Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Greg or e who wrote (4459)	12/9/2000 10:42:40 AM
From: Mitch Blevins	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28931

>>Knowledge is not the cause of original sin, disobedience is<< > Guns don't kill people, bullets do.< >>I'm not sure I quite follow the analogy<< I was suggesting that you were mistaking the efficient cause with the final cause, in an Aristotlean sense. If I hit you on the head with a hammer and kill you (don't worry... I will NOT), then it is not right to say "the hammer killed Greg". Instead, we would say "Mitch killed Greg". Saying that disobedience (instead of the knowledge of good and evil (TKoGaE)) is the cause of original sin is the same class of error. God did not need to use TKoGaE as a test. He could've used anything. In fact, I would imagine that God did not even need to run the experiment at all... He knew from the start that Adam and Eve would disobey Him, right? So, TKoGaE must be something fundamental to our natures that prevents us from having fellowship with God. This seems to be a very symbolic thing. Maybe God decided to play out the symbolism in real life, and there was a literal Tree, a literal Adam, etc. I wouldn't put anything past somebody who is both omniscient and omnipotent! But it seems more reasonable to me to believe that the Genesis story is a symbolic commentary on the human condition (mixed in with other things, of course), rather than a historical document. Even though we obviously disagree, I enjoy your posts and commentary.