The evolution of Adam - The need for a Redeemer
Last time we looked at the biological purpose of death and its absolute necessity in an environment with finite resources.
A couple of posts before that we looked at the forbidden fruit as a means to introduce mortality by means of excising a choice.
By exercising a choice, the outcome would be brought about by an act of will as opposed to by force.
(agency vs force will be delved into a lot deeper in future installments)
By exercising free will and partaking of the forbidden fruit, mortality or death was instituted on the basis of justice; it being a direct result of ingesting a substance, that would bring about the desired physical changes and result in growth, aging and eventual death.
Justice was satisfied by the fall, but what of love and mercy? How could God claim to be just but also loving and merciful?
Would it be loving and merciful to leave a fallen creature in its fallen state, without providing any means for redemption?
Redemption from the fall would necessitate the payment of a "blood price" or ransom in order to satisfy the demands of justice; otherwise justice would be denied. The extension of mercy would only be possible through the intervention of a third party to pay justice on behalf of the fallen.
Only then could demands of Justice and Mercy be fully satisfied.
We saw that prefigured through the issuing of a coat made of animal skin to cover them.
Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
A metaphor for how the shedding of the blood of an animal, would provide covering and protection, not only from the physical elements, but also from the vulnerability, nakedness and guilt they felt as a consequence of disobedience.
A prefigure of the blood that would be spilled to cover all sin and that self sewn fig leaf aprons, would not cover.
In the same context we find a similar prefiguring:
Genesis 3:14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
There would be enmity between the serpent and the seed of the woman, which would involve bruising of heels and crushing (more explicit in the Hebrew)of heads.
This imagery was not lost on later biblical prophets:
Isaiah spoke of a coming messiah that would be "bruised".
Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
The entire chapter is a beautiful poetic prefiguring of the Savior and Redeemer
Paul would later say; to the indicating of exactly who the serpent in the garden account represents:
Romans 16:20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Next time we will delve into just how "redemption from death" could be brought about by the Son of God
Previous parts of this Series.
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - Delving a little deeper
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - Into the detail
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - Some conclusions
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - Some more conclusions
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - The implications.
The evolution of Adam - a conundrum
The evolution of Adam - Who is Adam
The evolution of Adam - Two trees and choice
The evolution of Adam - Partaking of the fruit and feeling naked
old school
really!!
yeah, pretty old school education. more than 2000 years at least
Hence Jesus becoming mortal to experience what humans do?
That and a few other interesting things
Thanks for the interesting articles, i am enjoying them.
Estimado @gavvet, ¿Este pasaje de Hebreos 2.14 representa lo que el mismo autor señala en Hebreos 9.26? el cual dice:
"26 De otra manera le hubiera sido necesario padecer muchas veces desde el principio del mundo; pero ahora, en la consumación de los siglos, se presentó una vez para siempre por el sacrificio de sí mismo para quitar de en medio el pecado" Si esto es así, el diablo (He. 2.14) es el mismo pecado (He. 9.26) ¿Está entonces destruido y sin tener efectos sobre nosotros? ¿Ya no hay diablo? ¿Ya no hay pecado?
Interesting post @gavvet. These are questions I have been pondering for a long time, and finally getting some personal understanding of them for myself.
Having been brought up catholic, and then widening my enquiry over the years, I have found some correlations from other philosophies and science that support the idea of the creation.
I have found the Gnostic story of Gaia Sophia's fall from the Pleroma, ( creational center of the universe, which could also be a metaphor for the Garden of Eden) was due to her "attachment" to what she had created, ie she was drawn to tasting the fruit of creation,( tasting the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, ie judgement) and the lesson from that is for us not to be attached to (judge) our creations or outcomes we desire.
In buddhism the aim is non-attachment, and christ's lesson of giving up his life on the cross, was similar a example, giving up his desire ( attachment)for life in the service of others.
Eve's wanting to partake of the Tree of Good and Evil, suggests that by, knowing of the choice of, or judging what is good and bad, she then does not allow the divine flow to take its course, in which there is no good and bad in the Garden of Eden..
The 7 days and 6 nights, as a metaphor for the timing of creation, has been investigated by Dr Carl Calleman, in his 40 years of studies of the Mayan cosmology, and he certainly supports the idea of a Purposeful Universe, ie there is a Divine Plan, as do lots of others.
By naming the designer as "God", then this puts us in the position of trying to get our head around, who or what is God ?.. and could limit our perception of this word .. unfathomable ?... unknowable ? .. infinite ?.. unnameable ? or limited, by it being my God, who is different to your god, and that other fella's God .. all these uses of the word are limited to an idea, for something that cannot be named..
I am interested in the work of Teilhard de Chardin, a priest, whose philosophies were developed as a stretcher bearer in the First World War, witnessing the carnage of death in the trenches as the shells came down. And finding his God in that place. he was also a Paleontologist, ( someone who studies fossils to understand evolution).
The church tried to stop him sharing his idea's by sending him to outback China. However in doing so, he continued his research in Paleontology (someone who studies fossils )and discovered Peking Man, an ancient example of a pre-homosapiens.
This it actually supported his idea's of a divine evolution.
As we are all expressions of Divine Evolution, our choices are important to how it all turns out..
As I am not a writer and new at this, I have been trying to get these musings down in separate posts, to allow discussion but am still learning how to use steemit. So I took the opportunity to respond to your posts to get me started, so I thank you for that.
Common archetypal themes point to common origins and universal principals.
I'm an amateur Paleontologist
Fossils, in my mind, are another "breadcrumb trail" that God has left us to explore and expand our understanding of his handiwork.
As do all his works, fossils and the evolutionary processes they reveal "declare His glory"
The earlier posts in this series discus these ideas in more detail.
Thanks @gavvet. Yes, I agree, I think there are many breadcrumbs for us to follow. Such as my following the breadcrumbs and coming across your post. Appreciated. ))
Who put the canaan bible together?
depends who you ask...
How deep have you personally dug into the subject?
Far deeper than I think you suspect...
I would love to see some post dedicated to that study.....
Which aspect? its vast.
Well maybe the evolution of the bible and how it started from the books in it to what it is today in its many forms. If you wish to single in on a certain one or few ideologys to narrow it I can understand that. From when it decided to first put the book together, when, how it changed and branched, and what it is today.
Nice work. I did not read the previous posts related to this subject I might go back and read it.
But for now, I have a question for you. How do you define the word or the concept of justice?
For example spilling the blood of an animal to protect us from the elements is a just act? “Redemption from the fall would necessitate the payment of a "blood price" or ransom in order to satisfy the demands of justice; otherwise justice would be denied.” Who is qualified to defined justice and whose perspective we should take. The animal, the human, the lord….or else.
Second question. Since God is so merciful and loving, Why does he need ransom to forgive and redeem. I am apparent, and if my child makes me angry for doing something I told him not to do, an apology and a promise not to do again is enough for me to forgive him. Would not this be more logical for God to do; just forgive when someone repent.
Justice, phrased in the language of science would be a macro universe that is deterministic, in other words, set actions will always lead to set outcomes.
Basically, "what you sow you reap"
Mercy may not "rob" justice because that would destroy justice or the determinism and predictability. That is why a 3rd party is required to intervene an satisfy the demands of justice on our behalf on condition of our repentance.
The third party who pays the price is then able to extend mercy and stipulate the conditions on which remission is granted.
Animal sacrifice was only symbolic of the "great and last sacrifice" that was to come, that would be infinite and eternal and would enable the settlement to justice by the third party.
The innocent that suffers is similarly "owed" a debt by justice and that is how the books are balanced.
Interesting and sophisticated definition of justice. However Things gets bit more complicated when we add deterministic and predictability to it. “Set actions will ALWAYS lead to set outcomes”. This will eliminate the principle of free choice. This definition only makes sense to those of strong faith who believe in a bigger story of creation. Someone like average Joe is looking for more practical definitions of terms and concepts, and justice in this life, would ask can I have a definition that relates to my life? I would say "what you sow you reap" is simple enough for Joe. Still this also requires strong belief in the afterlife and Joe is not interested.
So when the judge says justice is served, what kind of definition he has in mind for the word justice. Can we have a global agreement on what this “justice” is, the one the judge is talking about? May be if we do we can live together in peace, all faiths, nations and all of humanity. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks.
Very interesting perspective especially for me. Was born and raised in a remote place where religion was (and partially still is) everything. Science was the most confusing subject when I was in primary school yet so intriguing... Balance was found when I grew up and started filtering what I listen to or believe in. Though Christianity still means a lot to me, science also helps a lot in understanding some things. Crucial one being HIV is a virus not witchcraft!
Thanks for sharing!
Science broadens the depths of my understanding of doctrine.
My whole paragraph in one sentence!
pretty impressive @gavvet
For balancing the nature, deaths as well as births are important
Because this is the rules of nature that if someone come on the earth, definitely that will die on the right time.
for us the Muslims the story of adam and his wife is also told in al qur'an al karim, which tells adam and his wife is incited by shaitan to eat the fruit that is forbidden by Allah in heaven, so adam and his wife eat the forbidden fruit and descended to earth by God ... this story is so true that it is told in the Bibel and in the Qur'an
all the gods do there purpose, such as death, the purpose of death is to be able to feel the new world after death, and for the balance of nature.
Thank you @gavvet.
Nice post! You might find this interesting ..
Let me know what you think. Best wishes always :) - @splendorhub
A lot of these really big ones these have been demonstrated to be fraudulent hoaxes, there is some substance to others.
https://www.sott.net/article/281093-The-truth-about-giant-skeletons-in-American-Indian-mounds-and-the-Smithsonian-cover-up
This is a very interesting topic. I have come across many more articles that show a cover up from revealing the truth about the giants (previous) existence. Thank you for sharing :)
Best wishes, - @splendorhub