Kindest Regards, Mindfreak!
Thank you for your response.
Actually it was never said that they were meant to live forever. Just the opposite actually because afterwards god said "now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever."
Clearly stating that they would not otherwise live forever.
I think you will find that takes place
after the fact. The Tree of Life was freely eaten of prior to that.
As for god being evil and malevolent, there are many examples of god killing and ordering others to kill. And endorsing slavery and rape. Anyone who is familiar with the bible knows this,
I'm not sure which "anyones" you are getting your information from...but their interpretations are questionable at best. G-d did not "endorse" rape, He ordered judgment passed on rapists. I am not sure quite how to address the issue of slavery, certainly there are those in recent history (a couple of hundred years ago) that did interpret slavery as G-dly and ordained, but it was as much a secular sign of the times as well. Further, G-d's chosen people were bound in slavery for around 400 years as I recall. I already addressed the "G-d killing" stuff, I see no need to repeat.
Im not that familiar I will admit but even I have read passages that support this. And yes there are many passages with moral lessons, which is great, and while I totally agree with anything encouraging morality, its not that that I question it's this blind faith in "god", being this great being when he clearly exhibits some pretty bad qualities.
OK, ignorance is not a bad thing, it can be corrected. I noticed another thread of yours, if I may be allowed to quote:
I agree that alot of people nowadays distort buddhism and disregard things the Buddha taught, according to their own personal beliefs. I've met buddhists who don't believe in psychic powers, but the Buddha displayed them and talked about them very often. He did say that they are not the point of the spiritual life but very real none the less. And there are many examples of this, people distorting buddhism according to their own beliefs, seperate from buddhism.
I admit to a great deal of ignorance towards the Buddhist faith, so in that sense we are equal. However, this comment struck me. If one were to replace the word Buddha with Christ and Buddhist with Christian, it would still ring true.
Cool! So is my wife.
Do you believe that there was an actual tree that they ate from?
A great deal of Genesis is metaphor and allegory, but the trouble is we don't quite know how much. My own personal guess is that there was a sanctuary, a Garden of Eden, wherein the perfect man Ha-Adam and his helpmate Eve were created. The trees I suspect to be allegory, as I personally feel the eating of the Tree of Knowledge opened their minds into what we call rational thought. It is by our reasoning that we
tend to aspire to become "as the gods."
Because symbolicly, eating from the tree of knowledge and becoming as a god to me is very much like the purpose of meditation which is to develop and train the mind to obtain knowledge of reality that cannot be comprehended by the normally limited human mind. The mind is a very powerful thing when it is properly developed and a man with a highly developed mind is capable of amazing abilities and great knowledge and wisdom. You might say "godlike". And I see no problem with that which is why I question the motives of this "god" who said it was forbidden.
Therein we will simply have to disagree. I do not equate myself in any manner with G-d. There are those who aspire in some form or other to godhood. But notice the subtle but deliberate difference in my wording. G-d is the Almighty creator of everything, including Buddha in my understanding. With the lower case "god," is more the realm of which you speak. Perhaps a semantic difference until now unnoticed, and one I hope causes no offense. But while I can understand (though not necessarily agree with) aspiring to a superhuman greatness that can be equated with godhood, it is simply not possible to be anything at all like He who IS all.
It cannot be done...sorry.
I think there is a great deal of confusion among many, Christians included, that Genesis was an actual historical event. We know by hard evidence that can be held in our hands that humanity goes back a very long way, long before the best philosophical guesses as to when Ha-Adam was created. A great deal of any religious tradition must be accepted with certain caveats. Religious mythos are primarily about extending a morality system to a people. All else is merely icing on the cake. I believe G-d exists because of personal experiences. I am Christian primarily because it is how I was raised, as well as because I find significant truth in the lessons taught.
Historical veracity, on the other hand, is at times questionable, and ultimately irrelevant. I might add, what little I have seen of Buddhist mythos seems much the same in this regard. The fundamental teachings of both are what matters...the balance merely drives the points home.
