I just started reading the Bible and I'm already having difficulty reasoning with it. I am not an atheist but am agnostic. So my question is as follows: If God created all things good, why is there a Tree of knowledge of good and evil? Why a serpent? According to my understanding so far, God created us without the power to reason, so he created us knowing the it was fully possible that Adam and Eve might eat from the tree....right or wrong? if God is all thats God and represents love....why curse us when we are his creation? I have a lot more questions but I'm not going to go on for now. Any input on this topic is greatly appreciated.Thanks to all who answer.
2007-12-19 23:51:27 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
About free will...what is free will without the knowledge to reason? So we are allowed to do as we please without knowing any better?
2007-12-20 00:03:47 · update #1
God created us to be perfect if we chose him , but he HAD to give us free will in order to keep that perfection .There would be no reason for automotons just praising him . He already has his angels doing that ...........
2007-12-19 23:55:31 · answer #1 · answered by Suicide642 5 · 4⤊ 2⤋
That is one of the many mysteries of God. God wanted us to be obedient , but due to the heart of man , man wants to be under no authority at all. So God basically said , You want to sin ? Here live with the repercussions of sin . God knows what will happen ,even before he made the earth and man. The bible will start getting harder in Exodus for a few more chapters with it's ceremonial laws and acts .( Hopefully you won't get discouraged ). If you do ...Maybe start in the Book of John and go from there. This site has some articles that will help you . www.fbbc.com
2007-12-20 08:56:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes the inevitable free will, God didn't want to have robot humans roaming around (making) us believe in Him or praising Him. Instead He instilled this free will you keep hearing about. It would show you more if your parents showed there love rather than being "forced" to show it. I also wonder why even make the tree? Free will could have been instilled already without this tree being there. So honestly I have no idea, the only thing I could THINK of is that maybe God didn't know what they would do. Eat or not eat from the tree of life? But that is not biblical that is something solely I came up with. I would say that would be the only time God didn't know something. But please don't listen to what I say listen to what the bible says. It could just be something that we won't know until we get to heaven.
But like william said you must be filled the Holy Spirit and let the Holy Spirit guide you. I ask you right now if you died would you go to heaven? Realize that we are all sinners, and that God sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins (Jesus Christ). Jesus Christ, God, and The Holy Spirit are all one just 3 different forms. If Jesus was not God in the flesh than how could He atone for our sins? He was made by God using the Holy Spirit, therefore He was and still is sinless. Believe in Christ and ask Him to save you, ask Him to come into your heart. Ask God to forgive you of all your sins, and let Jesus guide you in a new life. If you can believe this and pray for forgiveness you can be saved and on your way to heaven.
You obviously believe in God, you just don't understand but want to know more. Well that is a start and better than not wanting to know anything. Just realize that without being saved you will go to hell, and there is no 2nd chance. May you pray to God and do His will.
Brother in Christ
2007-12-20 08:24:29 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
God created all things, both good and evil. God Himself is Good, but evil is of a different nature. The Tree of Knowledge was to prove to humanity that even though God provides all things, all we want is more. Think about the time period for Adam and Eve. They lacked nothing, yet even though they had all they needed, they still wanted more. The serpent, which representative of a lier-Satan, tempted Eve because he knew the weakness of humanity already. We aren't cursed anymore though. We have the power of His Son who died to forgive our sins, wash us clean and start anew. God allows free will, and humanity has a tendency to blame Him for that. We do what we choose to do. God won't force us. So He allowed Adam and Eve to eat of the tree so that they would learn the lesson of obedience.
2007-12-20 08:03:07 · answer #4 · answered by tcjstn 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
To understand what you are reading you need someone who already understands it to help you.
Jehovahs Witnesses have a thorough and accurate understanding of the Bible and offer free home bible studies.Why not go to your local kingdom hall and enquire.
The tree of knowledge that stood in the middle of the garden was just that - a fruit tree.When God created humans,he gave them authority over the animal kingdom(Gen.1:26).But humankind was under God's sovereignty.The first man and woman were to confirm their submission to God by obediently abstaining from the fruit of that particular tree.Unfortunately for mankind,Adam and Eve abused their free moral agency and disobeyed God.Taking that fruit constituted rebellion against God's sovereignty.Beause of the serious moral issues involved,God allowed Adam and Eve and their descendents to choose their own way of life,and they established their own standards of right and wrong.
Jehovah God created man with a gift called free will.We can choose to obey Jehovah God who being our creator knows what is best for us and we can choose as Adam and Eve did and disobey Jehovah God and determine for ourselves what is good and bad. Adam and Eve had a choice.Mankind has been cursed because of their disobedience and act of rebellion and not because of anything that God had done.
Jehovah had created Adam and Eve perfect and put them in a garden paradise.They needed nothing nor where they in want of anything.Had they remained obedient they would have received the gift of eternal life.This was and still is God's plan for man - to live forever in perfect health on a beautiful paradise earth.
And the serpent? Was just that....a serpent/a snake that Satan used to trick Eve into listening to him.Satan used the snake like a ventriloquist.
2007-12-20 08:37:55 · answer #5 · answered by lillie 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Hi JennyJ....
Disclaimer...my views are definitely unorthodox...
Your questions have been debated throughout history.
Adam and Eve were in a static and dependent state, created in the likeness and image of the gods {Elohim}, Immortal... , yet in this state they would not be able to progress and fully understand what the gods knew until they experienced mortality, joy and sorrow, good and evil, life and death...
By partaking of the fruit, they triggered the process of theosis...and transformed into the mortal carnal state, one where they recognized their own sexuality and were now capable of fulfilling previous commands given them such as procreating...
Some argue the serpent was satan...but I view the serpent more representative of carnal desire...most view the "transgression" as original sin....I view it as simply exercising free will in order to begin the process of theosis...or in other words, becoming capable of participating more fully in the divine....before one can sin, shouldn't they be capable of knowing good and evil? mens rea cannot be present without this knowledge....Of course God knew they would eat of the tree....and I agree with you that he would not set them up in a no win situation...they simply chose between a static dependent state and one that promised full participation in the divine....
heresy...I know....
2007-12-20 08:27:49 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't think of it as a curse, more like means to an end. Think of god as more of a great giver of advice. While you are reading this book you should check into a Concordance, maybe a Lexicon. These books are like dictionaries and will help you in defining the phrasing used by the different authors.
2007-12-20 08:03:51 · answer #7 · answered by anton t 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He not only is a GOD of love, he is a just GOD. We are given a choice, we bring curses on ourselves. If you lived forever and forever, and then you created mankind. Would you want each one of them to be just the same like Pringels. We all have a free will so that we are more fun to watch. Just joking, but pretty close anyway, think about it. In a marriage that usually works, the couple breaks up a few times before they get married, they breakup and then can't get along with each other. They had the freedom to leave but came back because it was true love. The same with GOD, he gives us a chance to leave him and come back, so we will know it is true love.
2007-12-20 08:03:01 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Without access to knowledge, we'd all be robots.
However, God must have created us with the power to reason, because Adam named the animals.
Of course God knew man might eat from the tree. God also provided a sinless sacrifice, His Son the Messiah, to wipe away our sins once and for all. Isaiah 53 is a strong prophecy about this. Christians believe this Messiah is Jesus.
God also gave us free will, a choice: To eat from the tree, to sin or not, to seek closeness to Him, or to distance ourselves.
God is love. Love has basic requirements, like faithfulness.
2007-12-20 07:59:05 · answer #9 · answered by zeal4him 5 · 4⤊ 2⤋
The Serpent, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life, are all symbols transplanted from the soil of India. The Arasa-Maram, the banyan tree, so sacred with the Hindus, since Vishnu, during one of his incarnations, reposed under its mighty shade, and there taught humanity philosophy and sciences, is called the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life. Under the protective umbrage of this king of the forests, the Gurus teach their pupils their first lessons on immortality and initiate them in the mysteries of life and death. The Java-ALEIM of the Sacerdotal College are said, in the Chaldean tradition, to have taught the sons of men to become like one of them. To the present day Foh-tchou,* who lives in his Foh-Maëyu, or temple of Buddha, on the top of “Kouin-long-sang,”* the great mountain, produces his greatest religious miracles under a tree called in Chinese Sung-Ming-ShÃ, or the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life, for ignorance is death, and knowledge alone gives immortality. This marvellous display takes place every three years, when an immense concourse of Chinese Buddhists assemble in pilgrimage at the holy place.
2007-12-20 08:06:28 · answer #10 · answered by MoPleasure4U 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
God invented Adam and Eve and they where to respect him and obey his commands at all time the Devil is also the creation of God and works with God even though he is Gods enemy,The Devil was sent by God to tempt Eve to see if she would eat from the tree which God told her not to and she did,So that's why God disowned Adam and Eve and cursed them and their offsprings,That is why we must resist the Devil on this earth and obey Gods commands,Follow the 10 commandments and pray to God so that when we die we will be with God and be in his beautiful garden
2007-12-20 08:09:39 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋