Tuesday, April 25, 2017

... on Four Mainly Genesis Questions (quora)


Q I
Does a new Bible need to be written to coincide with today's attitudes?
https://www.quora.com/Does-a-new-Bible-need-to-be-written-to-coincide-with-todays-attitudes/answer/Hans-Georg-Lundahl


Hans-Georg Lundahl
studied at Lund University
Written 17h ago
Not from God’s side, at least!

[I think you may guess from whose side this might seem more desirable.]

Q II
When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, what type of knowledge was it? Was it knowledge like science, or was it something else?
https://www.quora.com/When-Adam-and-Eve-ate-from-the-tree-of-knowledge-what-type-of-knowledge-was-it-Was-it-knowledge-like-science-or-was-it-something-else/answer/Hans-Georg-Lundahl


Hans-Georg Lundahl
studied at Lund University
Written just now
It was probably acquaintance knowledge and acquaintance knowledge with evil and how it differs from good.

Acquaintance knowledge with good, as such, they already had by walking with God.

But don’t take my word for it, look it up in the Church Fathers, and if they say sth else, well, stick with them, not me.

Q III
Did Adam and Eve die on the very "day" they ate from the "tree of the knowledge of good and bad" (Genesis 2:17)?
https://www.quora.com/Did-Adam-and-Eve-die-on-the-very-day-they-ate-from-the-tree-of-the-knowledge-of-good-and-bad-Genesis-2-17/answer/Hans-Georg-Lundahl


Hans-Georg Lundahl
Studied religions as curious parallels and contrasts to Xtian faith since 9, 10?
Written 13m ago
Yes, in two distinct mannners.

  • they died spiritually the moment or even before the moment when actually eating the apple, and that is within the same day, normal calendar day sense;
  • they died physically same millennium as they had done so, and to God “a thousand years is like a day”. Dying within same 1000 years = dying same day.


[On this latter, I was not submitting to Church Fathers possibly saying the contrary, since I recall well that BOTH the ways I mentioned are suppported by some Church Father, the former I think by Chrysostom and the latter by Justin, both Saints, both Church Fathers : so I have nothing to worry about.]

Q IV
Why are we taught that the teachings of the Bible are original when so much of it is borrowed from the mythology of previous religions?
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-we-taught-that-the-teachings-of-the-Bible-are-original-when-so-much-of-it-is-borrowed-from-the-mythology-of-previous-religions/answer/Hans-Georg-Lundahl


C on Q
The original pair of human beings, the fall from grace, the Great Flood, the Ten Commandments, the notion of good and evil, the Messiah, etc. can all be traced to earlier Sumerian, Babylonian and Egyptian cultures. How does this effect my Christian beliefs?

Hans-Georg Lundahl
Studied religions as curious parallels and contrasts to Xtian faith since 9, 10?
Written just now
[a different "just now" from II]
If you are a Christian, you should NOT be saying any of these derive from other cultures.

  • The notion of good and evil derives of our nature, and Adam and Eve had both as very clear notions from when they ate of the fruit, but only of God, and therefore of good, a clearer notion before it.
  • The Ten Commandments belong to our notion of good and evil, and no exact same list, both as exhaustive and as to the point with nothing superfluous is before or after it. Notable, the ban on other gods than God or on idolatry cannot derive at all from a Pagan culture.
  • The Great Flood happened before humanity of the post-Flood world divided into Hebrews and Gentiles, it is not the least surprising that Gentiles also should have notions on it. Note that Babylonian notion of it differs mostly in theology and that Greek notion of it seems to be mixed with less open Greek references to Abraham and Sarah (a childless old couple of great piety, visited by three superhhuman beings who were warning of a disaster) and to Lot and his daughters (who after disaster were worried about how the world should be repeopled). The Inca version involves replacing Ark with Andes and making the survivors a borther and a sister who married - as later on also, Inca dynasty had sibling marriages.
  • The Messiah as “seed of the woman” was promised to us (literally posed as a threat to the serpent) when man fell, 2242 or 1656 or sth years before the Flood and hence before the division between Hebrews and Gentiles too, so it would not totally be surprising to find such a notion among Gentiles either.

    Note that Gentile prophecies, like the Sibyl, may be so unclear in concept that they point both to the true Messiah and to Antichrist. This is not the case with Hebrew prophecy, where “seed of the woman” and “seed of the serpent” are two diverse things. As a comparison, it seems the Hindoo figure of Bharat resumes both the Biblical Henochs (the Cainite Empire or City Founder, at least honorary such while his father did the founding and the Sethite very pious man who was taken up). Likewise, Gentile prophecies would tend to confuse certain theological issues, though the Church can of course make proper use of what is true in them. The Sibyl also foretold the Day of Judgement. See Dies Irae.


Hope this may help!

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