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To: kosta50; blue-duncan; Dr. Eckleburg; Blogger
Well, if He is 'offended' and 'angry' with us because of the 'rebellion' [the fall] it must be a bad thing. My point is: if He scripted it, as you claim, and it had to happen that way, no reason for anger and offense, let alone deicide.

I don't think anger is necessarily a bad thing at all. Biblically, it can be God's energy for the purpose of righting a wrong. From a short article "What does the Bible say about anger?" :

Examples of biblical uses of anger include Paul confronting Peter because of his wrong example in Galatians 2:11-14, David being upset over hearing Nathan the prophet sharing an injustice (2 Samuel 12), and Jesus getting angry over how some of the Jews had defiled the Gentiles’ place of worship at God’s temple in Jerusalem (John 2:13-18).

In each case anger was a good thing. ---- Concerning your stated point, you appear to be saying that if God scripted how everything was going to happen, then there would be no reason for the crucifixion. Is that right? If so, then the alternative was that the crucifixion was outside of God's control, or that it was not part of His plan but He allowed it when it was thrust upon Him. Taken from another POV, you might mean that if God scripted everything, then He wouldn't have chosen to let His Son die on the cross. I don't see it in either of these ways. Whatever did happen was what God wanted to happen. Whatever God wanted to happen was what needed to happen (crucifixion to satisfy God's justice). Jesus didn't go to the cross with other options available to accomplish exactly what God wanted. If that were not true, THEN, it really wouldn't make sense.

FK: "God could have created Adam and Eve to be immune to sin. He did not. Therefore, that sin would happen was part of God's plan."

Fine, but that doesn't explain the 'offense.'

I was thinking about it, and found that most of the times when I get angry it was because something surprised me and I didn't like it. Look at all the times any of us gets angry here on FR. It is almost always over comments or exact words we were not expecting. Of course, none of this applies to God. Jesus wasn't surprised when He found the moneychangers at the Temple. He used His anger in a positive sense.

I think it's the same when we are told of other Biblical examples of God's anger or offense. For example, one great good I see in God's anger is that it teaches us, His beloved children, the difference between right and wrong. If we knew nothing of what angered God, then we would not have nearly as strong a compass as we do. It is one thing to say to do this and don't do that, but to learn that we are actually angering or offending God really drives the point home. (It does for me anyway. :)

I said man was trapped to fall into the pit of sin...let's not paraphrase and change the meaning.

My spider-sense was tingling so I read between the lines. Sorry. :)

If man had no choice, but to act as God directed, then God created man destined to commit sin. The sin, then, is not the result of man's will, but his inevitable, predestined fate, of which God is the author.

I'm not sure I am following your reasoning. Yes, God created man destined to commit sin. God also created man with a will. That will had God-defined parameters. Even in Adam and Eve's cases, within their parameters lurked the potential for sin. God created them thus. Adam and Eve used their wills and sin happened. God knew it was coming and could have prevented it, but He didn't. Nevertheless, the exercise of their wills was what resulted in the sin, not the truth that it was part of God's plan. God set the conditions, but the actors did their acts. That is the basis of accountability.

FK: "God is offended, but He chose to "go through it" because He has greater good in mind."

Greater Good? What are you talking about? God is trying to get us restored to the original state. We are just trying to get back to the beginning.

I hope the above addresses the first part. I'm not sure what you mean by the second. In the original state as created, Adam and Eve had no knowledge of good and evil. That's out the window for us during life. If you are talking about in Heaven, then it still doesn't work because as created, Adam and Eve had the potential to sin. In Heaven that will also be out the window for us.

9,826 posted on 02/09/2007 2:32:37 AM PST by Forest Keeper
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To: Forest Keeper; blue-duncan; Dr. Eckleburg
I don't think anger is necessarily a bad thing at all...

FK, if everything is developing along God's plan, if God's will cannot be resisted, there is no reason for God's anger, and you know that.

9,850 posted on 02/09/2007 12:05:27 PM PST by kosta50 (Eastern Orthodoxy is pure Christianity)
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