Re: [TruthTalk] Fw: Today's Joke

[Terry Clifton]

Interesting, but not necessarily accurate.  I believe they, as well as we, were punished for that sin.  If removal from a perfect place was not part of the punishment, why not leave them there and remove the tree?  Why assume that they would have to eat from the tree of life to keep living anyway?  Even in a sin filled world we have records of people living seven hundred years.  In a perfect place with no disease, no stress, no pollution, and fellowship with God, why would they ever die?  When I finally have the same type fellowship with God that they had, I will live forever too.  No mention of eating from this tree being a condition for my eternal life. I believe that if God had created more people than these two at this time, He would have told us.  No one knows how long the period of time was between Genesis 4:2 and 4:3 or how many children, grandchildren, great grandkids and on and on they had during that time, but certainly enough to populate what were called cities at that time.  The name "Eve" means "mother of all living", not "Some of the living". Funny how two people can read the same history and see it so differently. Terry ============================================================== [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:    What do we have in the Garden of Eden.     A man and a woman created from the dust of the earth.   They were created mortal beings and used (I assume) the Tree of Life to continue to live.    They were not expelled from the Garden because of their sin  -  rather because they might [continue] to eat of the Tree of Life.     There is no reason to assume that they were less selfish, conceited and so on that any of us.  But according to OT thinking, these were not sin.    Their story is the account of the first transgression of law.    Perhaps, in their story we have the beginnings of a Divine Contrast between Law and Grace.   A whole history of mankind under law contrasted with the history of Grace  -------------   always realizing, of course, that the gracious God is seen everywhere in the OT writings.     They were not the only ones created  -   just the first ones.....................the first of the Chosen People of God.    Cain was afraid that he would be killed by others.   What others?   There were whole cities in the days of Adam, Cain and Seth.     So we not only have the first of God's creation, we have the first of the Chosen People of God.    JD