Adam was a perfect man.........

Fe2O3Girl

Was he?

Does the Bible teach that Adam was a perfect human? Where?

Do any mainstream Christian churches hold this teaching of human physical perfection?

(I know that Adam and Eve is a myth, but bear with me for the purposes of discussion!)

freeme

i believe there isnt that particular sentence "adam was perfect".

but he was made in gods image, god saw it was "good" and he actually lost something when thrown out of paradise.
in jw doctrine a "perfect human" isnt infallible, but without "construction errors" which lead to illness, death and stuff.

i always wondered how the PERFECT WOMAN looked like

eclipse

I agree with Terry that if Adam was perfect, he would not have sinned.

That would mean that God created imperfection, even in his animal kingdom, where did viruses / disease come from?

Either they are the product of evolution, or God made them, or you could believe that evolution's catalyst came from a creator.

OnTheWayOut

"That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world
and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because
they had all sinned."

This quote of Romans 5:12 is the primary source of dogma that
Adam was perfect, along with scriptures that indicate that Jesus was
a second Adam. Genesis, itself only says that the things God made
were "good."

While I can't name the mainstream religions that believe that Adam
was perfect, the internet seems to show that there are many.

Death was supposedly around before Adam's "sin." The animals
died. I contend that mainstream religion (for the most part) is totally
missing the point that the original tellers of the Genesis account were
trying to make about what they say happened in the garden. I think the
original story was a warning not to piss off the creator, as he was
jealous and there was no telling what he might do.

freeme

jw mind talks:

I agree with Terry that if Adam was perfect, he would not have sinned.

adam was perfect to do anything he wanted. he had a free choice. he wasnt able to sin by "accident".

That would mean that God created imperfection, even in his animal kingdom, where did viruses / disease come from?

bacteria and viruses are a important part of nature. we couldnt live without them. because of the sin creation became imperfect and thats where illness started. before sin this system was perfectly balanced so noone would become ill.

Either they are the product of evolution, or God made them, or you could believe that evolution's catalyst came from a creator.

god made them. and through sin this became flawed.

-------

of course that raises for my non-jw-mind some questions:

- Is it righteous to create humans and give them the ability to have a free choice and PUNISH them if they use it?
- When nature was perfect before and even viruses existed "what" made "sin" to imbalance it? isnt it a act of DESIGN to change viruses/bacteria/the whole system and animals to an imperfect state?

and finally:

- WHY the hell created god bloodsucking animals, when blood is SO sacred? (my mum told me when i was a child maybe satan created them LOL!!!!!!!!!!!)

RAF

Does the Bible teach that Adam was a perfect human? Where?
I don't remember reading this either in the bible ...
What really got my attention in the story : the woman is influenced by something weird (she's not thinking for real) and the man is influence by woman (he is not thinking for real) and both for something which would boost their Ego..
But both anyway didn't know about the good and the bad (so they can't be responsible) it is not because someone is telling to a kid which never experienced fire (in a way or an other) that fire hurts that he won't be attracted to it whenever the kid have the occasion (free will) . And the parents won't really be able to say that the kid is responsible (fire is available = free will - it can lead to something good or bad) - but whatever happened because he played with the fire, if bad : he or anyone touched about it will have to pay the consequence (legacy).
Eddited to add : And if you have at least 2 people (inconcious) about who are working on boosting there Ego it's already a probleme more over if they are parents (teachers in a way or an other).

eclipse

I never mentioned bacteria.

I know that they are an important and integral part of our ecosystem and microbiology..

Sin is a concept made up by men.

LearningToFly

This was one of my arguements while in.. why did god create a man and woman, knowing that they could sin and turn against him. It truly makes no sense to me. Although I have heard the arguement over and over, man was created with free will, so that they could prove to god that they would obey him and follow his rules. It still does not make sense to me, to have a creator of anything, create something with flaws. If this is all true, the bibles explanation of it, then to me.. the creation of humans and future of humans was rather like a very long chess game.. and it horrifies me to think that a god of love would do this.

WTWizard

Here is another instance where they take something out of context. Adam did not know good and bad before eating the fruit. So how was he supposed to know that it was wrong? Because Jehovah told him so!

Which is another example of blindly following. Adam was supposed to just do whatever Jehovah told him to do. Which means Adam was just a cog, of no value above and beyond that of a machine. Of course, Adam was built with a brain and the need to use it. In this case, it is blatant that Jehovah was in fact depriving Adam of the proper use of his brain. That is something the Watchtower Society will not tell you about this law--they only tell you that Adam only had one rule about eating the fruit.

I truly believe that man has the inherent need to use his mind and brain to think. Man needs to use his brain to solve problems and create improved conditions. And that means the ability to decide what is good and bad for himself. What God did was He stole that right away from Adam. By requiring obedience to that command, God was effectively commanding Adam to be a follower, and hence depriving him of the right to think and solve his own problems (and usually quicker and better, since he would have had to live with the results).

The Watchtower Society is guilty of the same thing. They gleefully point out that Adam sinned by taking that fruit (which means thinking independently). The major religions do not point this out as blatantly, because they all emphasize salvation through Jesus. They emphasize salvation through grace. And they do not emphasize the Old Testament so much, though they will mention it at times. Whether you believe in Adam as a perfect man or not, really matters not. What does matter is what you have to do to maximize the quality of life from where you are now, and using your brain the way it was meant to be used is one of the things that will help the most.

RAF

man was created with free will, so that they could prove to god that they would obey him and follow his rules. It still doesnot make sense to me, ... the creation of humans and future of humans was rather like a very long chess game.. and it horrifies me to think that a god of love would do this.
It doesn't (that's what religions = listen to us = listen to God want us to think about this story)
and it horrifies me to think that a god of love would do this.
Without free will we are robots ... I don't think that I would like a robot as a kid and a pet is not a kid too ... so
So it seem (all together) that it more about a learning process (which lead us to make choice regarding to what we like - and see how responsible we feel about the matter = the bad and its legacy)

Adam was a perfect man.........

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