Interesting interpretations of Genesis. So if Adam (or mankind) had not chosen the "fruit" and had rather chosen to continually obey God, would man still die physically? I mean I agree and recognize that there was a spiritual death upon disobedience. Or perhaps your interpretation is that we each individually disobey God and "fall" and thereby earn ourselves death both spiritual and physical? This theology is new to me is why I'm asking. (Is there a particular name for your interpretation, so that I might google it at some point? I have told myself that if I find "macro" evolution to be true, then I would next look into how people reconcile evolution and the Bible; but I am still on the first part.) ...I guess I'd be more curious to ask, who do you believe were the very first homosapiens (or ancestors) to be spiritual or have a soul or an eternal destination? And what was the generation like just before them? (Alluding to my prior question about "Adam's parents", though in the context of your interpretation of "Adam", which I was aware meant "man".)
...Oh interesting, you don't even believe that the Bible is the words of God. You and I have lived in very different circles
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Yes I am aware that parables are not to be taken literally
I'm curious what you think of my "bigger" question from before:
So if Adam (or mankind) had not chosen the "fruit" and had rather chosen to continually obey God, would man still die physically? I mean I agree and recognize that there was a spiritual death upon disobedience. Or perhaps your interpretation is that we each individually disobey God and "fall" and thereby earn ourselves death both spiritual and physical?
Q1. So if Adam (or mankind) had not chosen the "fruit".
First off, the question is not the kind of question one should ask of Genesis Ch2-5. It is the same as asking "If little Red Riding Hood had refused to take the picnic basket to Granny, would the wolf not have eaten her"? The question implies that we can change the story to make it mean what we want to believe rather than simply what it says. It is a STORY and we are not permitted to mess with what it actually says. To do that implies that we think it is 'historical' rather than 'mythic'. We can speculate on possible alternative 'historical' outcomes, but 'mythic' narrative is immutable and fixed, otherwise it becomes a completely different 'myth' with a completely different 'meaning'. God intends the 'mythic' story of how evil entered the world and turned us against God, introduced fear and guilt, blame and blame shifting, into the human psyche, destroying our relationship with our creator and our relationships with each other, to remain just exactly as it is. Don't even try to change what it says. It says exactly what God intended it to say. It is 'Inspired' scripture.
So, God asked a question, Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the snake, and the snake didn't have a leg to stand on, a blame shifting tendency all too prevalent in the world today, in every human personality type. THAT is the message we are intended to get from the story.
Q2. we each individually disobey God and "fall" and thereby earn ourselves death both spiritual and physical?
We are of course each
entirely responsible for
our own sins against God. Psalms 51:4-6. The important fact that we need to keep in sight is that we have
ALL sinned, not that a mythic or historical someone, a long time ago, started doing it, (whether that happened in a garden with a talking snake rather misses the point), it is a
fact about US, which
WE cannot and should not deny, and it has far reaching detrimental consequences to our well being, both temporal and eternal. It is probably,
(as creatures intended to be spiritually 'Eternal'), responsible for our fear of physical 'death'. Death in the physical sense is merely a necessary process inevitably linked to
'change, growth and development'. It may be traumatic but no more so than birth is also traumatic as an experience for both mother and baby. Physical death is, according to scripture, merely entering into another, more enhanced, form of existence. An existence similar to the one Christ now has.
Q3. who do you believe were the very first homosapiens (or ancestors) to be spiritual or have a soul or an eternal destination? And what was the generation like just before them? (Alluding to my prior question about "Adam's parents", though in the context of your interpretation of "Adam", which I was aware meant "man".)
Someone somewhere in the distant past obtained sufficient cognisance to realise that they were going to die, and it would not be a good experience. Someone at sometime used this 'knowledge' to try to extend their own life at the expense of others, thus setting in motion the 'dog eat dog' attitude of modern man, having replaced the 'Trust in God or 'fate' attitude" of his predecessors.
...Oh interesting, you don't even believe that the Bible is the words of God. You and I have lived in very different circles.
I believe that God's Word cannot be locked up in any 'Book' even the Bible. What happens when a person reads The Bible, in a search for truth, is that the Holy Spirit communicates meaning to the person reading the words. It is not the words which are coming from God, it is the understanding of the meaning of the words which comes from God. There are quite a few 'words' in The Bible which are most definitely
not God's words. Job 1:7, Job 1:9, Job 2:2, Job 2:4, etc. + all the temptations of Christ are Satans words, not God's. Discernment! We need to be discerning.
Q4. if we came about through natural processes from the first single-cell eukaryote or something simpler, all the way to us, then why is there any need to believe that there are any supernatural interventions at work in our lives at all? Why is there a need to believe in a God?
Because we need to be born again, in order to 'live' to fulfil our truly God given potential as human beings. We need first to believe that God exists and then to believe that God rewards those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6.
Why not deism or atheism? My "problem" is not that I don't want to serve God, but rather that I just want to know if there really is a God to serve. I want to follow truth and nothing less, even if that means being an atheist or agnostic.
As far as God is concerned, He does not much care whether we are religious or not. He cares whether we are fulfilling our purpose, and His purpose in us. That purpose will be similar to the purposes of His only beloved Son Jesus Christ, so a short cut to discovering our Divinely ordained 'purpose' is to get to know Jesus Christ. He is The Word, The Way, The Truth and The Life. John 14:6.
Anyone therefore who follows the teaching of The Word, seeks to find and follow God's Way, respects and upholds The Truth, and lives The Life that Christ himself has enabled us to Live 'through' Him by His atonement for ALL, is "Doing what God expects of them".
While on earth Jesus Christ, "Went about doing good". While on earth God expects nothing less of each of us. Acts of the Apostles 10:38.
That is the bottom line of 'Faith'. God has done everything necessary for our salvation. We hopefully still have time then, to use the time God has given us, to do as Jesus did.
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