Kindly support this claim with biblical text.
I am more than willing to cease using anything the catholics might happen to hold as true the very second you can show me that the catholics are wrong. Until such time, why the demand that I cease it?
I find it puzzling. You are seemingly demanding that I cease talking about something that you think is wrong...
SnakeLord...I haven't went back and read through all the posts in this thread but I hit a lot of them, enough perhaps to catch some of the major points both sides here are putting forth.
First I'd like to say it is refreshing to see such an unbiased view being used to discern the underlying meanings the text in question contains, whether or not you happen to personally believe in it's authenticity.
A lot can be discovered in any field of study when a person approaches it from that perspective, much more than someone who is already leaning towards a certain definition or outcome of the issue.
I really am surprised of the whole debate between yourself and Saquist because I have read many of his posts in other threads and thought they were pretty rational, but in this area I believe he is operating with a slight bias towards a certain theology and you have done a very good job of revealing it can be a hindrance in this case to the complete understanding of the matter.
That being said however...
I have to admit to having a bias on this subject also. Admittedly I am a "theist" but not so much a conventional one.
I believe a somewhat "out of the box" explanation to the issue here at hand can tie together most of these questions, and although I would be hard pressed to "prove" my ideas, such is the case with most assertions that have to do with God or gods and the realm of the supernatural.
I can quote or supply reference scriptures used for the basis of nearly every statement I will make here if you like.
Let me lay down a few highlights of my interpretation of the written events in question and I would like to hear both of your comments.
Here is just a few mined from the last page or so...
Adam and Eve....
1)- Did know about good and evil before eating from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
2)-Became like "one of us".
3)-The true sin was sex.
4)-God finds loyalty more important and for perfect individuals that's not a problem".
5)-If Adam and Eve were perfect and yet were disloyal...
6)-Is this even possible?
7)-Were possibly fictional characters...
This is quite a good set of questions right here and I'm sure there were many more I missed but I'll just start with these.
1)-Yes, Eve stated to the serpent she already knew right from wrong when she quoted God's word to Him.
2)-There was a certain aspect to life they had been previously unaware of.
3)-Yes, sex was the eventual manifestation of the original sin...but sin itself would be defined as "unbelief" so it started when Eve took the serpents word over God's word...."the day you eat or "partake" thereof that day you shall die."
4)-God was testing loyalty and still is. It is interesting you used the term perfect here.
5)-I would say that process of perfecting mankind and testing is still going on.
6)-The bible says; "Lucifer was created "perfect" until iniquity was found in him" so that possibility does appear to exist
7)-According to the Bible's genealogy listings, Adam and Eve were actual people...however I think as many natural types in scripture have spiritual applications and all scripture have compound revelation that Adam and Eve also represent a larger group of people even today that make up a mystical body...Christ and his many membered "bride" which is the group of redeemed made up of those born again of His spirit throughout all the ages since His death and resurrection.
As stated in question 3) sex was a major issue, but not between Adam and Eve.
The bible says God requires His followers to have no other gods before me, but does not say there are no "other" gods.
There are in some assertions two Christian gods referred to in the bible.
The God of heaven, who is referred to as Jehovah or the God of gods...and the god of the earth who is called Satan, or was called Lucifer before he fell.
What makes much of the confusion about many issues in the bible clearer and ties many unanswered questions together is this...
Adam wasn't the first or only man created in the bible.
The God of the earth had an offspring or representative in human form...it was the serpent.
The God of heaven had an offspring or representative in human form...that was Adam.
Through a sexual relationship with this other man referred to as "the serpent" Cain was born and God made sure he was allowed to live so a mixture of both species could be made to exist and set the stage for the contest we are all a part of today.
The bible isn't about the original creation of man, it is about the final creation of man in God's image...the creation of God.
Jesus is therefore referred to as the "beginning of the creation of God" because Adam fell and He completed the creation's purpose.
Comments...?