Is God Perfect?

[TomOfSweden]

Which of the mainstream Christian faiths continue to hold the Bible as free from fault?

Exactly. Here's more on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_inerrancy

I'd call your attitude very modern.

BTW Christian fundamentalism by definition means they believe in Biblical inerrancy and is a philosophical and logical dead end.

I conclude God was jealous of his divinity and wished to prevent mankind becoming immortal and omniscient.

Anthropomorphism per chance? Aren't you now starting to read in human qualities in God. Why would an omnipotent entity be jealous? Isn't jealousy expression of man's competitive nature? Why would anything omnipotent compete with anybody ever about anything? It'd win every time.

Let's assume God exists. Maybe it's more like this. God speaks the "Truth" to people. But what they hear/understand/interpret is an adapted version to the culture they live in. This is including the authors of the Bible and any other holy text. As human culture evolves and the more we hear the same divine messages we will eventually get it. And now human spiritual evolution is somewhere in the middle. How about that theory? It holds together logically, doesn't it? It doesn't offend anybodies religious sensitivities either, does it?

I personally don't think this is very satisfactory since it doesn't answer the question why God would do it. But then again, neither does inerrant Christianity either. And none of us could even begin to reason about what an omnipotent being would or wouldn't do, so anything could be true.

[ThisYouWillDo]

[QUOTE=TomOfSweden;562764]

Aren't you now starting to read in human qualities in God.

QUOTE]

Very probably I am. But I used the term "jealous" to mean "protective": God wanted to protect his divinity from becoming commonplace by preventing Adam from eating from the Tree of Life. I was not suggesting competition between God and Adam.

I am begining to think of God as a rather insecure divinity who needed to be oppressive to demonstrate his power.

[TomOfSweden]

[QUOTE=ThisYouWillDo;562765]

Aren't you now starting to read in human qualities in God.

QUOTE]

Very probably I am. But I used the term "jealous" to mean "protective": God wanted to protect his divinity from becoming commonplace by preventing Adam from eating from the Tree of Life. I was not suggesting competition between God and Adam.

I am begining to think of God as a rather insecure divinity who needed to be oppressive to demonstrate his power.

Couldn't that simply be down to human interpretation? If we interpret Gods activities and messages as humans we're bound to insert all kinds of unwarranted judgements on why God did what and his motivations. If God lies beyond our scope of good and evil it is very hard for us to make any judgements as to what Gods character is.

[Thorne]

[QUOTE=TomOfSweden;562770]

If God lies beyond our scope of good and evil it is very hard for us to make any judgements as to what Gods character is.

Our concept of good and evil comes from God, does it not? At least in the Western world, those areas once dominated by the Catholic Church, our laws and morals are derived from the Bible. And the Bible is God's word, is it not? So we must conclude that God's character is similar to our own.

Of course, it could be that God is more like American lawmakers, passing down his commandments as they pass down laws, but absolving himself from adhering to those commandments, as our lawmakers will absolve themselves.

More likely, though, is that God evolves over time just as humanity does. As humanity became more "civilized" so did God, or our perception of God. As the Church fragmented and developed into multiple religions, so did God. Now each religion has their own concept of what God is and what he wants us to do. The only thing they are even remotely united in is their fear and hatred of nonbelievers.

[ThisYouWillDo]

[QUOTE=TomOfSweden;562770]

If God lies beyond our scope of good and evil it is very hard for us to make any judgements as to what Gods character is.

But I don't believe he does lie beyond our scope of good and evil: and the passage I quoted form Genesis supports this view because it says that, after they ate the Forbidden Fruit, they knew good and evil.