ADCMS said- "free will" is an illusion.
The term 'free will' has different meanings in philosophical vs theological discussions, and many discussions go off the rails when one person uses such a phrase (the "free will is an illusion" meme comes from the World of philosophy).
In theological terms, God allows mankind to use 'free will' ONLY for matters where God hadn't already expressed Divine Will. This goes to the admonition of using one's Bible-trained conscience to decide on a matter which isn't clearly stated as a sin.
In the case of A&E, they violated the ONLY Divine Law issued to date: don't eat the forbidden fruit. So obedience with God's Will wasn't even on the table, since humans needs to be permitted by God to make a particular decision, and whenever God makes the decision it becomes a decision which humans cannot make for themselves (i.e. they could eat from the regular non-forbidden trees for food, using their free will to decide if they were in the mood for peach or pear fruit, since God hadn't explicitly forbidden those). It's not the capability to carry out the act, it's having the permission to act and not be punished for acting.
ADCMS said- And, if evil or sin is not an intrinsic part of the design, how did it get there? It is absurd to think that sin just magically appeared out of thin air and the Creator had nothing to do with it. The creation is simply a reflection of the creator---it cannot be any other way.
Yep, and since sin is defined as violating God's Expressed Divine Will, God created the concept of sin in Genesis 2 when He gave mankind the first rule: "don't eat the forbidden fruit".
The Bible is filled with rules that define sins, and creating humans with an inherent tendency to sin (AKA an evil inclination, which God notes in the Flood account as justification) is rather sadistic, like putting naturally-curious mice (who explore their environment) in a maze filled with traps loaded with bait.
Occams razor asks: is it more likely such a cruel being exists, or could it be an elaborate myth that offers post-hoc rationalization for why humans die?
ADCMS said- Which brings up another point: if Satan, as an angel, already failed in obedience to god by sinning, and many angels with him, why would an omniscient god think humans would fare any better? The Bible says angels are superior to humans, so if the top design failed, what reason would there be to believe design #2 (the inferior one) will succeed?
Good questions.
Add to those:
Why did God start with creating the more-powerful angelic beings? Most designers start with the simpler less-powerful "things", and work their way up....
Why continue with creating the less-powerful mortals, if God hadn't yet worked out the kinks on the angels? Why not abort the mission, and hit the 'reset' button?
Ancient Hebrews conceived of an orderly arrangement existing thoughout all creation, i.e. a "pecking order" which even extended into social thinking (with Kings, elders, patriarchs, women, children, slaves, etc) with clearly-defined boundaries of acceptable behavior at each level. The Garden of Eden story depicts a clever snake (an animal) who challenged the power structure, topping over the apple cart by fooling humans who were supposed to place animals under their dominion (but failed by being outwitted by a snake).
Again, in Xian theology, who screwed up by making animals who were able to outwit the humans, again? The story makes no sense in Xian theology, since God looks like the screw-up, when Jews saw A&E as imperfect beings and hence prone to their own desires.
It's not surprising that God curses the serpent even below that of the other beasts of the field (and what did THEY do wrong? It's simply an excuse to kill animals for sacrificial purposes, which explains why God offered the first pair animal skins after the fig leaves didn't cut it, and Abel's offering of his flock in sacrifice to God in the next scene).
It's fascinating stuff, offering a glimpse into the beliefs of ancient cultures; sad that many don't understand that, but are determined to take it as offering a message of critical import to modern humans to get into Heaven.
Adam
