Adam and Eve

[NeedImprovement]

Did God know before hand that Adam and Eve would disobey him and eat of the forbidden fruit?

At least two fellow members have already mentioned God is I AM . Everything by which we as humans are confined in time and space does not confine God - so everything is present to Him.

As I heard a priest say in a homily once, " We are all created in God’s image, but we human beings have this tendency to try and recreate God in our own image." That’s where we can get bogged down ; in believing God can only conceive things the way our human minds can.

Did God know beforehand that Adam and Eve would disobey …?.. Just as surely as when we go to Confession in the present, God is aware of the future flub-ups we’ll make (lucky for us that we don’t know them).

He even gives us a “hint” in the Commandments that He is omniscient:

He gave us the Tenth Commandment “… you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife…”
Now if we had always obeyed that part of it to perfection, then we would have never needed the Seventh Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery.” … looks like someone knew we were going to disobey …Doesn’t it ?

We are indeed blessed to have a God who forgives, as Psalm 145:8 says : The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

 

[PJM]

=Bill Young;6550087]Did God know before hand that Adam and Eve would disobey him and eat of the forbidden fruit?

The answer if “YES, of course.”

Which is why He created both Heaven and He…

 

[Roy5]

For those who accept the Adam and Eve story as fact, fine. No problem. Freedom of belief. What I am suggesting, however, is that we can be equally ‘good Christians’ and see it as a myth with a moral message. Rather like parables. Were the parables of Jesus true? He did not intend them to be taken literally but as fables that proclaimed important spiritual and/or moral truths.

 It simply seems unreasonable to me that God requires us to believe stories as genuine history that are not reasonable or rational but present God as a wrathful, ruthless god - rather like Al Qaeda and other Muslim extremists see their Allah. The first eleven chapters of Genesis fall into that category - well, in my view. And there are many other Biblical accounts that test our credulity. Do other posters really believe that God deliberately drowned everyone but Noah's family, that he commanded Joshua to kill the inhabitants of Jericho or told Saul to slay every last Amalekite? How does that fit the Catholic emphasis on the value of innocent human life? If we condemn abortions, how can we justify such mass murdering of unborn children or little babies? Does God break his own Ten Commandments? Does he foist such atrocities upon the innocent? 

  I certainly would prefer to question the authenticity of certain Biblical accounts than to believe that the God of love, my God, has conmmited such outrageous cruelties. Don't we have to choose between the two? 

  God guide and bless the whole world - no exceptions.

 

[buffalo]

For those who accept the Adam and Eve story as fact, fine. No problem. Freedom of belief. What I am suggesting, however, is that we can be equally ‘good Christians’ and see it as a myth with a moral message. Rather like parables. Were the parables of Jesus true? He did not intend them to be taken literally but as fables that proclaimed important spiritual and/or moral truths.

 It simply seems unreasonable to me that God requires us to believe stories as genuine history that are not reasonable or rational but present God as a wrathful, ruthless god - rather like Al Qaeda and other Muslim extremists see their Allah. The first eleven chapters of Genesis fall into that category - well, in my view. And there are many other Biblical accounts that test our credulity. Do other posters really believe that God deliberately drowned everyone but Noah's family, that he commanded Joshua to kill the inhabitants of Jericho or told Saul to slay every last Amalekite? How does that fit the Catholic emphasis on the value of innocent human life? If we condemn abortions, how can we justify such mass murdering of unborn children or little babies? Does God break his own Ten Commandments? Does he foist such atrocities upon the innocent? 

  I certainly would prefer to question the authenticity of certain Biblical accounts than to believe that the God of love, my God, has conmmited such outrageous cruelties. Don't we have to choose between the two? 

  God guide and bless the whole world - no exceptions.

What was the constant understanding and teaching of the Church until say 1500 or so?

 

[grannymh]

For those who accept the Adam and Eve story as fact, fine. No problem. Freedom of belief. What I am suggesting, however, is that we can be equally ‘good Christians’ and see it as a myth with a moral message. Rather like parables. Were the parables of Jesus true? He did not intend them to be taken literally but as fables that proclaimed important spiritual and/or moral truths.

Regarding only Adam and Eve. I have seen similar statements in other posts. What I really want to know is – What exactly is the moral message if Adam and Eve are a myth? Why? How is this moral message backed up?

Blessings,
granny

Spring is God’s answer to the question --Is there a future?

 

[NeedImprovement]

I once heard a priest talking about the book of Genesis having (his exact words were ) “the greatness of myth”. Statements like that can be open to interpretation but unfortunately also wide open to misinterpretation.

Myth or not, to those of us with faith in our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus,there are certain things which simply are:

• We had original parents.
• There was a “fall” or sin if you prefer - initially said to be one of pride.That really shouldn’t surprise us. We still struggle against pride.
• Death is one of the consequences of sin.

If the above were not true, we wouldn’t need a Saviour. One might try contemplating the recent current of this thread in light of Christ’s own words [John 8: 44-45]

You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me.

If ,when speaking openly, Christ calls him a murderer from the beginning , then who is being murdered…?.. Who’s souls are in danger ?

The spiritual war which rages around us is real - as St. Paul tells us [Ephesians 6:12]

“For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.”

Any time we see the word “myth” mentioned in relation to sacred scripture, we can benefit by double checking that whoever is applying the term is not throwing out the baby with the bath water.