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Good grief, how could I possibly discuss this with someone who thinks God didn't know what would happen. We are not even in the same universe!
God produced all worlds, you might be in another “world” than the LDS but God is over all the “worlds” that have been made
Which is what is meant be all ... in ... all.
Oh Lord, my God
When I in awesome wonder Consider all the works
Thy hands have made
I see the stars
I hear the rolling thunder Thy power throughout The universe displayed
Then sings my soul
HOW GREAT THOU ART
My Saviour, God, to Thee How great thou Art
How great thou Art
Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee How great thou Art
How great thou Art
When Christ shall come With shouts of adulation And take me home
What joy shall fill my heart?
Then I shall bow
In humble adoration
And there proclaim, my God How great Thou Art
Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee
How great thou Art
How great thou Art
Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee
How great thou Art
How great thou Art
How great Thou Art How great Thou Art
God produced all worlds, you might be in another “world” than the LDS but God is over all the “worlds” that have been made
Which is what is meant be all ... in ... all.
Oh Lord, my God
When I in awesome wonder Consider all the works
Thy hands have made
I see the stars
I hear the rolling thunder Thy power throughout The universe displayed
Then sings my soul
HOW GREAT THOU ART
My Saviour, God, to Thee How great thou Art
How great thou Art
Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee How great thou Art
How great thou Art
When Christ shall come With shouts of adulation And take me home
What joy shall fill my heart?
Then I shall bow
In humble adoration
And there proclaim, my God How great Thou Art
Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee
How great thou Art
How great thou Art
Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee
How great thou Art
How great thou Art
How great Thou Art How great Thou Art
God produced all worlds, you might be in another “world” than the LDS but God is over all the “worlds” that have been made
Which is what is meant be all ... in ... all.
Oh Lord, my God
When I in awesome wonder Consider all the works
Thy hands have made
I see the stars
I hear the rolling thunder Thy power throughout The universe displayed
Then sings my soul
HOW GREAT THOU ART
My Saviour, God, to Thee How great thou Art
How great thou Art
Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee How great thou Art
How great thou Art
When Christ shall come With shouts of adulation And take me home
What joy shall fill my heart?
Then I shall bow
In humble adoration
And there proclaim, my God How great Thou Art
Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee
How great thou Art
How great thou Art
Then sings my soul
My Saviour, God, to Thee
How great thou Art
How great thou Art
How great Thou Art How great Thou Art
Actually, the only statement you posted in the above quote that I can agree with was that "God knew this would happen." Actually, though, your take on the story is much more commonly believed than mine. The way I see it, God either didn't know it would happen, in which case He's nowhere near as smart as we give Him credit for being or else the existence of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden has another explanation. It's why He placed the tree there that you and I do not agree on, as we both agree that He knew what would happen with it there.
Actually, the scripture doesn't straight out tell us why He placed that Tree in the Garden. After reading the thoughts of many Theologians through the years, I have come to the conclusion that God wanted to show man from the very beginning who he really is in his natural state. Man is self-seeking, a pleaser of himself, clearly seen in his believing the lie of Satan over God.
See, I believe, first off, that the tree in question was not just "the Tree of Good and Evil" but "the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." God placed it there knowing that Adam and Eve would not only be tempted to eat from it but that they would not be able to withstand the temptation. After all, they were completely innocent before they transgressed, and as you pointed out, they had no idea what sin even was. To me, that raises an interesting question: Why would God condemn someone to an eternity of suffering for doing something they didn't even know was sinful? I don't believe He did. I believe that what we commonly refer to as "the Fall" was actually the beginning of an ascent. God even noted, as Adam and Eve left the Garden, that "the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." God knows evil, and Adam and Eve could not progress without also having this knowledge. So, eating from the tree got them one step closer to being like Him. And when I say, "like Him," I mean having all of the attributes that make it possible for one to have a fullness of joy.
We (every one who has ever lived or will yet live) is the spirit offspring of God, our Father in Heaven. We are His children, and we are brothers and sisters to one another. He wants us to learn to love as He loves, and that is why He put us here. Life is nothing more than progress towards an eventual goal, starting with our earliest ability to choose good over evil, love over hate. He wants nothing more than for us to all live as an eternal family someday. Adam and Eve were not villains. They had the courage to do what needed to be done to get the Father's Plan rolling.
O felix culpa quae talem et tantum meruit habere redemptorem!
("O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer.")
-Augustine, I believe.
Dom Bruno Webb, an English Benedictine, sums up what God in His unimaginable mercy has done and will do for us: “Instead of restoring man to what he had been, God has bent down from His eternity, taking him into His arms and pressing him to His heart in an embrace so close that the gulf between Creator and creature has been bridged, God and man henceforth forming in the order of grace a single being, ‘the whole Christ.’” (Webb, Why Does God Permit Evil?, 70f.)
Katzpur - your statement (bolded) is the same in how I see 'being One with Christ'.
O felix culpa quae talem et tantum meruit habere redemptorem!
("O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer.")
-Augustine, I believe.
Yes! It has also been translated as the "fortunate fall." Too bad more people don't realize this. Our potential for growth is beyond anything most of us can even imagine. We're all too mired down in looking at life from a negative perspective.
Quote:
Dom Bruno Webb, an English Benedictine, sums up what God in His unimaginable mercy has done and will do for us: “Instead of restoring man to what he had been, God has bent down from His eternity, taking him into His arms and pressing him to His heart in an embrace so close that the gulf between Creator and creature has been bridged, God and man henceforth forming in the order of grace a single being, ‘the whole Christ.’” (Webb, Why Does God Permit Evil?, 70f.)
Oh, my gosh, that's simply beautiful! What an amazing way of looking at it!
Quote:
Katzpur - your statement (bolded) is the same in how I see 'being One with Christ'.
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But, hey, it's certainly no skin off my nose if you don't want to discuss it.
