Satan

[razeontherock]

Why was there a need for a tree that nobody was allowed to eat from? Is the Universe itself not a perfect, harmonious, and beautiful representation of God's power/nature?

Not w/o that tree, no.

Satan is the biggest, most infinite form of Evil you can ever conceive of.

No, he's not. Those that intentionally follow him will see him one day, and despise him. He is anything but infinite.

 

[razeontherock]

Side note: why not just completely kill of Satan, why the need to abolish him to the planet where God ends up creating us?

I see no reason to not just kill of Satan entirely.

Such is reality. He is abolished to the planet where we live. And "the tree" is here to tempt us. And satan draws our attention to it, and lies about both it, and the Word of G-d.

Who are you going to believe?

 

[humblehumility]

Those type of evidence you will have to find hands on. I don't really have hard evidence unless you watch the episode of "The Face of Jesus- The Shroud of Turin Pt. 1 of 6".

Well that's just the thing right there, you call The Shroud of Turin a piece of evidence. We've thoroughly established that the shroud is a fake/phony, and dates nowhere near as far back as the time of Christ. Also we didn't find any pieces of Noah's ark lol.

The rest of what you said is subjective belief, and is no more true than a devout Buddhist or Muslim talking about their faith.

And yes I read the bits about Satan, they do nothing to explain God's purpose in allowing him to tempt Adam & Eve.

 

[humblehumility]

Not w/o that tree, no.

So you don't think the universe is a beautiful, harmonious place? Because we have no tree to look at or admire, only a story of it. Furthermore, you're saying that anybody that doesn't believe in Christianity (or at least the OT) cannot see beauty and harmony in the universe.

No, he's not. Those that intentionally follow him will see him one day, and despise him. He is anything but infinite.

What is more evil than Satan? Satan is the root and cause of all evil, and as far as we're concerned, he's infinite. He's been alive for billions of years and shows no signs of stopping, no matter what you may believe is coming for him.

 

[humblehumility]

Such is reality. He is abolished to the planet where we live. And "the tree" is here to tempt us. And satan draws our attention to it, and lies about both it, and the Word of G-d.

What you just described is an extremely wicked God. He wants to create children that love him (us) and create a glorious and perfect planet for us to live on. He does all that and God sees that it's "good". Adam & Eve love him and are happily naked. End of story, right? God did what he wanted to do, and the Earth and his children are how he wants them to be.

But then he puts a tree on the Earth that if we eat from, we'll be doomed. He makes this tree intentionally tempting, baiting us to cross him. Then to boot, he casts Satan (pure evil) and all his demons here to Earth to try and convince us to betray him.

You call that a loving God?

Who are you going to believe?

Well I believe neither, I'm just trying to gain some deeper understanding into Christianity. I think it's ludicrous to believe a magical tree was planted here to tempt humanity into committing sin that requires salvation only through bloody human sacrifice.

It's your classic Good vs Evil and in comes a messiah, it's been so played out in religion throughout human history it's pathetic. It's all mythology.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I'm just trying to gain some deeper understanding into Christianity.

I'll explain it to you . The age of man, beginning with Adam and Eve, isn't the be-all end-all of God's purpose, but part of his plan for the restoration of his spiritual Kingdom, damaged when Lucifer rebelled. He's not going to replicate those angels lost in the rebellion, but is forming new spirit beings from specially designed creatures (that be us) through a special process, of: sinfulness, repentance, conversion, resurrection, glorification. We will be perfected spiritually by this process. The angels weren't as there was no need of it when they were created. God repaired the SURFACE of the earth in GenONe, preparing a temporary habitat for man. Notice that the whole earth is still in a state of destruction,'groaning in travail', a constant reminder that everything is still a 'work in progress'. Human life on earth is not the kingdom, but the crucible; the 'moshpit'. Just think of God as a Drill Instructor training soldiers for combat. The first thing he does is reduce them to 'worthlessness' ('Listen up you maggots') and then builds them into skilled soldiers prepared for combat. The fall of man into sin, being humbled by it, admitting it with contrition, and surrendering to God's will, is the beginning of the process of conversion into perfect spirit beings 'fit' for the kingdom. God saw it and declared it 'good', as in 'so far so good'. </p>