many christians insist God didn't really warn Adam and Eve about literal death for eating the apple:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Apk1DJI_2YYQEQnhLfz4lQTsy6IX?qid=20070219201444AA3YCht
but no one disputes the death here is anything but literal:
Romans 6:23
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
2007-02-19 16:32:50 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The word of God couldn't be more literal. It is clearly written that all fags will burn in eternal damnation
2007-02-19 16:37:55 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I've been told that the warning to Adam and Eve was one of symbolism too. The only problem is, there's nothing prior to that statement to support calling it either symbolic, or a "spiritual" death. God only tells them that they will die.
I take further issue with the fact that they were destined to die anyway, rendering the warning moot. God threw them from the garden before they could eat from the Tree of Life. On top of that Adam (as well as many other biblical characters) lived EXTRAORDINARILY long lives...900 years in some cases.
The serpent introduced humanity to godhood, and yahweh confirms it by making the statement that, with the knowledge of good and evil, the creation (humans) have become like gods. Apparently the only difference between gods and men is immortality.
To answer your question though...its all a way to rationalize their faith, by interpreting their mythology so that they have the polar opposites of good and evil...too bad they can't actually see which is which.
EDIT: for the benefit of the first answerer, yes, god does say that death will occur on the same day: genesis 2:17 KJV 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
2007-02-20 00:44:31 · answer #2 · answered by Bill K Atheist Goodfella 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hello.
Read this verse:
Romans 8:10 And if Christ is in you, the body IS dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
It was both symbolic and literal in Genesis. Study the first 4 and 6 chapters of Genesis. You will see how we fell from God to LORD God to Lord. You will see the duality, and how God separated the duality of masculine and feminine as He made us both male and female (in the beginning if you will) in the making of Eve by the side (which was translated rib) of Adam the man. You will also notice how Adam is a man but also represents a people. You will also note how God CREATED MAN in chapter 1 and FORMED MAN in chapter 2.
http://reluctant-messenger.com/reincarnation-Hebrews9-27.htm
http://www.psyche.com/psyche/psyche.html
2007-02-20 01:54:53 · answer #3 · answered by WWJD: What Would Joker Do? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, when you read it through, God is telling Adam (Eve wasn't around at the time) of a physical and Spiritual death. The spritual death would be because of the sin that separates Adam from God. Also, physical death is shown towards the end of the chapter... You will see that they tree was everlasting life was removed from man's grasp. So since there was no everlasting life, man would eventually die physically.
Romans speaks of death on both levels as well.
2007-02-20 00:40:07 · answer #4 · answered by se-ke 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Spiritually Adam and Eve died immediately. Physically, they died in that day if you look at it from God's perspective (2 Peter 3:8). Actually, I believe Romans 6:23 to be very literal but most of the Christian religions teach that it is symbolic of eternal hellfire. Go figure!!
2007-02-20 00:41:30 · answer #5 · answered by Sparkle1 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Death here is not symbolic The first thing that Adam and Eve experienced was spiritual death (to lose communication with God) and the next was that things had to die, animals as well as humans. So it had really two meanings.
2007-02-20 00:37:38 · answer #6 · answered by † PRAY † 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Who said death was symbolic in Genesis? "In that day" was symbolic for a longer period than 24 hours as Adam and Eve lived an additional 900+ years after their sin.
Also, many of our single meaning english words translate various latin words that may have slightly different meanings. Our bible says "love". The latin text says "agape" "eros" and "felao something"
2007-02-20 00:36:17 · answer #7 · answered by Chi Guy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Theologians would love a crack at this one!
Personally, I believe that 'the wages of sin is death' has a twofold meaning... first that man has separated himself from direct relationship with God, and second, that physical life for man would cease. The same book of the Bible tells us that the couple were banished from the Garden, where in was the Tree of Life, so being expelled, they would eventually die.
2007-02-20 00:39:42 · answer #8 · answered by Blitzpup 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
''but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
--Genesis 2:17
Yet Adam lived many years after. Some people spin this to mean spiritual death but I think that's a bit of a stretch.
2007-02-20 00:43:27 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
But he did warn them of literal death...but spiritual death is worst. Adam and Eve did die Literally.
2007-02-20 00:38:03 · answer #10 · answered by gluckstadt_randy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Through out the whole bible there are instances of literal death. Adam and Eve were never going to die, so them eating the apple did cause them literal death. They ate it, so they in turn, did not end up living forever as planned. The Romans verse if speaking of death as in hell. When you die, you either have eternal life, or eternal death, in hell.
Both verses speak of literal death, but in different ways!
2007-02-20 00:37:34 · answer #11 · answered by Bl3ss3dw1thL1f3 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋