Theorycrafting the True Nature of God
This blog assumes that what is in the bible is true to some or to full extent.
With that… Let’s get on with it.
My parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses. I respect what they believe… but when it comes down to a few things, I’m drawn away from the whole religious aspect of things. Let’s try to outline this in a sensible manner…
Disclaimer: this is not an attack on the JW faith or any faith. In fact, JW’s do not believe in some of the things I speak of in this post. My upbringing spawned my thoughts here.
The creation of Man:
Very first book in the bible. God creates Jesus. His first creation. Then he creates a myriad of angels and the galaxies and what-not. Satan is Jesus’s brother. If not in the way we think of brother, definitely in a sense that they are of the same origin, except that Jesus is considered the only true Son of God.
It is told that God creates Man in His image, basically. He creates Man and a partner for him. He gives Man free will so that he may make decisions for himself. Along with free will, he gives Man emotions. With emotions, one of Man’s most deadliest of aspects comes in – curiosity. Now, knowing that Man is driven by curiosity, He (God) still decides to put the tree of Forbidden Fruit in this Garden of Eden that Man has been bestowed.
This raises a question in itself:
1) Why would He place a tree (or a luring trap) to dangle in front of Man?
Let’s save this one for a bit later. Now, Satan – Jesus’s ‘brother’ – descends upon the Garden of Eden with wickedness in his heart, seeking to corrupt God’s creations out of jealousy.
Now, it says that God is all-seeing, correct? We’re all familiar with this ideal. So, then, why does God allow Satan to descend upon the earth? Is He, too, curious as to what will happen? Doesn’t He know all outcomes of all situations? Is He not all-seeing?
So, with this tree dangled in front of them, Eve is convinced to take of its fruit. With her seductive nature, she convinces Adam to do so as well.
God is, obviously, angered by such. But did He not know this would happen, considering the circumstances? Did He not watch this? Why the hell did He even put a tree there in the first place, if not to tempt Adam and Eve, in a very similar way as Satan had.
There are many points to discuss/argue, but I believe this is one of the most intriguing. God, being the selfish being that He is, created Man in HIS image (because He loves Himself so much), and not only told them to obey and worship Him, but told them not to partake in the fruit of the most beautiful plant in their environment.
Pretty selfish and wicked in itself if you ask me…
Another biblical idea we can tackle in this blog; Hell. The pure idea of the existence of Hell, or a place of eternal banishment and suffering, is contradictory to the idea of God. In the bible, it says that Hell is separate from God entirely. However, it also says that God is everywhere…
God is everywhere:
“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3)
Supporting facts that God is absent from Hell:
“I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness,”? (Matt. 7:21-23).
“depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire” (Matt. 25:41)
“but your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (Isa. 59:2),
As you can see, this is all pretty conflicting. If God is everywhere, how is He not in Hell?
Also, what kind of message is sent when we think of Hell? Basically, it is an ultimatum; it is God saying, “Worship me or perish in eternal Hellfire.” Sounds like a gun being pointed at your head…
Why the hell did He even put a tree there in the first place, if not to tempt Adam and Eve, in a very similar way as Satan had?
The tree serves as a quick and easy way to discern what otherwise might take a very long and messy time to come out: will humans defer to God for sovereignty – will they obey him. God knows (and human history testifies) that man has not the wisdom to rule himself/his planet. Why not discover it all from the start, and devise policies accordingly?
So, then, why does God allow Satan to descend upon the earth?
How convincing is someone’s love if you know they are programmed so they can’t possibly respond any other way? So, not only does God create humans (and angels, such as the one who became Satan) with free will, but he allows interplay between them so that if they demonstrate love and loyalty, it is real and not pre-programmed. God said, after all, don’t eat from the tree. What’s so hard to understand about that? Even if some underling comes along and says….’naw, God’s lying to you. You won’t die. He’s just trying to withhold something good from you.’ You would think love and loyalty would prompt obedience to the one who had provided so bountifully.
But did He not know this would happen, considering the circumstances?
No. While it is possible today, through technology, to spy out a loved one’s every move, nobody actually does this, out of both trust and respect for the other person’s dignity. Something like this appears to operate with regard to God foreknowing all that people will do. He has that ability, but he appears not to use it, maybe for the reasons given above. It’s the only way one can understand verses like Gen 18:20-21:
Consequently Jehovah said: “The cry of complaint about Sodom and Gomorrah, yes, it is loud, and their sin, yes, it is very heavy. I am quite determined to go down that I may see whether they act altogether according to the outcry over it that has come to me, and, if not, I can get to know it.
He didn’t know. He had to go down and check it out.
Regarding hell, you seemed to have gonr on to a different topic. Jehovah’s Witnesses, from their beginning, saw through hell as a fraudulent teaching, not biblical at all. Early JW leader C. T. Russell was known in his lifetime as “the man who turned the hose on hell and put out the fire.”
tom sheepandgoats
January 13, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Good arguments. It does mention Hell in the bible. According to it, it exists. Do not take this blog as an attack on the JW faith, please.
As far as God not knowing but having the ability to know; sounds much like having the chance to find out what you’re getting for your birthday, but deciding to wait for the surprise. Or, more accurately, knowing a loved one is going to get into a fatal accident, but letting them choose whether or not they’re going to take that route home that day.
Little kid with a magnifying glass, I say…
aguysfit
January 13, 2010 at 3:25 pm
aguysfit…
thanks for the gracious words.
I press the point about hell only because hell is often seen as illogical and cruel. If the Bible is thought to teach it, then it also shares those unpleasant qualities. I’d rather if the Bible is going to be denegrated, (not saying it’s done here) it be for genuine reasons, not innacurate ones.
To be sure, the word ‘hell’ does appear in the Bible. However, with but a single exception, each instance stems from one of three Hebrew or Greek words. Find the meaning of those words, and you’ve found the meaning of hell. With a little bit of sleuthing, one can readily discover none of those words indicate a place of eternal torment.
A bit more detail provided here: (2nd half of post)
http://tinyurl.com/yz3n26p
tom sheepandgoats
January 18, 2010 at 1:46 pm