TRIGGER WARNING:
If you are highly religious, especially from a Christian faith, and have a fragile foundation that should not be challenged or questioned… do NOT read any further. This may fuck with you a bit! Warning complete…
If you are a parent, or have been around young children, this will probably make sense. Of course, that’s not to say someone without children won’t understand… it just made more sense to me as a father.
As my kids were very small, there were things they just didn’t understand. They did not have a lot of knowledge and understanding. Things were simple for them. As a parent, we would tell them to not do something, but often times they would be enticed to explore the very things we would instruct them not to do. Human nature and all.
Often, if we instructed them to not do something, it was for their own good. In some cases, it could harm them permanently. Thankfully, we never had to deal with such things, but they would still explore things they were told not to. At that age, they just did not have the capacity to really know any better.
Now let’s say that when they were kids, I gave them an ultimatum. Don’t go into Mom’s purse because there are things in there you should not be seeing. If you do, I will cut off your legs and you will never be able to walk… ever! Yeah… sounds a bit ridiculous, right? I mean, how in the world could I punish them so severely for not obeying me when their minds were still fairly… “simple?” If I did make such an ultimatum and held to it, everyone around me would cry “abuse,” right? (hell, they better!)
At this point, they are older and have a better capacity to understand things, but even still such a punishment would seem a bit… extreme?
Now… the two trees…
Biblically speaking, there is a story right in the beginning about man and woman and two trees that were forbidden.
God made man and woman, put them in Eden and told them to enjoy anything they want… except don’t eat from these 2 special trees (Life and Knowledge.) The story goes on to tell us that they did eat from the tree of Knowledge, and then were handed down the penalty… You’re gonna die, sucker! Oh, not just you… you and all of your offspring…
Ouch! a bit harsh maybe?
As we learn after the fact, when they ate the fruit, their “eyes were open”… so much to the fact that they realized for the first time that they were naked. HUH? At that most basic level, it wasn’t until AFTER they ate the fruit that they understood that they were naked? Sounds to me like they had a very limited capacity to make a decision… their minds were a bit… “simple.”
Yet we are taught that the punishment of the decision of the simple minded was death, and not just for themselves, but for every descendant they will ever have. Holy shit!
Yeah… that kinda really throws me off a bit. Can you say that they really “knew better?” For crying out loud, they didn’t even have the capacity to know that they were naked when they took action.
If my first scenario of the ultimatum with my young children that a life long penalty would be handed down if they disobeyed sounds absolutely ridiculous, why then does this story not make us cry foul as well? Why is it that we allow such incredible stories to dictate our lives in so many ways, only because we attach religion or God to them?
These are questions that I have running around my head…
Before you go ranting here…
Yeah, I know there may be a certain group of people that will want to say I am going to a special place in hell for even saying this… but I did warn you not to read all of this! The trigger warning was specifically for you.
If you have trouble even asking simple questions of your own faith, do you really even have faith? I have never been afraid to ask questions or to be challenged in my own faith as I would certainly know how strong my faith is.
These are but my own thoughts, and comments are welcome, but…
Remember, I have a right to my own thoughts and questions, and I did offer a warning before reading this. And I am not telling you what you should believe!!!
I do expect you to be respectful with comments. If you have a point to make, making it respectfully may go a long way to actually making your point! Be disrespectful with your comments and I may well delete your comment, you know… my writing and all.
So with that in mind, I am fine with respectful comments and even opinions from the other side of the fence. Just be forewarned, if you want to debate… again, I may challenge you in ways you will not like.
No responses yet