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Originally posted by bb23108
Interesting...
Originally posted by windword
I have another theory.
If Jesus was indeed in the Garden of Eden, and I"m not convinced that he was, he was "The Tree of Life."
Genesis 2:8
In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In esoteric terms relative to the great centers in the body-mind, one could also look at the Tree of Life as being the vital center below the heart, associated with physical life - and the Tree of Knowledge being the mental center above the heart, associated with mind.
And furthermore, Jesus (or all encompassing love) is the whole Garden (the whole body-mind with the Source or heart at the center) in which these two "trees" arise.
When man wants to taste or exploit either of these two great regions (mind or body) apart from recognizing the Whole (the Heart or Truth or Jesus), then the split of the body-mind occurs, and the original wholeness of the body-mind (the Garden) becomes a war between two opposing sides - desire vs. knowledge, good vs. evil, head vs. body, male/female, etc., etc.
edit on 21-3-2013 by bb23108 because: (no reason given)
The bible says that truth is revealed by faith. Was the way I stated it presumptuous? Probably but I did tell you I was being light hearted. The theory belongs to the bible so in reality I am not presumptuous according to scripture.
One must believe in and pursue God to find him. That being said, God is love, and love is definitely found in places other than the bible. So although I think from a scriptural standpoint what I say is true, from a philosophical standpoint we should be able to agree on those things that at least point to a loving God.
Originally posted by windword
reply to post by sacgamer25
The bible says that truth is revealed by faith. Was the way I stated it presumptuous? Probably but I did tell you I was being light hearted. The theory belongs to the bible so in reality I am not presumptuous according to scripture.
Yes, you are coming across as very presumptuous. Your light hearted question actually came across as passive aggressive.
One must believe in and pursue God to find him. That being said, God is love, and love is definitely found in places other than the bible. So although I think from a scriptural standpoint what I say is true, from a philosophical standpoint we should be able to agree on those things that at least point to a loving God.
I gave the Bible God a chance for 20 something years. When I abandoned him and all hope of knowing him, I met the real GOD.
You don't have pursue God, or find God. Go isn't hiding or hidden. God is everywhere and everything. God is not only love.
You need to be careful with love as it can lead to gluttony, lust and self obsession. We need to temper life with reality and reality contains much more than love. Love isn't everything.
You are correct, at the current time reality does offer all that you claim. But I foresee a different reality and so did the writers of the bible. They believed it possible for man to overcome all opposing forces to love. This is what they perceived as heaven, but they believed that somehow it was God's design to ultimately pull all men towards the only true power, love, here on earth as in heaven.
Everything opposed to love drags us down closer to hell, but love provides power.
What limits are there to the power of love? For man to know we must choose to evolve to the state of love. Where the whole come together as one Christ. We are all the body of Love/Christ, everyone. Simply because you cannot foresee this possibility why deny me its plausibility? Is there anything more compelling that I should pursue?
Originally posted by windword
reply to post by bb23108
We have to get ourselves back to the garden.
...
The metaphor is that we are always looking to feel complete in someone else, looking for our other half.
We should be like God.
The whole purpose of life is to find your way back to God.
"The Law' was a way of belonging to a society created on a principle of holiness. f you were holy, you were 'in'. If not, then you were cast out. It made a lot of people deluded into thinking they were holy.
In the OT you could do this by keeping the law but that was impossible.
Jesus was killed by people who considered themselves holy according to the law.
That is why he sent jesus to keep the law for us.
Jesus overcame temptation.
it does not read like he was sinless. he mentions that we should overcome just as he has overcome. so it took him awhile to overcome all obstacles to his divine stature. and we should do the same. i believe our sun is always shining, we just need to remove the dark clouds.
Originally posted by votan
reply to post by sacgamer25
Jesus came to earth to keep the law given to moses by God to bridge man back to God. That was the reason he became flesh. I am not disputing all this love stuff you are talking about.. but that was his main purpose here.
The whole purpose of life is to find your way back to God. In the OT you could do this by keeping the law but that was impossible. That is why he sent jesus to keep the law for us.
edit on 21-3-2013 by votan because: (no reason given)
Every mistake that you claim God makes I claim is part of the refinement process of your soul.
You say you know nothing or no one opposed to love. We have been at war for at least the past 2000 years. Anger, Rage, Violence, Sexual Assault, Murder. Do you live somewhere that none of these things happen.?
There is a difference between "Drug induced love" and real love. Drug induced love is often a euphoric feeling bound by no rules. Real love obey's rules by understanding the logic and reason behind those rules. "Drug induced love" is often overly sexual in nature. Real love transcends the need for a sexual relationship.
Doesn't "nailed the law to the cross" mean something about the law?
He nailed the law to the cross wich represents his love for us, that he suffered the penalty of death to save us from our sin.
Originally posted by sacgamer25
reply to post by mideast
The tree is the knowledge of Good and Evil. The tree could have been an apple tree, the metaphor is far more important here. If you look at the description of Eden it could be assumed that at least on a subconscious level ADAM had knowledge of good, and therefore he knew that breaking the command was at least against what is good.
It is not until one does wrong or someone does wrong to them that they truly begin to understand evil. So simply disobeying revealed to ADAM the knowledge of Evil, which is why they became ashamed to be naked in God's presence.
Being naked in God's presence alone is not evil, but that they now recognized the evil that can come from being naked, lust.
Everything happens by the will of God, meaning God put a test in front of them that they were designed to fail. He knew what they would do but yet tested them anyway. Why would God create something that he was only going to hate? God is love and it was his intention that by giving us this knowledge we could become like him. We were made to be like him, this is what is promised in the bible.
I guess this depends on what you define love to be. Typically we think of love as feeling very connected to someone and feeling very good about that connection. So when a couple get together and go through the honeymoon phase, lots of pheromones are released and it is very bonding, exciting, and stimulating - and people say they feel love. Similarly when people use certain substances, such feelings can be induced.
Originally posted by windword
Love is a chemical reaction whether drug induced or hormonally induced.