Evidence for God from Science

If God certainly knew all of man's future decisions...

Then Genesis 2:16,17 does not make sense. It says, 16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

How could he genuinely command (with the expectation of real obedience) Adam not to eat of the forbidden fruit WHEN in the first place he ALREADY KNEW FOR CERTAIN (and therefore knew also that it is unalterable) that Adam would eat of it? It would appear that God was not seriously expecting real obedience from Adam.

The question you have to ask yourself is why did God create Adam, you or me?..and is it fair for the creator to issue manufacturer's instructions for the product to function in perfect working order? The creator created His creation for His purpose. However, this purpose also required the creation to function independently. Optimum performance would be obtained by the operator following the maker's and end user's regulations.

When I buy a car I make sure I get one that has proven to be reliable. I check the oil and pressures etc regularly, but I know one day I'll have to donate it to the junk yard. How thoughtful of God that He is capable to recycle us for eternity. We can make it easy on ourselves by doing it His way.

RGeeB wrote:The question you have to ask yourself is why did God create Adam, you or me?..and is it fair for the creator to issue manufacturer's instructions for the product to function in perfect working order? The creator created His creation for His purpose. However, this purpose also required the creation to function independently. Optimum performance would be obtained by the operator following the maker's and end user's regulations.

When I buy a car I make sure I get one that has proven to be reliable. I check the oil and pressures etc regularly, but I know one day I'll have to donate it to the junk yard. How thoughtful of God that He is capable to recycle us for eternity. We can make it easy on ourselves by doing it His way.

What I am saying is that the belief that God certainly knew Adam would eat of the fruit while at the same time commanded him not to eat of the fruit contradicts the very nature of God. If God knew for certain that Adam would eat of the fruit it is useless for God to command Adam not to eat of the fruit and God must have known that. So, it boils down to this: The command was not seriously preventive as far as God is concerend or God was serious with his command and therefore was not certain that Adam would eat of the fruit.

The event of God issuing the command justifies Him for the judgements He pronounced on man, woman and the devil. If He had not issued it, He would have been wrong to condemn them. It also appears that the breaking of the command started the process of salvation for man (well, the hard way) and the devil's destruction.

He knew man would eat of the fruit - that's why He had to issue the command.

RGeeB wrote:He knew man would eat of the fruit - that's why He had to issue the command.

That's exactly the problem, RGeeB! If God already knew (like you are saying) that Adam would certainly eat of the fruit (thus, inevitable for Adam to eat of the fruit), then the command NOT to eat of the fruit is irrelevant on the part of God. Otherwise, God was not really serious with the command so as to prevent Adam from eating the fruit. The command then was only a charade at the very best.

I think you're struggling with the timeless nature of God, 3rd. Just because knows what choice we'll make, does not mean we do not make a choice.

In fact we're told that God will not allow us to be tempted past what we can bear. So not only did Adam have a choice, but he was also capable of making the right choice.

This thread is closed. Please don't start same topics up everywhere TO—it creates redundant posts.

Discussion can be continued at: http://discussions.godandscience.org/viewtopic.php?t=94

Kurieuo.