Not hardly.Not then. Not now.
If this.
Then not this.
If God allowed choices then the wrong choices that are mistakes must happen. That does not mean He made mistakes. Nor does it mean He cannot maneuver around ours to get something done.If mistakes can happen, then you can't be sure they haven't happened. The point is, you can't be 100% sure that something apparently shown to be true actually is true. Human history provides plenty of examples of that..
So does that mean, "It's All Part Of God's Plan"™, and "God Works In Mysterious Ways"™ ?If God allowed choices then the wrong choices that are mistakes must happen. That does not mean He made mistakes. Nor does it mean He cannot maneuver around ours to get something done.
I would think so. But I suspect He may have been happy as a lark if Adam chose the better way.So does that mean, "It's All Part Of God's Plan"™, and "God Works In Mysterious Ways"™ ?
I don't see why - if he was omniscient, he would already know what Adam was inevitably going to do; or maybe he wouldn't - some Christians seem to believe God isn't omniscient... the lack of consistency in God definitions can be confusing.I would think so. But I suspect He may have been happy as a lark if Adam chose the better way.
I don't see why - if he was omniscient, he would already know what Adam was inevitably going to do; or maybe he wouldn't - some Christians seem to believe God isn't omniscient... the lack of consistency in God definitions can be confusing.
So it seems contrary to suggest that God 'may have been happy as a lark if Adam chose the better way' when He knew all along what Adam would do (and, had He wished, He could have arranged circumstances such that Adam would choose the better way).Yes He knew and planned for it before the world was. I doubt in 50 million years of living, a person would regret that we learned what we did even though it had to be the school of hard knocks.
Not if He loved us and wanted great things for us. Great things that needed us to be able to chose to love Him. Even after the millennium is over, the people will revolt. Another lesson that man without God is an evil failure. Adam learned that too. I learned from looking at the wicked world that man is a fail without Jesus. I think the angels learned too. How would we learn that and be able to move on to the next level or grade another way?So it seems contrary to suggest that God 'may have been happy as a lark if Adam chose the better way' when He knew all along what Adam would do (and, had He wished, He could have arranged circumstances such that Adam would choose the better way).
It just seems rather odd to suggest that an omnipotent God arranged things so He wasn't as happy as He could be.
If that's what would make Him happiest...Not if He loved us and wanted great things for us.
If that's what would make Him happiest...
Do you mean a butterfly pupa? (the larva is the caterpillar). Either way, I don't see why you call it 'poor', or why it might suggest a cruel God. Care to explain?If you looked at a poor butterfly larvae before the butterfly came out, you might think God was cruel.
If all a child saw was a creature seemingly trapped in a prison, they might think it was cruel. Only in having a broader knowledge that the seeming pain or bad conditions resulted in a flying wonder, would we know it was all just a part of a longer process. In life if all we see is the suffering and bad conditions and limits and prison of this temporal life on earth...we might likewise miss the big picture of our grand purpose and true life in eternity.Do you mean a butterfly pupa? (the larva is the caterpillar). Either way, I don't see why you call it 'poor', or why it might suggest a cruel God. Care to explain?
A pupa is less a prison than a changing room. Education is the key.If all a child saw was a creature seemingly trapped in a prison, they might think it was cruel.
We are getting the education in life here on earth! We are learning stuff for eternity. The stuff about present laws and physics and such will fall by the wayside in the dust of time. Remembered perhaps only as a joke and ancient history. The education kids get on ungodly sexual ideas will also die.A pupa is less a prison than a changing room. Education is the key.
Er, you were the one who brought it up in the first place.... To obsess over instances of bad things here, and results of sin here, is to miss the big picture and accuse God falsely.
I brought up the limited perspective thing comparing how some people think God is bad for allowing evil on earth, with this life being just a small temporary stage of life in eternity. Like a butterfly goes through stages to get to be a butterfly.Er, you were the one who brought it up in the first place.
"What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly"
Lao Tzu