Eating from the tree of life would have allowed Adam and Eve to live forever in their sin, they had to leave the garden and the tree so they wouldn't eat of the tree of life and then be eternally lost. It was His compassion and His plan for redemption that He caused them to leave.
There IS good news. This is not our home, we are looking for the Kingdom to come and all signs point to our soon redemption. He told us things would become dark before the light. We can take comfort in knowing that, no matter how bad things "look", He is still in control and on the Throne.
1Jo 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Jhn 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
39 comments
So God can kill everyone and it would be okay because He's still in control?
WTF?
If he's in control, he should be doing a better job.
NONONO, you completely misunderstand
Eru, who in Arda is called Iluvatar, gave mortality to Man, his youngest children, as a gift. To drive us onward and to grant us release in the dark days of Melkor in which we were created.
"It was His compassion and His plan for redemption that He caused them to leave."
It was his colossal ignorance and total lack of foresight (despite being omniscient) that made him think it'd be a good idea to have such a tree in the Garden in the first place.
"There IS good news. This is not our home, we are looking for the Kingdom to come and all signs point to our soon redemption."
You know, "soon" is a funny word. Generally it means something similar to "immanent" except when theists use it. Then, for some strange reason, it means somewhere between "the next few minutes" and "never".
"He told us things would become dark before the light. We can take comfort in knowing that, no matter how bad things "look", He is still in control and on the Throne."
On the throne you say?
*snicker*
Maybe that's why he doesn't appear to be doing anything useful.
But why create an 'evil tree' in the first place? He must've known they were going to eat from it. I mean, when you tell people "keep away from my forbiden tree of mystery" you know that as soon as you turn your back, that's the first place they're gonna run to.
@Devonian: "You know, for an omniscient being, the whole Garden thing sure caught him with his pants down..."
That's 'cause he was on the throne!
hey, buttnugget lady, there's no mention of the rapture...on top of that, if god is so great, why does he waste time on making someone's boo boo stop hurting while a few thousand people die for no reason?
If there was no death before they ate the fruit (Romans 5:12), why would God make a tree that conferred immortality?
Religion is by definition illogical. If it made sense it'd be science and you wouldn't need faith to believe in it. As Mark Twain wrote,'Faith is believing what you know ain't so'.
Sanity: "NONONO, you completely misunderstand
Eru, who in Arda is called Iluvatar, gave mortality to Man, his youngest children, as a gift. To drive us onward and to grant us release in the dark days of Melkor in which we were created."
And the sad thing is: the creation myth of Middle-earth makes much more sense than the Christian one.
"Eating from the tree of life would have allowed Adam and Eve to live forever in their sin..."
No, it would have turned them into Protectors. And since fundies don't read science fiction that'll go over their heads.
Jhn 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.
Exodus 32:27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
32:28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
Eating from the tree of life would have allowed Adam and Eve to live forever in their sin, they had to leave the garden and the tree so they wouldn't eat of the tree of life and then be eternally lost. It was His compassion and His plan for redemption that He caused them to leave.
Am I missing something here, or have you never actually read the relevant text? According to the book, they did eat from the tree.
@Brain_In_A_Jar - they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and therefore had to be prevented from eating from the tree of life.
The story specifically states that they had to be kicked out of the garden before they ate from the tree of life and became even more like gods. biblenuggetlady is denying the Bible and making things up to suit herself.
Most Christians, conservative and liberal, traditional and modern, believe the creation story in Genesis is SYMBOLIC. It's allegory, meant to prove a point, not something that is supposed to be taken as historical fact. I could go on about it, but I'd hate to bore everyone here, and if biblenuggetlady ever seen it, wouldn't get anyway. The point is, her view is the minority view in Christiandom, along with such crap like the rapture.
"He is still in control and on the Throne."
Shit, if he's still on the throne, don't just stand there!
Get the guy some Imodium or Pepto or something.
"This is not our home, we are looking for the Kingdom to come and all signs point to our soon redemption."
There are alternate solutions to your chronic depression, you know, than telling yourself fantasies to make yourself feel better.
Well, whaddaya know - the book does indeed say there were two trees. I stand corrected. Funny, every fundie account I've ever heard prior to this one only ever mentioned one tree, so I guess I eventually forgot the authoritative version.
He is still in control and on the Throne.
Considering what my granddaddy called "the throne," this made me laugh much too hard. My granddaddy took a long time on his white porcelain "throne", too.
@ Cap'n Mel and Old Viking: Damn it, y'all beat me to it!
This legalistic "Christian" bitch wont put up with anyone who doesn't share ANY opinion she has. And I'm another Christian! She needs to read up on the Pharasees!!
People like her make other Christians look like HORRIBLE. It even disgusts me!!
I recently read an interesting interpretation of the story by an Orthodox Rabbi who sees it as a representation of the need for for a child to rebel against the parent in order to become a fully autonomous adult.
Yes, they could stay in 'the garden' and do what they were told, but they would never be able to grow into healthy adults.
And yes, adulthood is hard, but if we didn't have to overcome problems and make our own decisions, we'd never gain self-esteem and learn what we are capable of.
By setting a test (don't eat the fruit), God/parental figure was giving them an opportunity to choose to leave the nest and grow up.
Which makes a hell of a lot more sense than taking it literally and thinking humans are all stained by Original Sin(tm).
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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