God is cruel

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anyways.

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In a world where death supposedly did not exist, Adam was told not to eat that fruit or he would die that same day. Yeah. Let's tell that two-year-old toddler "refrain from touching the cooking vessel, as it might cause thermal damage to your epidermis and perhaps dermis."

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It's a silly-assed story any way you slice it. Coyote had much better stories about him.

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Adam was given the ability to choose. Which he did. Choosing is possible when you have options. He had them. The toddler has the option to listen to mom or dad, mom or dad have the responsibility to teach the lesson so it is understood. The lesson is yes means yes and no means no. Children need reinforcement and should have it consistently.I hope that is not a silly-assed story.One more thing. In the day Adam would eat of the fruit, he would surely die. If you think about that for a minit, you will see that what he did led to his death, which was told him that day.
Since we know he did not die that selfsame day, he had some time to think about what he did.This message has been edited by DorfMan, 04-04-2006 10:38 AM

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Yeah! Why don't we each get a chance to eat or not eat the apple?

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Just as a practical matter, how long do you think you could hold out not eating something that was specifically identified to you as the one thing you are not allowed to eat, and this other being comes along (you can't have one part of the story without the other you know) and tells you that God lied to you and it's really good to eat and will make you as smart as God?

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Aside from that, participating of the fruit had the same effect as any other harmful substance. Adam passed that participation on to all mankind the same way a mother on crack affects her offspring.
The sins of the fathers are passed down to many generations. In Adam's case, to all of them. Now it becomes our option not to participate, except of course the genetic defects we inherit and are helpless to change.

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Dorfman writes:

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The child is told not to touch the hot pot. It doesn't really know that it is hot until it touches it. It can either believe what it is told, or it can live with the consequences.

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that's fine but why does the child's children and all their descendants have to live with the consequences ?

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Now here's a question : If that was your child touching the hot pot and you ensured that your child and all its descendants would have to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives, which of the following adjectives would be applicable to you and why ? :

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- 'just'
- 'loving'
- 'cruel'

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Why does the crack baby have to live with its mother's choice?The child and its descendants DO live with the consequences of the choices the child has made, big and small choices. It adds up. You know?
Stephen Crane wrote some kind of poem on the issue of the sins of the fathers. Judging by its content, it is clear he does not see how the right choices made by him, me, and you, will affect our offspring as much as the wrong choices.

In a world where death doesn't even exist they're going to understand death? Sure..........

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If it says they were told they would die, then the logical thing to assume, the fair thing to assume, is that they understood it...

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In a world where death doesn't even exist they're going to understand death? Sure..........

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They understood "DON'T". We don't know the content of the conversations God had with those two. We just know he had them. It is highly doubtful that these two models did not come with instructions. That would be remiss.

Huh? You want it should commit suicide instead?

Oh, that’s what you meant, yeah, I mean, with the things we have laid out as ”sin’, I’d say we are inclined to do them. The whole ”Fall’ thing, to me, means that we want to sin and from what I see, people (including myself) do a lot of sinning. But its no big deal because god forgives us, he isn’t all that cruel. I read Genesis metaphorically, that’s just one of the interpretations I get. I wrote another one some posts up. But it makes sense to me, when you sin, you choose to sin just like A&E chose to eat the apple, the effect is a separation from god, a spiritual ”death’ so to speak, but its not totally unforgivable or irreversible, God ain’t THAT cruel. Sure we can't get back 'into the garden' (which in my interpretation is the state that all the non-human animals are living in) but we aren't doomed either.

Hi Cs, Do you take Jesus' execution and resurrection metaphorically?Brian.

Well, you gotta play with the hand thats dealt to ya. But the things(genes and environment) don't make the decision for the person, the person makes it so it is the person's fault. I don't suscribe to determinism, I think we have free will, I don't think that the decisions I'm going to make have already been made for me. I don't presume to know what god would know and I'd rather not argue about the limitations, or lack there-of, of omniscience. Nope, you still choose to sin. If, for some reason, you do something bad that was not a result of you choosing to do it, then that is not considered sinning, but there are bad things that you do that you choose to do, and those are sins.So, if you do agree with your quote, why do you think that people who believe in god also hold people responsible for their actions?

Like how?, man.I believe that they happened. I believe that Jesus was the son of god.What parts are you setting me up for if I just say no, I don't take them metaphorically?

I just wondering why you take Jesus' shenannigans literally, yet take Genesis metaphorically when they are both equally unsupported and implausible.Brian.

Hi, Adam was dying anyway regardless of whether he ate the fruit or not. Adam and Eve were mortal, so they,just like all of us, began to die the second they were created.The story is severly flawed.Brian.

Because I don't find them equally implausible.

That's very nice but it doesn't answer the question:

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Now here's a question : If that was your child touching the hot pot and you ensured that your child and all its descendants would have to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives, which of the following adjectives would be applicable to you and why ? :

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- 'just'
- 'loving'
- 'cruel'

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eagerly awaiting your answer,

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"In life, you have to face that some days you'll be the pigeon and some days you'll be the statue."

And that seems just to you? that seems fair to you?Is this the 'merciful' God you worship?A god that would make a child's life horrific because of the actions of it's mother? how can you possibly justify such a thing?you can have him.