But ─ please correct me if I'm wrong ─ the ONLY mentions of original sin in the bible are Paul's two references to the Fall of Man.
I’ve gone over this with you before to some degree, haven’t I?
What do you think the Israelite sacrifices were all about? The building of (first) the Sanctuary tent, and (later) the Temple? Grief!
That formed the basis of the entire Israelite society!
And further, we have Daniel’s statements about the then-coming Messiah, “in order to
terminate the transgression, and to
finish off sin, and to
make atonement for error, and to bring in righteousness for times indefinite”(Daniel 9:24); and what David wrote, about being ‘
born in sin’, “
in sin my mother conceived me.” - Psalm 55:1
There's absolutely nothing about sin, a fall, death entering the world, spiritual death or anything of that sort in the Genesis Garden story.
Come on, the rebellion was the sin.
Sin is simply anything contrary to God’s personality, standards, ways, and will; anything marring one’s relationship with God.
Rebellion qualifies, wouldn’t you think?
There, God states [his] reasons for expelling Adam and Eve at Genesis 3:22-23 ─ namely, to protect his own position.
Boy, do you paint God as insecure! (Like He’d really have to worry about mortals usurping His position. The claim, to me, is ludicrous.
Certainly disrespectful.) Do you think the Jewish writer of Genesis meant this? Or God Himself, since He is claimed to be the Author?
The book of Genesis has existed for thousands of years…. Why has no one else come up with such an explanation?
Why didn’t Isaac Newton, who confessed that he
studied the Bible daily, see this?
The real answer is simple, but quite profound:
The two trees, although real, symbolized / represented two ideas…
The tree of the knowledge of good and bad represented a privilege that is
God’s province alone—
the right to determine what is good and what is bad. So it was a crime to steal from that tree! The tree of life, on the other hand, represented a gift that only God can bestow—everlasting life. - Romans 6:23
And according to an article I read, the idea that the Garden story was about the fall of man is first found among Alexandrian Jews practicing the midrash tradition ─ taking bible passages and interpreting them fancifully to mean something new and decidedly different ─ late in the second century CE.
Good for them! I wonder if they became followers of Jesus? (Doubtful.)
(I've never understood why Jesus had to go on his suicide mission anyway ─ and it is expressly a suicide mission ─ what it achieved…
But Jesus did understand. That’s why he willingly went through with it.
…what it achieved that an omnipotent God couldn't achieve with one snap of those mighty fingers.)
You see, that’s just it. God sets standards of what is right & just,
and He follows them, too! A perfect life (Jesus’), for a perfect life (Adam’s). And
God provided it: Jesus, as Jehovah God’s Son,
belonged to Jehovah, his Father. So God could then apply Jesus’ sacrifice as the redemption to “buy back” what Adam lost for his offspring (us): everlasting life.
The alternative Garden story is at Ezekiel 28.11-19.
I have no idea. Another new concept to me.
But it's also relevant that the bible offers no alternatives compatible with our present understanding.
Although the Bible was not written as a science textbookut it does….
Nothing indicates an understanding of a spherical earth…
Isaiah 46:20….
“There is One who is dwelling above the circle of the earth.”
The Hebrew word chugh, here translated “circle,” may also be rendered “sphere.” The Catholic Douay translation reads, “the globe of the earth.”
From every hemisphere - east, north, south, west - only a spherical object appears as a circle… it doesn’t matter what angle. A flat disk in most views would
appear as an ellipse, not a circle.
Again, the Bible was not written as a science textbook…
But earlier, I gave you one… “…hanging the Earth
on nothing” (Job 26:7)…. Which is
exactly how it looks! Poetic, yes, but accurate.
…fixed hard dome (firmament) over the earth to which the stars are affixed,
In Hebrew, “Raqia” means expanse.
How the LXX, and later translations rendered it, has no bearing on the original language meaning.
“Expanse” accurately reflects our atmosphere.
Job 26
7 He stretches out the North over the void
and hangs the earth upon nothing.
…….
How does 7 indicate modern knowledge?
See above.
What is surprising about 8?
Recall, i didn’t say anything about vs.8
Job 26
...
11 The pillars of heaven tremble
and are astounded at his rebuke.
How does 7 indicate modern knowledge?
….
What modern concept is denoted by "the pillars of heaven"?
Why are you misquoting me? Where did you get Job 26:11?
I quoted Job 38:16…
where God asks Job, “
Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?”
Who knew of those things back then?
Nobody!
Who would have even been bold enough to suggest it?
Only in modern times,
were such things discovered. And they verified the Bible.
But I've neither seen nor read anything to alter my understanding that life, including human life, is the product of biology, and that when you die, the sense of self and all memories and all traits and functions of the body are extinguished forever.
But that’s what the Bible says, too.
So who / what is behind such activity?
Have you never read my posts about “Lincoln’s Ghost” on Wikipedia? (Multiply these incidents by a
million times with other supposed “ghosts”.)
And they’re always clothed! How do clothes turn into spirit?!!
Have a good day, cousin.