OK. I don't believe I am reading too much into it. I believe that G-d's plan from the beginning was the relationship He had with Adam before Adam (man) ate of the forbidden fruit. He has been redeeming creation to the point where that can be again. It was His will, and I don't believe His will changes. Obviously I am bringing a Christian viewpoint to what I read, but that is always the way with a later revelation, isn't it? We understand what we can based on what has been revealed. However, when more has been revealed we revisit what we thought we knew and reinterpret it. Science does this. So does theology.
Yes, I do. God's existence is necessary. The existence of any created thing is contingent upon God's sustaining it in existence. Otherwise, you must believe that something could exist, on its own, separately from God. To me, the question "can God create a place where He is not" is a logical impossibility on par with "can God create a stone so heavy He cannot lift it".
I think it is a different thing. But I will accept your rebuke and modify the question. Do you think it is impossible for G-d to create a place where His physical manifestation is not? That is, He would still be there, but a physical humanity would never be able to know, to detect Him, to interact with Him, etc.
Sure, which is why traditional Jewish belief is that they must atone for their sins in Gehinnom.
Sounds like the Christian concept of purgetory. But why not? Christianity is a Jewish sect, and the early fathers were Jews.
Once again, though, I have a different interpretation.
I doubt that we ever have full understanding of anything that we do, let alone of choosing eternal damnation. In my belief, this is where God's mercy intervenes.
Deut. 30:19 (ESV)
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
So, Moses (or G-d) were being unfair?
Au contraire. There are many passages in the Tanakh where men are described as righteous. All men sin. Those who are righteous are those who repent of their sin and ask forgiveness.
Psalm 143:2 (ESV)
Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
I think this is an issue of a temporary state of righteousness, immediately after atonement, and a permanent state of righteousness.
Also incorrect. There are many other means of atoning for sin besides blood sacrifice. If you don't mind, I'm going to repost something I wrote and originally posted over on The Neverending Story thread about a month ago:
Thank you for sharing that, but there is no indication that any of these methods are effective alone, of themselves.
It's interesting, really, because so often you'll hear a Christian claim, "we're not under the Law" and then point to the Law to explain why Yeshua had to do what He did to free us from sin.
But we do presume that G-d created a universe with metaphysical rules as well as physical ones. Therefore, if one of those metaphysical rules is that blood is required before atonement can be made, that's just as binding as the law of gravity.
But the Christian recognizes that the atonement of Yeshua is eternal and, therefore, applies backward and forward in our time. Therefore, men could have been established as righteous by an event that had not happened yet. That may be the case with Moses, for example. Yet, it would not have been the case if the sacrifice had not been made.
Shalom.
OK, I can conceive of God creating a place where He sustains it and its inhabitants' existence, but has no further interaction or contact with them.
Sounds like the Christian concept of purgetory.
Yes, it does.
Deut. 30:19 (ESV) I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, So, Moses (or G-d) were being unfair?
Nope. This passage follows the description of the blessings and curses that Israel is subject to as terms of the Covenant. These are temporal rewards and punishments. Reward and punishment after death exists, of course, but I don't think this passage is talking about that.
angelo: Au contraire. There are many passages in the Tanakh where men are described as righteous. All men sin. Those who are righteous are those who repent of their sin and ask forgiveness.
ArGee: Psalm 143:2 (ESV) Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
I think this is an issue of a temporary state of righteousness, immediately after atonement, and a permanent state of righteousness.
The psalms are poetry, and they do make use of figures of speech. "No one" may not literally mean "no one" in this context. Or, you could read it to mean that no living person at the time of the writing of the psalm was righteous. Doesn't mean that man is incapable of righteousness. I favor the first interpretation I offered.
Yes, righteousness is temporary in that it can be lost through further sin. But then it can be regained through further repentence and atonement.
Thank you for sharing that, but there is no indication that any of these methods are effective alone, of themselves.
Sacrifice alone, without repentence, was equally inefficacious. You may understand these passages differently, but I read them to mean that, when we repent and ask forgiveness for our sins, God forgives us. We offer our prayer as "the sacrifice our our lips".