Why Was Man Created with a Thirst for Knowledge then Condemned to Die for Seeking It?

by Hopscotch 25 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Heaven

  One of my biggest problems with the Bible is the lack of information and thus, knowledge, in it. It creates way more questions for me than it has ever answered.
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  LongHairGal

  Well, it's kinda like creating man with a body and senses and then punishing him for giving into those senses (some of which are overpowering at times). Is this a 'loving' provision on the part of the creator?

  Yes, it does seem as if the chips are stacked against the poor human race.
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  Terry

  Neither Adam nor Eve ever lay in a cradle admired by their mother's eyes.

  They were never cuddled.

  They were not sung lullabyes and dandled on their grandparent's knee in loving admiration.

  Neither Adam nor Eve played with brothers and sisters learning to get along, share and socialize.

  They were never sent to school to ask questions and receive reasonable answers.

  They had no family dinner conversations to learn their parent's wisdom.

  Instead, Adam awoke in the red mud naked and alone in a garden fully grown.

  He wandered about with only animals surrounding him lonely and longing for companionship.

  Eve awoke and was told she had been a bone in the chest of the only person she could see.

  Would this tramautize persons without background, experience or education?

  Would they be ready to be tested with the greatest and most subtle decision to affect their lives?

  Or would the entire setup be equivalent to a horror story?
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  ambersun

  Would they be ready to be tested with the greatest and most subtle decision to affect their lives?

  Yes, I have never been able to really understand why was there was a need to test Adam and Eve at all, it's just something we have been taught was God's right as their Creator. After all, parents normally love their children unconditionally. We don't have children and then set tests and traps that they are expecfted to pass in order to prove their undying loyalty and gratitude to us for bringing them into the world.

  Any father who throws a defenseless offspring out into the streets to fend for themselves just because they did something they were told not to do, would soon find themselves up before the Authorities with a lot of explaining to do!

  Wouldn't it have been more logical for a loving God to have given Adam and Eve a good talking to followed by time to reflect so they could realise their mistake, learn from it and became better people as a result?
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  leavingwt

  ambersun - Welcome to the forum!
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  ambersun

  Thank you for the welcome leavingwt.
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  cult classic

  Wouldn't it have been more logical for a loving God to have given Adam and Eve a good talking to followed by time to reflect so they could realise their mistake, learn from it and became better people as a result?

  I like that Ambersun - God could have given them a "time out" ........... lol .............would have saved a world of heartache

  welcome
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  tec

  Welcome, Ambersun!

  I think we are looking at this account wrong. I look at it as a metaphor, but the lesson is the same, so it really doesn't matter.

  First, death came as a result of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (They were not denied knowledge of anything else.) Death was not the punishment; it was the result. Sort of like (and this is a lame example, but its the best I'm capable of at the moment) if you eat all that candy, you're going to be sick.

  I also look at this death as a spiritual death and not physical. Adam lived 930 years. Most people would consider that a gift, and if physical death was a punishment or even a result of his sin, it likely occurred too many years later to be effective. But the death that came to Adam immediately was his spiritual death. Spiritual death meaning separation from God, in my opinion. I think it is important to note that Adam hid from God. That separation was self-inflicted, and God had warned him against it.

  There was no going back to the way things had been, no matter how much counsel or time-outs, because Adam and Eve could not unlearn their knowledge of good and evil.

  I don't always explain myself very well, but I thought I'd add my two cents here.

  Tammy
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  WTWizard

  This is because God wants to ruin lives. His rulership is a tyranny. You are created with the need for knowledge, then punished for seeking it. The redemption comes with much guilt, and you are supposed to support an organization that purportedly represents God in penance. Whether God actually benefits from the money or not, He does successfully control society and creates lots of problems that prevent full enjoyment of life. And, this "deliverance" is always some distance in the future, whether a few months or 20 years off, never actually here.

  On top of that, God wanted to make all the decisions for people. When you let someone else do the thinking or make your decisions, usually they will make decisions in their own interests at your expense. Jehovah is no different: He wanted nothing more than to make decisions that would allow Him to get His kicks out of ruining everyone's happiness. That is really the sole benefit He gets out of this: If God really wanted to spread the message, He could have done it Himself or used the stones. If He really needed the money, He could have created the value that could have been bought with the money instead of using the churches to leach money from the public. No, it's not material things that God wants--He wants kicks out of ruining our lives.
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  Chalam

  Welcome ambersun!

  Yes tec has it. God is not against knowledge. To know the Creator is to know everything about creation.

  1 Corinthians 13:2 (New International Version)

  2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge

  1 Corinthians 2:16 (New International Version)

  16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord
  that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

  1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (New International Version)

  9 However, as it is written:
  "No eye has seen,
  no ear has heard,
  no mind has conceived
  what God has prepared for those who love him"— 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
  The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

  God did not want us to have knowledge of evil because of His love.

  Genesis 2:9 (New International Version)

  9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

  Genesis 2:17 (New International Version)

  17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

  Unfortunately our ancestors thought we knew better and look where it got us :(

  Blessings,

  Stephen