Hi John,

Well, this has turned into quite an interesting thread.
And to think it's about theological beliefs and no arguing, LOL.
I guess it's my turn to put in my two cents.

A very brief history of the Biblical story...ahem...

In the beginning God made everything and declared it good.
His crowning achievement was mankind. Adam and Eve were created
to love God and vice versa. They were place in a garden that
was a paradice and their job was to work the garden. There were
two trees in the center of the garden. One was the tree of life
which they were free to eat. The other was the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil and the only rule was that they were
not to eat the fruit of that one tree. The penalty of breaking
that lone law was death. Whether or not it was a
literal tree or symbolism has long been debated.

Anyway, as the story goes, the fallen archangel Lucifer, now
called Satan which means adversary approached the woman in the form of a serpent
and tempted
her into eating of the fruit and giving some to Adam (which simply
means "man." in Hebrew) Satan asked if God really said that
they could not eat of the fruit of every tree in the garden. Eve said
that they could eat of all the trees except the one in the center
which was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but she stretched the truth by saying they
could not even touch it. Satan said that they wouldn't die. That God
knew if they ate of it they would be like God and know good and evil.

After eating the fruit they knew they had sinned and hid themselves
from God as they now realized they were naked. God asked "Who told
you that you were naked?" Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed Satan. God
kicked them out of the garden. God said "Ge 3:22 And the LORD God said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now,
lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Ge 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground
from whence he was taken.

Interestinly the word "us" is used by God. It is plural in the Hebrew text
which is merely one of the passages from which the "trinity" comes from
but that is another story.

The rest of the Old Testament is the story of God's relationship with the
Hebrew people who came from the lineage of Abraham who pleased God due to
his "FAITH" Part of the story of Abraham is when he was tested by God to
sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham went through with the sacrifice till God
stopped him before he could sacrifice Issac because Abraham had been faithful
and trusted God by faith as I mentioned before. God provided a lamb without
blemish to take Isaac's place. God blessed Abraham and his decendants and from
them would come the messiah or the one who would deliver the Jewish (HEbrew)
people centuries later in the form of Jesus Christ which means messiah.

God set up religious observances that the Jews had to follow to atone for their
sins including The ten commandments and animal sacrifices which had no blemish.
Jesus would later fulfill the "LAW" through His becoming a living sacrifice without
blemish. He is the only man who ever lived without sin and through his death and resurection He would take the sin of the world and conquer death. Jesus was called the Lamb of God for that reason. He was God in the flesh or at least
all of God that could be contained in a finite human being.

Jesus' birth, death and resurrection were foretold in hundreds of prophesies in the
Old testament in shockingly detailed form (a bit much to be mere coincidence). In his
death (sacrifice) as God's only begotten son he took on the sins of the world and became
sin itself as a substitute for all mankind. He conquered death through his resurrection
so that those who accept his atonement by faith will have everlasting life. Those who
don't are still condemned through the LAW for their sins and will suffer everlasting
punishment.

This is of course is a very incomplete synopsis of the Biblical story but now we come to the
concept of hell. I'll leave it off here and continue in another post.




I'm the only person here who is not unique.