God is like "If you don't believe in me you are going to hell....."
"If you don't acknowledge my existence right now, you are going to hell forever cuz I hate you........"
Why would God punish humanity for a life of pain just cuz their ancestors (who were babies at the time and didn't know anything) ate some stupid apple of knowledge or some crap just because God said not to.
If my kid ate some apple that I told them not to eat, I wouldn't punish them with a lifetime of pain.
And why wasn't God smart enough to know that if you tell a child to not do it, that they'll do it anyway. If he never told them not to eat the apples, they would have never eaten them.
And why did God, knowing his creations are babies who of course are more likely to believe a talking tangible snake than some voice in the sky (for all they know, they could be hearing things that aren't there), make some apples he didn't want them to eat, and why did he put them in a place where they could reach?
2007-04-15 19:42:05 · 24 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
NO. God is none of those things. You are only focusing on the writings of the Christian religion. Go beyond that and you will discover a very different God.
2007-04-15 19:46:02 · answer #1 · answered by MyPreshus 7 · 5⤊ 2⤋
It appears that your knowledge of the Bible is limited Adam and Eve were created (not born) as adults and not small children or babies. The world was perfect at that time. Nothing bad existed. The snake, serpent, devil wasn't a slithering, creep along the ground creature until AFTER it deceived Eve. Eve understood it full well. God made a perfect world, no problems. Gos gave Adam and Eve ONE rule. They had free right of everything but not to eat the fruit of just one tree. They understood what He said. He warned them what would happen if they broke this one rule. They understood and knew what He was talking about. Did they listen? Did they heed His warning. Did they break the one rule they were told not to break? Yep. So, God followed through with His warning. Why did Adam and Eve try to hide from God after they ate the fruit of this tree? Wasn't it because they were ashamed and knew what they had done was wrong? Yep. They were old enough, they were smart enough, they knew the rules, they had everything they wanted but still they did the wrong thing., the very thing they were told not to do. It's the same today. We know right from wrong. Why do we still do the wrong thing? God hates no one. and desires that none perish in hell. Jesus came to forgive us so we wouldn't go to hell..remember? People do that all by themselves -thank you. Kind of like a father telling his kid "if you sass your mom again I'm going to spank you." Is that wrong of the dad? If the kid sasses mom again, should dad spank the kid? Dad told him not to. If the kid does it anyway, did he have it coming? Yep. God told Adam and Eve what would happen (us too) if we sin. He told them and us about going to hell and left it up to us to decide if we would listen. We don't listen so hell could be the next step. We have been warned. If we don't listen, who's fault is it? Please read all of Genesis for the information concerning Adam and Eve.
2007-04-16 03:03:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Let me help you understand how God works. God has never said "if you don't believe in me you are going to hell..." If we are going to suffer in Hell, it is because of poor choices we made in life. It is because of things we have done to injure others. God would also never say that he hates us--nothing could be further from the truth. God loves us more than we love ourselves.
I won't try to explain the whole Adam and Eve thing, but it is sufficient to say that we are punished for our own sins, and not for anything Adam and Eve did. The world is in a fallen state because of Adam and Eve, but it ends up being a positive thing, not a negative. The Fall of Adam and Eve brought opposition into the world. The opportunity for us to see the bad and the good and to choose good over evil. When we choose to do what is right, we become better people. The goal is to keep making right choices, thus becoming better and more civilized, and more like God is.
So, God isn't punishing us with a "lifetime of pain." Pain is part of the mortal experience. It helps us grow. God gave us free will --sometimes our own choices cause us pain. Sometimes the choices of others cause us pain. Again, that is part of life--it helps us grow and make better choices. It's not God's punishment for what Adam and Eve did.
God had a purpose in having the forbidden fruit there. He knew that they would eat it. But that would be the only way to bring opposition into the world. God made us free to choose. As such, there couldn't be only good choices. There also had to be bad choices. You can't choose between right and wrong if only right exists. Does that make sense. God wants to see if when we are presented with a choice between Him and Evil if we will have the faith and good sense to choose Him/good over evil.
Also, Adam and Eve were not babies--they were adults. And God himself walked and talked with them personally in the Garden of Eden--He was not just some voice in the sky. However, Adam and Eve didn't know right from wrong--that's another reason for the fruit. When they made the decision to disobey God, then they suddenly knew what it was like to make a wrong decision.
Please don't characterize God as childish. This whole sequence was planned before the Earth was ever created. God knew exactly what he was doing and all went according to his plan. Adam and Eve didn't mess things up--they brought opposition into the world. We come into the world with the opportunity to choose right from wrong. Right choices will lead us back to our loving Father in Heaven, according to his Eternal Plan.
2007-04-16 03:05:29 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Genesis 2:26
Then God said:" Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
This mean when God made man in his image. God gave the ability to man to think and acquire knowledge, which includes free will. When God makes man in his likeness, this means that man can partake in Gods Grace.
We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. We can not love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves
To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell".
2007-04-16 05:09:31 · answer #4 · answered by C R 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure God himself is childish, but the stories of the Bible can be pretty primitive and nonsensical. Which is why I tend to believe that God had little if anything to do with the Bible, it is completely a man-made creation. And it shows badly.
2007-04-16 02:53:01 · answer #5 · answered by Wisdom in Faith 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
As an invention of the schizophrenia of Abraham, God unfortunately has all the qualities of Jewish patriarchs of the 12th century BCE, both negative and positive.
Those paterfamilias weren't big on parenting skills, having never read Jean Piaget or other knowledgeable people.
Oh well . . . .
2007-04-16 02:48:05 · answer #6 · answered by nora22000 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
I agree with you on God's behaviour. BUT I DON"T agree with you that he's being childish. I think your likening him to children is an insult to children.
Unlike children, whose intentions are innocent, God (if he exists in the first place) on the other hand knows quite well what he is doing. He does that despite him having alternatives available to him. In fact, as he is said to be creator of everything, he could have created better alternatives for humans to believe in him. As matters stand now he is just unreasonable, a dictator and manipulator.
Children do what they do because they are faced with people older than them, more rational than them, physically bigger than them. To children, their only hope of getting what they desire is to behave in that “childish” way. God can do better but chooses to behave the way he does.
2007-04-16 02:59:41 · answer #7 · answered by ? 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
You do realize that the bible never says what kind of fruit it was the was on the tree..?
Also, God does not send people to hell. People send them self to hell for what they do in life.
Where in the bible does it say God is going to send you to hell for not believing in him.?
Man has decided that.. And has told others that if you do not believe in god you are going to hell.
2007-04-16 02:54:34 · answer #8 · answered by LadyCatherine 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Yes millions of people, just not enough in the US.
Who would take parenting advice from a guy who tried to murder his own (in the flood)?
Know who said that first - a very wise man- an American - Robert Ingersoll. Now if people in the US read more Ingersoll and Paine and less bible gibberish, they would be a lot less ignorant.
2007-04-16 02:49:23 · answer #9 · answered by nicevolve 2 · 1⤊ 3⤋
You're assuming that the God myth is real... And you're assuming that the men who wrote the bible could come up with anything more credible. They really didn't have the concept of reverse psychology back then....
2007-04-16 02:50:57 · answer #10 · answered by ReeRee 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋