The Turning Sword in Genesis (page 2)

simwitness

According to the WT, the bible writer is Moses. Moses was describing what it appeared to be, not what it actually was.

Wouldn't moses have specified that it "appeared to be a ..."... surely he would have known the difference...

Does this mean that Moses was there with Adam/Eve and the flaming sword? Or that he saw the flaming sword (or that thing that appeared to be a flaming sword that wasn't) and knew where the tree was/is but forgot to approach it from the west while the sun was rising?

I always like to hear people try to explain things like this in the bible... I always ask them

"How far can you read the bible before you have to use the phrase "but this really means" to explain something?"

JamesThomas

heathen

Or maybe it was just a sword for cryin out loud . I don't see any deep seeded symbolism being implied . The WTBTS does not seem to be sure exactly what's being implied either especially about the tree of life . They do teach that man dies because of inherited imperfection but if we throw in a tree of life that could make man immortal then their reasoning doesn't work . It does say if they continue to eat from the tree then they would continue to live til times indefinate regardless of the fact that they were disobedient. I'm willing to bet that the tree was destroyed one way or the other .

GermanXJW

[quote]If the bible account is literal, shouldn't that "flaming blade of a sword that was turning itself continually to guard the way to the tree of life" still be turning and a flaming?"[/quote]

Of course it was destroyed in the Deluge. ;-)

DanTheMan

According to the WT, the bible writer is Moses. Moses was describing what it appeared to be, not what it actually was. Jehovah did not invent weapons of war so it could not have been a real sword.

Ugh, typical Watchtower "reasoning".

Max Divergent

ok, does the bible ever mention this sword being removed from service??

I don't know, but I think the tradition is that it was spinning away until the flood.

Sentinel

Okay, here's my take on the "garden". Perhaps the garden was not even on this planet. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. It was an "ecosphere", a perfect environment. A protected environment. It was sealed to keep the wild animals, and other "created beings" from entering and to keep the perfect specimins inside.

When the experiment failed because Eve and then Adam messed with the genetic "tree", then the creators had to move them out and seal up the entryway--the gate. I don't believe it was a turning sword, but perhaps in reality it was more like an "electromagnetic gateway"..a forcefield which kept them from going through. A door to another dimension even.

I don't believe this is so far removed from the StarGate theory, presented as science fiction. Truth comes to us by many avenues.

/<

Leolaia

Of course it was destroyed in the Deluge. ;-)

So much for the belief that paradise was preserved into third heaven before the Flood (cf. 2 Corinthians; 2 Enoch; 2 Baruch; Apocalypse of Moses; Jewish tradition), and will be revealed and restored on earth after the Day of Judgment (cf. Revelation; Testament of Levi; Testament of Dan; 2 Baruch).

Leolaia

Sentinel....

"Michael turned the chariot and and brought Abraham toward the east, to the first gate of heaven. And Abraham saw two paths. The first was straight and narrow ... [and] this straight gate is the gate of the righteous, which leads to life, and those who enter it come into paradise." (Testament of Abraham 11:1, 10)

"And he shall open the gates of paradise; he shall remove the sword that has threatened since Adam, and he will grant to the righteous to eat of the tree of life." (Testament of Levi 18:10)

Leolaia

peacefulpete

The 4 faces (lion man eagle and bull) are the 4 cardinal points on the Baylonian Zodiac. The wheel within a wheel likewise refers to the double wheels of the Zodiac. Cherubim were Bulls with human heads until late Judaism. This has to some suggested that this passage in Ezekiel which depicts them in more human form was a late addition. I posted the same issue about the sword about a year ago under the thread, "swords in heaven" I asked our CO years ago about this and he gave me a cold stare.

The Turning Sword in Genesis

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