Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Genesis (with experience comes knowledge)
After thinking about what I could take away from the discussion in class today, I realized that one of the main points that we didn't get to really address is that with experience comes knowledge. You don't know that you are doing something wrong in my opinion if it isn't made clear to you or you don't have previous knowledge about it. A perfect example in my opinion that I can think of is when God creates the flood. The flood is used as a mechanism to almost cleanse the earth, because he believes that it has somehow become almost corrupt. Afterwords though a chapter or two later in Genesis, he actually says that "I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; not will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.." (Chapter 8) I believe that just as God gains knowledge from his experiences, so does everyone else. The tricky part in my opinion about this concept is that it is hard to justify his actions as good or bad because he did not know any better. Now, many people reference the Bible or what they have learned from past experiences to make decisions or take action. But in this case, I believe the perfect way to describe how God as well as everyone else gains knowledge through experience is that sometimes in life, you just don't know any better & do what you feel is best.
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I found this post very intriguing because after reading that, I too thought that God seemed much harsher than I ever pictured him to be (mind you, I'm not the most religious person therefore I'm a bit ignorant on these topics). But your analysis of his actions and his own reactions to his actions kind of add more closure and reasoning to God's more "intense" tactics. God is always seen as this all-knowing entity but perhaps he also is able to learn and ponder over his own experiences, much like us as humans do.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that would go as far as to say that god did not know any better. I think he did and that's is what caused him to say that he "will never again curse the the ground because of humankind". There must have been some realization that what he did was not good. However I do think that since god created man in his image, there are some imperfections on both ends. One could even say that god imposed his imperfections on man. Either way, I don't think god was oblivious to the fact that flooding the earth because humans made him angry was bad, I just think that he got angry and got carried away, as many humans would.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ford on this one. I don't believe that God didn't know any better. I think that it was more of a way to start over. Although in the quote you used he says that he will never curse the ground again because humans are evil from birth. I really like that quote; it stands out to me because it's a little contradictive. I say that because God creates humans in his image and to say that human are evil from youth is basically saying that humans gain that evil trait from God himself. He saves Noah from the flood but if all are so evil, why not erase all humans?
ReplyDeleteTo answer Melissa's question, God saves Noah because he earned God's favor and is blameless. Although he believes humankind has become evil, there is still always an exception and the need to keep man on earth. The relationship between Noah and God is unique, and the covenant they established before Noah builds the ark is only strengthened when Noah follows all of his commands. By destroying humankind, but saving Noah’s family, God wishes to purify the world and have Noah’s descendants survive. I find it interesting that God uses a rainbow to be the symbol of his covenant with Noah and how that is his method of communication. I wonder why does God use these objects to tell a story?
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ReplyDeleteSorry, I messed up with the last comment. Anyway, to provide some food for though for Coral's post and the comments about God not knowing right from wrong: Isn't God the one who decided what is right and what is wrong in the first place? Does this give God permission to function outside the rules and expectations or does this make God a hypocrite? To add on to Raffaella's explanation, I think that God could not destroy all human life because there needed to be at least a few people to rule over the animals. This is mentioned as one of man's main roles on Genesis.
ReplyDeleteCoral, while your reasoning is completely logical, I am sort of stupefied by the idea, mainly because it flies in the face of everything we think about God.
ReplyDeleteTo ask a question which might have some analogical purchase, did Zeus know better? I think the answer is no, because Zeus is his character and there is nothing beyond that. Similarly with YHWH here, there is nothing else (no external standard, contra Leibniz, for example). But this means that our judgments of the Old Testament are without foundation, or just simply anachronistic.
Now I'm thinking the Zeus analogy is misleading, because Zeus never learns. But the point for you, Coral, and others like Ford, is that he realizes he overreacted with the flood. Hmm. A learning God.
ReplyDeleteBut what would make him think that he overreacted?
ReplyDeleteI see God as many others do, omniscient, omnipotent, and, essentially, "perfect." What that word actually means is a whole other debate but, to me, perfection is what separates God from man. The only reason humans could never be on God's level is that we have imperfections, while God does not.
ReplyDeleteYou might say that this 'overreaction' of the flood incident might make God a 'learning God,' or, in other words, imperfect. The reason this can not be is that God does not know what humans will do. The free will that we are given is not interfered with by God. People had a choice of whether they wanted to act good or bad. In God's eyes, Noah was the only one who acted good.That is why his entire family was saved.
God knew what he was doing before he decided the flood will occur. The obvious reason for the flood was to make the world a better place for his creations, both humans and animals, alike.
I am not saying that if I were God at the time I would wipe out the entire world. But that's why I'm not God, right?
I think the God of the Hebrew Bible flies in the face of our more modern conception of God as an omniscient and omnipotent sublime being. The obvious criticism is: if God does not possess absolute knowledge of human choices, how can He be all-knowing? But that's also a pretty sticky theological question. We do have textual evidence, however, of God's imperfections in the Old Testament. In Genesis, after Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge, God enters the garden and calls to Adam, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9). Logically, an omniscient being would not ask such a thing, and simply know where everything is. We a way more problematic example of this in Exodus, when God actually forgets that the Israelites are his chosen people and disregards them for years during their enslavement. I'm sure there are many more verses which reveal the characteristics of God, but suffice to say He is a far cry from a perfection.
DeleteI agree with Coral, in that God gains knowledge from experience, as well. In Deuteronomy 22:25, it states, "if the man meets the engaged woman in the open country, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die...since he found her in the open country, the engaged woman may have cried for help, but there was no one to rescue her." Looking at today's world, whether the woman screamed or not, any crime of rape that is reported is investigated in an attempt to bring the perpetrator to justice. However, in earlier times that was not the case. It did not matter if the woman screamed unless she was heard and, therefore, it was noted as rape. Only if she were to scream in an open area where no one would hear her, would she escape death. God has grown more lenient, in that today’s society has changed. People who are raped are no longer stoned to death, as rape is never the fault of the victim. The perpetrators are always investigated, and many times charged, as long as a report has been filed. I believe this is a change due to God’s experience, as He ultimately rules society.
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