@Phemox
Quote:

Okey, I remember, but why didn't God put a hold to that downward evolution too then, or why did it happen at all? I guess Irish_Farmer will answer that it was because of Adam and Eve's little sin. To me it seems that if this is true, God won't forgive very easily at all, infact isn't it just plain devilish to not forgive Adam and Eve this one mistake, but instead curse them with whatever evil there is now? (death, 'downward evolution', etc.) Again, this still makes little to no sense to me. It's like killing a 3-year old child because it dropped some of his food, which is an inevitable event off course. Besides, what did I (we) do wrong, I (we) never ate that apple.
According to what the bible says, I guess God did make us imperfect, and that's why Adam and Eve couldn't resist the temptation. Perfect beings would have obeyed. Well if God wanted us to have a free will and be imperfect, then he shouldn't be so surprised things went a bit different. Well so much for the claims that God díd create perfect life to start with.



It really comes from a misunderstanding of the Biblical God. God has a set of parameters which He Himself has imposed upon Himself. In order for His integrity to remain intact, He would never be able to violate these parameters. So in a sense, God Himself lives under the subjection to a set of rules. It seems hard to imagine or conceive of God being subject to rules, but it is Biblically proven through statements such as "It is impossible for God to lie"

Everything we observe about God in the Bible revolves around His unshakeable Words. In other words, He never goes back on a promise. The characteristic is so integral to His nature that it literally defines God in a way.

So how does this apply to the Genesis situation and the fall of man? Well after the fall of Adam, it was not as if God did not want to forgive Adam and Eve, as you have suggested. It was not that He didnt want to, but God was literally unable to. He was (and is) limited to the parameters in which He set into action. Insomuch that God had already declared death on Adam and Eve if they ate of the forbidden tree, there was absolutely no way He could go back on His Word, because if He had gone back on His Word, everything that He was(and is) would be destroyed. God is as powerful as His Word. If He ever broke His Word, both He Himself, and everything which is held together with His Word would disintegrate.

However, even given this situation, God immmediately sought reconciliation with Adam and Eve. Even in the Garden of Eden, as He was preparing to drive Adam and Eve out, He instituted a method for their eventual salvation. He also set up the sacrificial system immediately.

But what is hell, and what is eternal destruction? Essentially it is the seperation from the presence of God. And most people that reject the Biblical God dont mind that idea in itself, because they dont think they would like to be near the presence of the Biblical God. Thats all? No big deal. However it is important to note that we are all living in the presence of God right now. We have no idea of the horrors which would accompany the vacuum of His attentions. The hellfire itself would be largely secondary to the absence of God.

Now the punishment itself would not occur if we were not made in God's image. This is another area where people seem to misunderstand the eternal punishment. God did not devise a way to eternally punish people and call it "hell". The fact that hell is an eternal area of incarceration is because of the eternal nature of our souls. Our souls are created like Gods' so therefore they cannot just stop, they must keep going on and on. So God did not decide He wanted to hurt everyone who disagreed with Him by making them suffer for ever and ever. We were ALREADY going to live forever and ever before Adam sinned.

So the issue parallels the familiar riddle: "Can God create a rock so heavy that He cannot lift it?"

Well yes He can, He already did. The rock is man, it is us. God cannot do anything about us. The reason why is that He has created limits for Himself, and He has created us without limits. There is absolutely nothing God can do about the human willpower. We alone have the power to decide.

So He cannot lift the rock, but He can build walls around the rock which the rock cannot penetrate, and He can forget the rock ever existed.

Now, why do we have to pay a price which Adam and Eve are responsible for? Because they are our parents and we incur the debt of our parents. However, as I have attempted to point out. We dont have to pay the price at all, we dont have to go to hell, God already instituted a means of restitution. This restitution is possible only through the very blood of God,via the crucifixtion of Jesus Christ.

OK, so enough of theology. However, remember if you are going to ask philosophical questions, then you are going to get philosophical answers And what I gave you, I assure you, was a very very brief summary, and a short run over a very complicated series of doctrines. These questions you have asked have been asked repeatedly for thousands of years, and they fill our documents for centuries. So , if there was ever a "FAQ of the Universe" you have just stated one of them

However, most people ask such questions for rhetorical reasons, and dont really expect answers beyond their already pre-conceived notions. As if the questions themselves were the evidence to the contrary. However, I think you'll find, if you do the proper research, that there are much lengthier explanations than mine. A whole body of research exists into why the Biblical God did what He did, and why God is doing what He does. It is called Biblical theology, it has been researched by many credited professionals with large scholarly abilities throughout almost two thousand years of recorded history.

Usually I see these sorts of questions and just skip over them as rhetoric, but I know you are halfway sincere, so I decided to elaborate a little.

Anyway, back to evolution....