Philosophical ramblings on the Adam & Eve Parable

I have always thought that "The Fall" theology has some gaping holes in it and presents a really cynical view of God. Plus it seems to be a rather convenient excuse for humans as a way of explaining their moral failures ("It's not my fault, it's Adam's for bequeathing me a fallen nature" or even worse, "The Devil made me do it."). Furthermore how could a loving God say "Well here is what you can do but by the way, there is a tree over here that has wonderful fruit that you must not eat." Did't Jesus suggest in the Lord's prayer that God isn't in the business of tempting us? "Lead us not into temptation" doesn't seem to jive with "forbidden fruit." Further, the fallen nature bit suggests that an innocent babe is sinful and that is just nuts and contrary to common sense.This message has been edited by deerbreh, 10-24-2005 01:27 PM

I guess when I say "free will" I am thinking more of freedom to choose but not freedom to violate the rights of others. So a loving God is not going to punish someone simply for choosing not to wordship said God, for example - because God has no interest in coerced worship. He wants an individual to worship him out of love - love which the individual freely chooses. If an individual chooses not to love or worship God there is no punishment per se - there is only a loss to the individual of not receiving the benefits of loving God. Another way of looking at this is from the standpoint of good and evil. Certainly God would have no interest in man not knowing the difference between good and evil because one cannot really choose to do good if one does not know what it is and the same goes for choosing against evil. I agree with you that the forbidden fruit is simply a metaphor for the consciousness of man as compared to animals but I think we make too much of it - animals do have some consciousness and some may have nearly the same level as man does (I wouldn't even reject the possibility that some might have a higher level than man does). I don't think we really have any way of knowing for certain.

Or perhaps we ARE capable of internally creating a concept of a greater good and it is the origin of God. Maybe the moment when we are able to see the good in other people is the moment when we have created God.edited quote codesThis message has been edited by deerbreh, 10-31-2005 09:25 PM