WALRUS666, the word evil is in the KJV where the word calamity is more accurate. There are two types of Bibles; versions and translations. The version is more
of a personal expression of the original language, in other words they put it in their own words where as a translation is a more literal attempt at capturing
the original language as best as possible. The first printings of the KJV actually had quotes from William Shakespeare within the text. They translate certain
animals like ox bull or goat into mythical creatures like unicorn, dragon and satyr. The KJV is also limited from a modern day perspective due to the old
language. A shamble then meant a meat market and now means a funny walk or mess. But even though the KJV is, in my opinion, the worst Bible there is, it is
still possible to get from it every thing you need to know about God's word. I once did a comparison study of the KJV with 5 other translations and there
was surprisingly (to me) little harm done by the KJV.
The KJV is an imperfect interpretation of God's word and there are no perfect interpretations. Critics of the Bible often say God's word should be clear to us without flaw or question and translation should be protected or insured by God himself but God allows us to translate his word as we think it should be translated, and we are imperfect but God is aware of this. The ancient Israelites who God dealt very closely with as well as the disciples of Christ were not perfect the same as we, but that isn't a problem. There isn't going to be a test where only the best interpretation passes it is simply a question of seeking knowledge (John 17:3)
The beautiful angel who protected the garden of Eden was not created as Satan. He was created a perfect being and there was no sin in him, nor was his creation a sin. God didn't know beforehand that the angel later known as Satan (Satan is a Hebrew word which means adversary; devil is from the Greek di·a′bo·los and means slanderer or liar) would sin, nor that Adam would sin. The deception of the angel through the serpent was a sin, but this sin wasn't perpetrated by men. Only Adam, who was in charge of the earth, could have sinned and brought sin to everyone after him. If the angel had sinned by deceiving Eve but Eve didn't buy into it then there wouldn't have been a sin on her part. If Adam who was in charge had corrected Eve that wouldn't have been a sin for Adam and we wouldn't have inherited sin. If they had had a child before the sin and the child sinned and Adam corrected him we wouldn't have inherited sin. It was all up to Adam.
You mention AIDS and punishment for a crime, but that is sort of an oversimplified example. It isn't so much a crime and punishment as it is a result of what happened. God created Adam and Eve and the Earth perfect. He only insisted that it was important that they, like children, listen to their creator. They rejected that and pushed him away. But they also raised a question; Is man capable of running things without the protection and guidance of the creator? In all fairness the creator had to allow this question to be answered. now God and I know that man will destroy God's creation if given the chance and that is what he is doing. But God won't allow his creation to be destroyed. Once the answer to the question is clear God will step in before that happens.
I think that you are probably accustomed to the fucked up version of the 'amusing tale' as presented by Xianity. Lets take a closer look - briefly. Adam was created and was surrounded by animals that died. He was told that if he didn't keep in mind the importance of the creator's guidance and protection, symbolized by the tree, he too would die. Eve came to him and he knew what she did was wrong, but he concluded that he would be the judge of what was good and what was bad or evil himself. He rejected God. God stepped back and said I can't have anything to do with that, you are on your own.
I think you have a problem with the meaning of sin and the Hebrew word Ra which is translated as evil. Let me give an example of what this word really means in relation to what happened in Eden and what is meant by God having created Ra, translated evil or bad. In modern understanding. A child is told by his father to not play in the road or something very bad (evil from Ra) will happen. The mark has been set by the father. The child misses the mark (sin) by playing in the road anyway. The father sees him and disciplines him. To the child the discipline is bad (ra) so the father created something bad or evil or hurtful (Ra) to discipline the child from doing something worse (Ra).
The KJV is an imperfect interpretation of God's word and there are no perfect interpretations. Critics of the Bible often say God's word should be clear to us without flaw or question and translation should be protected or insured by God himself but God allows us to translate his word as we think it should be translated, and we are imperfect but God is aware of this. The ancient Israelites who God dealt very closely with as well as the disciples of Christ were not perfect the same as we, but that isn't a problem. There isn't going to be a test where only the best interpretation passes it is simply a question of seeking knowledge (John 17:3)
The beautiful angel who protected the garden of Eden was not created as Satan. He was created a perfect being and there was no sin in him, nor was his creation a sin. God didn't know beforehand that the angel later known as Satan (Satan is a Hebrew word which means adversary; devil is from the Greek di·a′bo·los and means slanderer or liar) would sin, nor that Adam would sin. The deception of the angel through the serpent was a sin, but this sin wasn't perpetrated by men. Only Adam, who was in charge of the earth, could have sinned and brought sin to everyone after him. If the angel had sinned by deceiving Eve but Eve didn't buy into it then there wouldn't have been a sin on her part. If Adam who was in charge had corrected Eve that wouldn't have been a sin for Adam and we wouldn't have inherited sin. If they had had a child before the sin and the child sinned and Adam corrected him we wouldn't have inherited sin. It was all up to Adam.
You mention AIDS and punishment for a crime, but that is sort of an oversimplified example. It isn't so much a crime and punishment as it is a result of what happened. God created Adam and Eve and the Earth perfect. He only insisted that it was important that they, like children, listen to their creator. They rejected that and pushed him away. But they also raised a question; Is man capable of running things without the protection and guidance of the creator? In all fairness the creator had to allow this question to be answered. now God and I know that man will destroy God's creation if given the chance and that is what he is doing. But God won't allow his creation to be destroyed. Once the answer to the question is clear God will step in before that happens.
WALRUS666 wrote:
Again, how would Adam & Eve know how to differentiate between truth and lies if they didn't have a knowledge of good & evil? The serpent's so-called lies were evil, correct? If anything, a lie could possibly confuse them a bit but they certainly wouldn't think to themselves "hey this dude is full of shit"! They wouldn't have known what a lie was! At any rate, an amusing tale.
I think that you are probably accustomed to the fucked up version of the 'amusing tale' as presented by Xianity. Lets take a closer look - briefly. Adam was created and was surrounded by animals that died. He was told that if he didn't keep in mind the importance of the creator's guidance and protection, symbolized by the tree, he too would die. Eve came to him and he knew what she did was wrong, but he concluded that he would be the judge of what was good and what was bad or evil himself. He rejected God. God stepped back and said I can't have anything to do with that, you are on your own.
I think you have a problem with the meaning of sin and the Hebrew word Ra which is translated as evil. Let me give an example of what this word really means in relation to what happened in Eden and what is meant by God having created Ra, translated evil or bad. In modern understanding. A child is told by his father to not play in the road or something very bad (evil from Ra) will happen. The mark has been set by the father. The child misses the mark (sin) by playing in the road anyway. The father sees him and disciplines him. To the child the discipline is bad (ra) so the father created something bad or evil or hurtful (Ra) to discipline the child from doing something worse (Ra).
