say Adam and Eve could not eat any fruit at all. The point was they needed to learn obedience.
As we all need to learn what is good and bad for us and abstain from ingesting harmful substances like heroin, amphetamines...
But do we listen? and then when things go wrong we blame God
for our own folly.
2007-01-31 11:06:48 · answer #8 · answered by Freddy F 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes excellent question. Why was he holding back on them? Keeping all the apples for himself and his angels. Not willing to share even a bite. I bet it was just a sour old wormy crab apple anyway. BB
2007-01-31 11:07:38 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
First of all, the Bible never says that it was apples. We don't know what the forbidden fruit was. The Bible calls it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God loves us and wants to have an eternal relationship with us, but we must choose by our free will to respond to His calling. Jesus said: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with Me."- Revelation 3:20. If God made us robots and forced us to love Him then it wouldn't be real love, so He gave us free-will so that we can choose either to respond to Him or to reject Him. If we choose to respond to Him then He enables us to love Him and to have a relationship with Him. If we choose to reject Him, then we remain separated from God by our sins. When Adam and Eve chose to listen to Satan(called the serpent in Genesis) instead of God, they chose to rebel against God and they became separated from God and were sent out of the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve probably repented later and were forgiven by God, but the consequences of their choice still remains. www.equip.org
2007-01-31 11:07:18 · answer #10 · answered by jamesdkral 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Selfish, far from it. He was trying to spare them the knowledge of sin. In their perfect world, Eden, there was no opportunity to sin, except the ONE tree they weren't allowed to touch. He knew they'd touch them, eat them, but this was their fate, the fate of mankind.
Remember when you were a kid and you wanted what u could not have? That's all Adam & Eve essentially were, children in adult bodies.
2007-01-31 11:07:14 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋