RE: The puzzle of Adam

George wrote:
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Certainly we should expect that the ultimate future which God intends for
creation will have some of the features indicated (in quite sketchy fashion)
in the stories of creation. But my point is that it will contain much more
than that - all the good that has been accomplished in history. "They will
bring into it [the holy city] the glory and the honor of the nations."

In addition -
    1) The fact that the descriptions of an originally paradisal state in
the Bible _are_ very sketchy, and many features of a blessed initial state
that Christians have accepted in the past have been read into, rather than
out of, scripture.
    2) Given what we know of evolutionary history, we really have to wonder
whether or not anything like an initially perfect state of harmony, peace &c
ever existed. Of course this just returns us to the much-discussed question
of whether or not - or to what extent - the Genesis accounts are to be read
as historical narrative.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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Don P:
I agree with paragraph one but am unsure of what YOU mean by "glory and the
honor of the nations". I take this to refer to the nations of Israel, not
the current nations of the world. And I doubt that glory or honor is in our
so-called technological evolution. As for socially and psychologically, I
do not believe the human race has evolved much since the dawn of time. We
are just as prone to evil as in the past.

What's your take on the passage you quoted?

As for your additions, I agree with item one, although not everyone agrees
on what is being read into and what is being read out of scripture.

Item two gives one the impression that you do not take it as historical, and
I doubt I could change your mind on that. But regardless of biblical
history, I believe that it is within reason to draw conclusions about man's
behaviour, pre-fall (pre-historic), using modern scientific techniques.

Don P
Received on Sun Dec 5 09:10:33 2004