Boru: the Bible mentions these things, but to take these things out of the context of the standards of the time and judge them based on how they would be regarded today distorts the significance of everything, so i believe that is a spiritual interpretation.
for Genesis 3, the conclusion makes sense if we see God as a completely external force. but if one acknowledges even a few of the workings mentioned in Ephesians 4:6, the conclusion can be completely different even if the events were all taken literally.
one thing that should be mentioned is that the Bible says that God is a spirit. i think this emphasizes that God is not a form or category, but is accessed through the form or category.
i think a helpful way to understand the working of God is to think of God as similar to inevitability. inevitability is all-knowing, all-powerful, always in control, always right, etc. but it can also be direct or completely unintrusive: of course, it could allow all things to take their natural (as it seems to us) courses and then say at the end "It was all part of my plan." this roundabout tone of inevitable control is mentioned often in regards to God, and Christ echoes the same tone.
for 2 Thessalonians, i believe this is mentioning, in the same roundabout tone, how those that knowingly do evil will be punished (which is a just thing), but the exact way this will come to pass isnt being spelled out.
i think this is the last post for today. i plan to check tommorow.
for Genesis 3, the conclusion makes sense if we see God as a completely external force. but if one acknowledges even a few of the workings mentioned in Ephesians 4:6, the conclusion can be completely different even if the events were all taken literally.
one thing that should be mentioned is that the Bible says that God is a spirit. i think this emphasizes that God is not a form or category, but is accessed through the form or category.
i think a helpful way to understand the working of God is to think of God as similar to inevitability. inevitability is all-knowing, all-powerful, always in control, always right, etc. but it can also be direct or completely unintrusive: of course, it could allow all things to take their natural (as it seems to us) courses and then say at the end "It was all part of my plan." this roundabout tone of inevitable control is mentioned often in regards to God, and Christ echoes the same tone.
for 2 Thessalonians, i believe this is mentioning, in the same roundabout tone, how those that knowingly do evil will be punished (which is a just thing), but the exact way this will come to pass isnt being spelled out.
i think this is the last post for today. i plan to check tommorow.
