I Started a Fight (con't.)
Friday, April 3, 2009 at 1:17PM 
Episode 3: Things Get Twisted
(You may want to read Episode 1 and Episode 2 first.)
Yes, I know. Cliffhangers aren’t fun, but they are good for us. Waiting produce endurance, and endurance produces character. Buck up, dear reader; this is good for the constitution.
Now where were we? Ah yes. I was sitting in a Bible study and had just responded to the question, “Why would God have put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden?” I replied, if you remember, that God planned from the beginning for humankind to fall, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was put in place as one of the means of the fall.
There was gasping, I think, and the teacher responded to me. His words, I remember perfectly. “That,” he said, “is twisted theology.”
(If you are reading with a feed reader, now’s when you click through to read the rest.)
Perhaps I should have shut up at that point, but I plowed on. “Christ was ordained to be the Redeemer before the foundation of the world,” I responded. “Doesn’t that mean that God planned for humankind to sin?”
The response from the teacher was that perhaps Christ was ordained to the role of redeemer as plan B in case human beings sinned. Almost immediately, he backed away from the term “plan B” but didn’t explain how, in his scheme of things, the whole plan of redemption isn’t a contingency plan.
This is where I shut up. It wasn’t my place to hijack things, was it?
The teacher went on to give his answer to the problem of that forbidden tree. The tree was put in the garden, he thought, because God wanted human beings to have free will, and without a command to break, there would be no free will. That means, I guess, that God’s ultimate goal in placing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden was human freedom.
That was the end of things, or so I thought. Until the next morning when my sister got the phone call.
Come back on Monday to read the rest more of my story.
Update: Story continues here.
Reader Comments (18)
You really know how to spin that yarn, Rebecca!
I can't wait until Monday. . .
You really ought to write a novel. It would be one I couldn't put down.
Monday......
So far away!!!!!
Ruby
Love it!
This certainly has me coming back for more! I'm learning patience in the process.
Joyce
Plan B. Hmm... hows that twisted theology working out again?
Oh Rebecca! :)
I never knew you were such a trouble-maker, Rebecca! ; - )
You are scary! I seem to put God's planning on humans sinning into the same catagory as Him knowing we would. God's foreknowledge always messes up a few people that think they have figured things out on their own. Thanks for the ongoing story.
I like your response in class. However, this suspense is too much! Monday???? That's three days away!
These cliffhangers are evil.
Been there and done that Rebecca! I am a "yeah, but ..." person. I really would have been unable to be quiet when he said "The tree was put in the garden, he thought, because ...' HE THOUGHT ... wow, that's a problem ... should have been, "Scripture says ..." This is part of the reason I ran from the "free will" - it was too much me and not God. I'm loving this except for having to wait till Monday! I set my alarm just to get up and see if you wrote anything yet!!! You are really enjoying this! ... Yeah, but so are WE!!!!!
So the world is about OUR FREEDOM and that is supposed to comfort us more than God being in control of and planning all things? Hmmm. Can't wait to read your response. It's Monday here tomorrow...you could post on Monday Aussie time...? ;)
I'm very conscious as I write this story that people who were there might read this and I want to represent everyone absolutely fairly.... and with gentleness and kindness.
The comments so far are good and I know, since my readers are wonderful, that they'll stay that way.
Hello MissM,
You were responding just as I was...and I don't want you to think that my remark was directed to you....
or anyone else, for that matter.
that is supposed to comfort
I was just thinking about this recently, because, yes, that is part of the defense (perhaps that biggest part of the defense) that people give for open theism, and I think I detect a little bit of an open theism influence... That they couldn't trust a God who would knowingly allow their loved one to suffer—or a God who would bring a loved one into suffering circumstances. So they believe that God doesn't control these things, because they couldn't trust a God who did.
Ironically, the same case can be made for my side of the argument—the opposite one, the side that says that God is in control of absolutely everything. If God is in control of absolutely everything, my loved ones suffering has purpose, because ultimately, that suffering came from God, who doeth all things well.
But the deciding factor has to be scripture....not which scenario inspires our trust. Because our subjective judgment in these things is suspect, but scripture is not.
Hey, Rebecca. . .it's Monday.
I'm ready to read the next part. . .I promise not to get rowdy but, c'mon; the suspense is killing me. . .
I been busy filling holes and sanding drywall and preparing to paint my kitchen. I'm not sure I'll have that up until this evening. And yes, I know I'm driving everyone crazy.