What is the meaning of Life?

Emmy said:

Dear Feldon. Here is what I love to think, who is there of you who believes different? God is the great I AM, He always was and He always will be.
God made us in His image, we are capable of great Love. God lived with Adam and Eve, ( our proto-types) in the Garden of Eden, and as far as we know, quite happily, UNTIL Temptation, in the guise of the Serpent appeared. God always knew that would happen, and Adam and Eve were told by God: " If you eat of the Tree of knowledge, you will have to die."
We all know what happened then, Adam and Eve succumbed, and that was the end of living in the Garden of Eden.
We know what happened in the Old Testament, how Evil and Sinning became the norm of daily living. Instead of becoming loving/ caring, Mankind became
degenerate. Until Jesus God/Son came as our Saviour, and showed us God as God really is: our Heavenly Father who wants us back again. Jesus told us what God really wants from us: selfless Love, freely given and NO conditions
tagged on. Matthew 5: 48: tells us clearly: " Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." That is what God wants from us, and although it is possible, we will need much help and guidance.
The Bible tells us to " Repent," and " To Be Born Again." That will be our next step, and after Jesus has died for us, and we are free to live for God again,
we know now, what God wants from us. Our Risen Saviour will once again come to our rescue. The meaning of Life? To become as God wants us to be,
Loving God and all who will be with us. I say this with love, Feldon.
Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ. P.S. I would gladly read about other answers to: What is the meaning of Life?

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Golden Yak said:

While you're correct about people, I'm afraid there are elements of Christianity itself, actual unaltered teachings, that I find to be bad ideas.

Original sin is one - it's obscene to hold offspring responsible for misdeeds of their parents. The original sin itself is one that I don't find particularly egregious, in light of the punishment for it. Speaking of punishment - I find an eternal punishment for any amount of human action, however vile, to be infinitely more vile - notions of Hell and eternal torment are ideas I find distasteful. These are punishments inflicted on people who don't abuse or corrupt or kill, but who simply have the 'wrong' faith, or no faith at all - but someone willing to make God/Jesus their Lord and Master are left off the hook. There's an area between 'get off scott free' and 'be set on fire for all time' that I think would be worth exploring, but apparently God doesn't.

Jesus' line of 'I am the way, truth, light, etc.' implying that everyone who doesn't follow him is living the wrong way and will be punished for it. Not to mention its condemnation of people and practices that have been confirmed in our time to be utterly without harm.

These aren't some misinterpreted ideas that followers misuse as excuses to be rotten to others, they're some of the foundational teachings of the religion, allegedly the word of God. They're awful sentiments, and I would say as much to God himself if he parted the skies and espoused them directly.



Joe definitely sounds more like a christian than Israel does. I googled this book, and apparently its part one of a trilogy - I imagine they don't give away who's who in the first one.

Seems like it'd be a little too obvious to have the guy who's uplifting and inspiring and calls people to make themselves be better people turn out to be the devil, but that'd be in line with a lot of the sentiment of 'don't think you're anything more than horrible worthless sinners unless you're bowing and scraping and begging forgiveness from God' that a lot of the religion has.

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Golden Yak said:

I certainly enjoy the story better as a metaphor for coming of age, leaving behind childish/animal comforts and assuming the responsibilities of knowing personhood, rather than as a literal historical account or cautionary tale to never disobey.

On the subject of the garden story and fiction featuring biblical figures, I'm reminded of a good line from an Eve character that's along the lines you posted about:

"I didn't succumb to temptation, I resisted it, okay? I wasn't stupid. I could've sat in comfort, but... I wanted us to stand. So I did what mothers are supposed to do, and dragged us into the real world. I still believe I was supposed to. And do I get thanked for it? Ha!"

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