God punishes the disobedience of Adam and Eve by expelling them from the Garden of Eden. He banishes Cain for murdering Abel. Why then does the Hebrew Bible show that Jacob receives no punishment for deceiving Isaac and Esau?
God punishes the disobedience of Adam and Eve by expelling them from the Garden of Eden. He banishes Cain for murdering Abel. Why then does the Hebrew Bible show that Jacob receives no punishment for deceiving Isaac and Esau?
The fact that your question requires rationalizing of something that otherwise doesn't make sense should tell you something.
The answer to this question is more complicated that I want to go into (because I don't think most people want to read massive paragraphs) so I will say this: if you examine Jacob's life, you will see that the consequences of his manipulative behavior were revisited many times upon him. The deceiver Jacob was in turn deceived by Laban (with the bride-switch of Leah instead of the desired Rachel); as well, Jacob's "quadruple-wife" family (Leah, Rachel and their handmaidens) created incredible strife for Jacob as he got older (the story of his son Joseph's betrayal by his brothers). Jacob did not escape "scot-free" from his misbehaviors. His choices gave him troubles later in his life (just like things work now).Originally Posted by isotopez
Perhaps early on God needed to make the consequences more overt and explicit (simply by nature of the fact that humanity hadn't been on the earth long enough to understand the long-range consequences of sin - but later, God allowed (as I think He does now) the natural consequences of our choices to occur because enough time had passed to where people could see that certain choices (murder, trickery) had serious effects on family and community.
This dismissal serves to flick the problem away without even bothering to try and explore the fact that there may indeed be some logic behind it.
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C.S. Lewis
the narrative of the bible is fundamentally true, but the bible does contain corruptions deletions and additions. there is documentary called "who wrote the bible" it talks about how there are many authors of sections of the bible how it was redacted and how it came to be in its present form. the bible is not the unadulerated word of God.
so stories like that about jacob could have been inserted to corrupt what is essential right guidance for humanity.
a person has to find the pure word of God and follow it
Maybe it's because Bible has changed by Rabbis...
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THANK YOU.
I truly can't think of anything more or better to say than that.
If I was suddenly raised by the people to the status of prophet, and people believed me to be an intermediary to God, and believed what I say, it does not make it true.
1. The question persists: if God is capable of bringing the universe into existence, is He not powerful enough to make sure that the essential components of His word are left intact and that flat out corruption not be included?
2. The Bible is a document that God allowed humanity to have a hand in making. Scholars can slice, dice and examine all they want - emendations, insertions, etc do not necessarily mean the book is "corrupt." You do not know that God was not behind the "edits."
3. And what/where exactly would I find the "pure word of God"?
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C.S. Lewis
``Is God being unfair?``
Yes. Being the creator of all evil, he is as capricious, unfair, murderous, and downright evil as he wants to be. This may not sit well with his defenders but it is fact.
Please do not try to dignify your opinion as FACT. I can respect that it's your opinion, but not your assertion that it is a fact.
And, as I've said to you elsewhere: if He's so "evil," why does He continue to let you and others like you live to name-call Him? Why hasn't an unfair and evil God demonstrated his capriciousness and simply eliminated those who place themselves in opposition to Him?
An answer to this (since I've posted it to you at least a few times) would be instructive.
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C.S. Lewis
Practice what you preach --- if he is so ''good'', why allow a Hitler or a Bush to persist in their evils?? Just ask their victims how ''good'' he is.
God allowed Hitler to do what he did so that America would fight a big fight and a lot of men would be apart from their families for a while so that when they came back (if they did) they would have a lot of babies, which would create the baby boom, which is the generation of George W. Bush. George Bush, since his parents were affected by WWII, probably grew up in an environment where he was taught that "oversea troublemakers" (like Hitler) have a way of ruining things, so he was inclined to join in a conflict like he has. And that happened so that you would be bothered enough to mention those two figures in your post. Because of your post, I decided to try to show you how God has been working for years to get you where you are. Congratulations, much history has happened in order for you to be exactly who you are. Because of that, if you feel that who you are is in any way good, then that is something good that God has done.
LOL! I can't figure out what you're saying but it sounds like something a politician would use in a campaign speech!
Part of God's "goodness" is His gift of free will towards humanity - you have the freedom to choose good or to choose evil. That humanity chooses evil grieves God, but He respects the dignity of the creatures He has created so much that He will not violate our free will, even when that free will may cause us to harm others. That's not much consolation, I know, but a world where we could not choose but to be good would not be world worth living in. As well, God assures us that all will eventually be made right - all accounts will be balanced - and the suffering on earth will eventually fade away in the glory of living in the presence of Almighty God.
The god who would wipe Hitler and Bush off the face of the earth for their evil would also have had to do the same to you for the evil in this life you've commited - don't flatter yourself that since you haven't killed anybody that your sins are trifling; most psychologists will attest to the fact that emotional scars far outlast the physical. Careless gossip can ruin a life just as easily as something far more "serious."
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C.S. Lewis
Here we go again! Since you continually resort to the same self-justifications and excuses there is no further use in replying.
I'll assume this means you forfeit.
Had you taken the time to point out for me how I'm using "self-justifications" and "excuses," I might have had some clarity as to the weaknesses of my position. But, since you've not dealt specifically with any of my arguments I am left wondering what the flaws in my logic indeed are.
Better luck next time, I suppose.
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C.S. Lewis
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