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Author Topic:   God is cruel
Percy
Member
Posts: 22391
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.2


Message 265 of 301 (304299)
04-14-2006 5:49 PM
Reply to: Message 264 by jar
04-14-2006 5:32 PM


Re: Just more assertions.
Not sure I understand this thread well enough to know if this part of the conversation is on-topic, but I'll give it a try anyway.
jar writes:
Faith writes:
Of course she followed her ego. She was persuaded that she would have the same knowledge God has. That's ego.
No, she followed the directions of the serpent. Why would she think it wrong to do so?
I feel like I'm missing something, because your question, "Why would she think it wrong to do so?" has so obvious an answer, but plowing ahead regardless...
She would think it wrong to do so because God said, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
The serpent told Eve otherwise, saying, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Eve had a choice to make. Who to believe, God or the serpent. She chose the serpent. Probably a bad choice.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 264 by jar, posted 04-14-2006 5:32 PM jar has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 268 by jar, posted 04-14-2006 5:54 PM Percy has replied

Percy
Member
Posts: 22391
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.2


Message 267 of 301 (304301)
04-14-2006 5:53 PM
Reply to: Message 266 by Faith
04-14-2006 5:49 PM


Re: Just more assertions.
Faith writes:
The reason she did is given in scripture -- he persuaded her she would be like God. That is ego.
Is ego really the only possibility? Aren't greed, lust for power, curiousity, thirst for knowledge, desire for wisdom, admiration for God that made her want to be like God, etc, also possibilities?
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 266 by Faith, posted 04-14-2006 5:49 PM Faith has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 279 by Faith, posted 04-14-2006 10:54 PM Percy has not replied

Percy
Member
Posts: 22391
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.2


Message 273 of 301 (304318)
04-14-2006 8:39 PM
Reply to: Message 268 by jar
04-14-2006 5:54 PM


Re: How to know right from wrong?
jar writes:
But Percy, before eating from the Tree of Knowledge Eve and Adam had no tools for choosing one option over the other, no method of knowing which was the right choice.
Faith seems certain it could only be ego. You seem certain it could only be lack of knowledge. In the midst of so much Biblical ambiguity, so much certainty seems unwarranted.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 268 by jar, posted 04-14-2006 5:54 PM jar has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 275 by jar, posted 04-14-2006 8:52 PM Percy has not replied
 Message 278 by Faith, posted 04-14-2006 10:50 PM Percy has replied

Percy
Member
Posts: 22391
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.2


Message 300 of 301 (304387)
04-15-2006 7:03 AM
Reply to: Message 278 by Faith
04-14-2006 10:50 PM


Re: How to know right from wrong?
Faith writes:
There is nothing ambiguous about understanding that her motive was pride, the desire to be like God.
Of course there's ambiguity. We're talking about language, here. When the serpent says in Gen 3:5 "...you will be like God, knowing good and evil," does he mean completely like God, but only mentioning a couple qualities explicitly? Or like God only respecting those qualities and no others? Or like God regarding only some qualities, of which a couple are mentioned explicitly?
And later in Gen 3:6 we read, "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom..." Is "gaining wisdom" the same as knowing good and evil? Does it mean gaining some of the qualities of God? All of the qualities of God? Has Eve accepted the serpent's words at face value (whose meaning is unclear, anyway), or has she interpreted them in some other way?
The only thing I'm certain of is that there's not enough information to be certain.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 278 by Faith, posted 04-14-2006 10:50 PM Faith has not replied

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