Someing has puzzeled me for a long time...

[Arlanbb]

The Hebrew Bible keeps says over and over that Children are not to suffer for their parents sins [Dt.24:16, 2Ki 14:6, 2Ch 25:4, Ez 18:20]. If this is true - why did death pass to all of Adam's children by the sin of Adam?? [Ro 5:12, 19, 1Co 15:22] anyone want to give a comment?

 

[Father Heathen]

You will probably be called unintelligent and childish (and by not the people who you're actually addressing, which is biblical literalists), but you won't get an adequate explanation.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Special pleading.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

The Hebrew Bible keeps says over and over that Children are not to suffer for their parents sins [Dt.24:16, 2Ki 14:6, 2Ch 25:4, Ez 18:20].

It also says that God punishes children for their parents sins. For example, Exodus 20:4-6:

4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Like I've said before, looking for consistency in religious texts is like looking for a gold bar in an elephant's butt.

 

[TheKnight]

The general Jewish reconciliation of the apparent contradiction is that God punishes children who (knowing their parents sin) repeat the sins of their parents.

 

[themadhair]

The general Jewish reconciliation of the apparent contradiction is that God punishes children who (knowing their parents sin) repeat the sins of their parents.

And for the kids who don't eat from the forbidden tree?

 

[TheKnight]

And for the kids who don't eat from the forbidden tree?

When did death pass to all of us?

I am not dead, you are not dead. No where does it say that Adam and Eve would have lived forever.

 

[themadhair]

When did death pass to all of us?

I am not dead, you are not dead. No where does it say that Adam and Eve would have lived forever.

This must be what Father Heathen was referring to about inadequate explanations.

 

[TheKnight]

This must be what Father Heathen was referring to about inadequate explanations.

I mean, it's a question that has to be asked. Don't we have to clarify what exactly happened in the garden before we get angry about it? God said they would surely die, and yet they didn't die when they ate. We also, are not dead.

Not to mention that God never told them they would live forever, He never said they wouldn't die before they ate from the tree.

 

[Arlanbb]

Were Adam and Eve mortal or immortal when they were created? Didn't they have to eat of the tree of life to be immortal. Is that not the reason the garden of Eden was put off limits so they would die??

 

[TheKnight]

Were Adam and Eve mortal or immortal when they were created?

I don't know. The text doesn't say.

Didn't they have to eat of the tree of life to be immortal. Is that not the reason the garden of Eden was put off limits so they would die??

The garden was put off limits so that they would not eat of the tree of life and live forever. It does not, however, mean that they were mortal before.

 

[linwood]

Were Adam and Eve mortal or immortal when they were created? Didn't they have to eat of the tree of life to be immortal. Is that not the reason the garden of Eden was put off limits so they would die??

Yes.

When read in context this is the reasoning for their expulsion from the garden.

 

[Arlanbb]

Yes.

When read in context this is the reasoning for their expulsion from the garden.

That's what I thought, so that means that Adam/Eve were not immortal at all. They were going to died because God did not let them have access to the tree of life.

 

[Duck]

Ah, but the only tree that was forbidden was the tree of knowledge of good and evil, NOT the tree of Life.

Basically, A&E would have been able to live forever ONLY if they remained ignorant.

 

[Duck]

obviously once thrown out they would have lost access to the tree of life.

Once they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they were banished to prevent them from eating from the tree of life since, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." (Genesis 3:22 NIV).

 

[Arlanbb]

Right On Duckie ~ If you believe the bible is the word of God then Gen 3:22 proves that Adam and Eve were made mortal, if a train ran over them they would die in the garden of Eden.

 

[Katzpur]

The Hebrew Bible keeps says over and over that Children are not to suffer for their parents sins [Dt.24:16, 2Ki 14:6, 2Ch 25:4, Ez 18:20]. If this is true - why did death pass to all of Adam's children by the sin of Adam?? [Ro 5:12, 19, 1Co 15:22] anyone want to give a comment?

First of all, Adam did not "sin." Sin is the voluntary transgression of a religious law or moral principle. Adam was not in a position to "sin" (i.e. to make a choice between right and wrong) until after he ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and evil. He knew he'd been told not to eat the fruit from that one tree, and he'd been told that there would be consequences for his disobedience, but that's all. He was no more guilty of "sinning" than a two year old who touches a hot stove after his mother tells him not to.

So, anyway, it's true that what Adam did brought death into the world. My belief is that it also brought life into the world. I believe that his and Eve's "transgression" started the ball rolling and made it possible for humanity to even exist. I don't believe that they would have even had children had they not eaten the forbidden fruit, although that's probably a topic for another thread. But let's say I'm wrong about that. Can you even imagine what this earth would be like now if none of their posterity had ever died?!?!? Would you really want to live forever? The Fall of Adam was not a glitch in God's plan. It was an important part of it.

 

[Katzpur]

Basically, A&E would have been able to live forever ONLY if they remained ignorant.

You are absolutely right!

 

[pray4me]

Perhaps the death which Adam bequeathed to us is not the physical one but the spiritual one which happens when we sin. After all doesn't it imply in the New Testament that just as Adam had brought death Our Savior would take it away? Now people still die to this day but in Our Savior there is a promise of redemption. If a man did not sin he would not be in need of redemption therefore it is not for Adam's sins we were punished but for our own.