The mystery of sin and God the Benevolent
By Alan McDougall » Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:04 pm

The persons named Adam and Eve refers to humanity

The mythical story of the Garden of Eden
Enigma of the existence of evil and the Garden of Eden and “GOD” the Benevolent

I know the story of the Garden and Eden and the fall of man is most likely a mythical account of a people long past in the mists of time

I will try in my own humble way to answer this most difficult question.

How can we ever reconcile the fact of evil, suffering and pain, existing side by side with a benevolent holy “GOD” of light?

Let us go back to the story of the Garden of Eden “GOD” says to Adam in Gen,Chap 2 Verse 17 that he may eat of any tree except the “TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL”

Note; “The tree of knowledge of Good and evil”, so Evil existed before Adam. “Adam” representing an entire people and how they related to “GOD”

However, “GOD” being all-knowing knows before hand that Adam is going to fail the test so why did he give it in the first place? I hear a loud reply from the forum, “because he wanted us to have a free will and not be robots”.

I don’t buy this, completely, as “GOD” could easily given Adam absolute free rain and said to him “Adam your can do anything you want without any reservations”

Surely, the above would still have been free will without the “necessity of any test”.

Nevertheless, “GOD” in his infinite wisdom goes ahead and gives Adam (and Eve) a test he “knows they are going to fail, why? Was this fair seeing the awful consequences for humanity down through the age?

Yes absolutely as I will describe later in this essay

Let us go back to the origin of evil, where did it come from.


Isaiah Chapt. 45 Verse 7 “GOD” says “I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create “evil” I “GOD” do all these things. “GOD” made everything so he must have made evil but why?

Let us go back to Adam and the pampered environment of the Garden of Eden. If Adam and Eve had remained and by obeying God ( as God knew the would not) they would have existed in forever a paradise setting of beauty warmth, comfort, never ever have to toil work just reach out and eat do any thing they want .

This would be wonderful for say a hundred years or a thousand years, but having never ever experienced cold they could not appreciate warmth, never being hungry never appreciate food never being thirsty they would not appreciate the taste and satisfaction of sparking water , never knowing hate the would not know what love was.

They would have existed in a one-sided reality never knowing the opposite. But “GOD” knew that they must know evil, pain and sorrow to become fully functional free thinking beings similar to him in consciousness and indeed co- creators of their own domain and reality

Therefore, after countless years what was paradise to us would become a boring hell to them. Therefore, “GOD” simply had to banish them into the world or toil sorrow and hardship.

So “GOD” being fair and just gave them the test, which they failed and drove them out into the present reality world of thorns, cold, dark, pain, evil etc, etc. This reality is based on a duality we know evil so we know the beauty of goodness; we know truth so we can hate the lie, and we experience the light so that we know dark.

Humanity can look back on a “paradise lost with a longing to for the eternal wonder and beauty of the original Eden, which they would love and rejoice as paradise regained


I do not for one moment believe the nonsense that there is an eternal battle between “GOD” and the Satan and that this being is almost Almighty “GOD”s equal. Satan can only do what God permits him to do as we read in the book of Job.

Good and evil
Light and dark
Truth and lie
Deception and honesty
Love and hate
War and Peace
Positive and negative
Faith and despair
Holiness and depravity
Warm and hot
Life and death

And so on and so on……………………

“GOD” bless

Any comments are welcome

Alan

Greetings Alan.

   This is great. That's exactly how I perceive the Garden of Eden story to be about. Eternal bliss would indeed be boring after awhile. I used to think that once I got to Heaven, I would live happily everafter. But as life went on, I started to realize that I appreciate the hardships that I've been through to make me a better person, and to cherish the good times that came after the bad times.

   Almost everyone likes to read or see a good horror story. I used to despise Doctor Smith on "Lost In Space" until I realized that the show would have been boring witout him. The fear that some people get on rollercoasters makes them appreciate life more when they get off the ride. God's wisdom is something we can all be thankful for.

Ralph

Ralph Buskey wrote on Aug 13^th, 2010 at 3:07pm:

Greetings Alan.    This is great. That's exactly how I perceive the Garden of Eden story to be about. Eternal bliss would indeed be boring after awhile. I used to think that once I got to Heaven, I would live happily everafter. But as life went on, I started to realize that I appreciate the hardships that I've been through to make me a better person, and to cherish the good times that came after the bad times.    Almost everyone likes to read or see a good horror story. I used to despise Doctor Smith on "Lost In Space" until I realized that the show would have been boring witout him. The fear that some people get on rollercoasters makes them appreciate life more when they get off the ride. God's wisdom is something we can all be thankful for. Ralph

Hi Ralph,

Thanks for the nice comments, strange as it is Evil seems to be a necessity in building character

Blessings

Alan