Originally posted by JayinAR

I think you have it wrong.

If you do not have knowledge of good and evil (as god commanded) you are a psychopath.

If you do, you have ethics.

I just have a teeny tiny correction: "If you do, you have the option to be ethical."

Knowing there is good and evil means you have a choice to be good or be evil. But I actually don't think many people think of things in those terms. We tend to think of things in terms of reward vs penalty... rather than the inherent good or evil related to the choices we make. Instead of "is this evil?" we ask ourselves "will I get in trouble?"...

Perhaps the previous poster has a good point about our society becoming corrupt because of 'the apple'...

Actually... change of my train of thought here... perhaps what it gave us is a conscience... bear with me... Enki ('Ea' in the Terra Papers) gave his creation 'the gift of the feather', in Egypt it is the feather of ma'at... the feather of ma'at was used to weigh your 'heart' upon your death, or atleast that's my vague understanding of it.

So, where I'm going with this is, perhaps the 'apple' and the 'feather' are our 'conscience'... our ability to know when something we're doing is wrong. Maybe that's why people like to come clean about things on their deathbed, to admit their evils and "get it off their chest"before their heart is weighed against the feather...

Okay, that's not quite on-topic, but my mind goes on its little tangents...

Edit to add: I look at all of these stories of creation as symbolic rather than literal or 'truth', and I like to relate them to one another and see similarities...

Editing again:
Perhaps the apple story encourages the idea that mankind has been ruined by the opportunity to make one's own choices and the only way to overcome it is following the doctrine/laws and waiting for a savior... whereas, the feather encourages the idea that self-moderation is possible and mankind can overcome evil simply by paying attention to one's conscience, man can be its own savior/ruler.... my humble perception...

[edit on 8/9/2009 by eMachine]

[edit on 8/9/2009 by eMachine]

Thanks for making the right decision Jay...

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Oh in blood if you don't mind, it's a tradition around here!

Orientation starts on Monday, 9:00 A.M. suit and tie...One Rockerfeller Plaza, Penthouse, New York, New York.

Wow this job just gets easier all the time, talk about the fish jumping into the boat!

Originally posted by JayinAR

God forbade man of eating from the tree of knowledge.

God said that to eat from that tree man would become just like He.

Does it say what kind of fruit tree it is? Wasn't the tree of knowledge a peach tree?

1) God forbides man from eating of the tree of knowledge.

2) God creates woman after giving the command to man.

3) The woman eats of the tree first after relaying what her husband had told her about Gods command to the serpent.

4) The serpent convinces her that the tree was desirable to eat from.

5) Then she convinces her husband to eat of the tree.

Maybe god is a homosexual. Women seem to be more open to same sex relationships than men. The question is do homosexuals know more than hetrosexuals?

Maybe lesbians are the secret leaders of the human race.

[edit on 10-8-2009 by In nothing we trust]

Originally posted by JayinAR
I have a question to ask of any believer. If God is all powerful why would he knowingly create a being that was going to eventually turn against him, deceive his creation into following him in his treason and eventually punish the people for buying into what was, for all intents and purposes, a 'Godly Mistake'?

You don't buy the spin? Well maybe by assuming what you don't buy is a spin you are in fact buying the spin created by the master spinsters in an attempt to make you believe you are not buying the spin, when you are buying none other than the spin.

But I will answer your question, the reason God created a being that he knew would be evil is because evil will always exist, not even God can stop evil from existing, why would he? Without evil, good means nothing, without good, evil means nothing, without evil good is not good, without good evil is not evil, there has to be a universal balance of good and evil and there always will be, nothing can stop this, not only is it not God's purpose to stop this, it is his purpose to live in balance with this opposition, it is a universal truth, one which apparently you have yet to comprehend, but I don't claim to have all the answers, I just simply firmly believe opposition to all major forces must exist forever.

How does proverbs fit into your view of things?

Specifically proverbs 8 and 9? These chapters say it is wisdom and understanding that guide people and to always go in the way of understanding.