Hi Barbarian,
I apologize for the rather extended pause, after you answered my question. I got real busy. And I can't guarantee I'm done being busy, but I sure hate to have left you hanging so long.
Sure.
God made all things, including all living things.
He made man's body naturally, as He made the bodies of all living things.
I need some help with definitions here. What do you mean by "naturally"?
But He directly gives each of us a living soul that makes all the difference.
All the difference between what and what? Between life and death, or between animal and human?
Humans were once innocent and did not know about good or evil.
How many humans? More than 2?
But the first two people who had living souls, defied God, and while gaining that knowledge and becoming like God, we were unable to be with God, because we unable to be fully good.
I'm a bit confused here. This sounds like you think there were people before Adam and Eve, but they didn't have "living souls". Am I understanding you correctly? And are these "people" humans or not humans?
Humans are thereby forced to work the land for our food, and human females have considerable pain in childbirth. Both consequences of becoming aware and like God.
God has pain in childbirth?
But we were left with the promise of a Redeemer.
Anything about how that would come about?
That's the message He intended for us. What the "days" were intended to represent, or the physical details of how Eve came to be, are not what He wants us to know.
So "pain" is literal, but "days" with evening and morning are subjective?
It doesn't bother me, since we seem to be pretty close on the things that matter. If you or I don't get the other stuff exactly right, it really doesn't matter to our salvation.
Who gets to draw the line? What if we are wrong on what effects our salvation? What if salvation requires believing what God tells us?
At some points in this conversation, I think we are "pretty close on things that matter" and at other times far away. If the original sin was that Adam and Eve didn't listen to God to obey Him, and if Jesus Christ showed perfect obedience by putting aside what He wanted in favor of what God wanted Him to do, it seems like salvation is EXACTLY about hearing what God says to us and believing it. And if we decide that we can make God's words say something besides what He was intending to say, we aren't really believing God, are we?
At this point, then, I hope we are in agreement--that believing what God says is a monumental part of salvation. And then we are left to decipher what God actually has said to us. I think you agree here, because you have stated that you believe the creation story as written, and even though you came to a different conclusion about what "as written" means, you still seem to hold the first few chapters of Genesis to be words God wrote to us with some intention of passing usable information to us (communicating, in other words).
God created life on Earth, by natural means, using pre-existing creation. Plants and animals. He created the other kingdoms as well, but of course no one at the time knew about them.
There's that "natural" word again. You do realize it's a tautology, right? God created nature, and therefore whatever happens in nature is "natural". But whatever God has a hand in that is not just left to nature to carry on as it was originally created would be "supernatural". So not only do you appeal to a tautology, you then contradict yourself by claiming God did something by not doing anything--"God created...by natural means". You seem conflicted.
And the "days" were about categories of creation, not literal days.
I'll need more detail here. And I would appreciate some references to back up your statement. Where does the bible explain that the days are not literal, but categorical? Where are you getting your information for such assertions?
Here's a question that might mean something.
As opposed to
my questions, I suppose.
The Apostle's Creed is the statement of faith formulated by early Christians to identify what a real Christian was, in contrast to the gnostics and many other groups also claiming to follow Jesus.
And yet, it has nothing about the fall,and nothing about why Jesus came to die for us. Keep in mind, this was first formulated during the persecutions.
What does that have to do with the message in the creation story? I'd like to hear your ideas before I offer mine.
I have a few bones to pick with your question, and the intro to it. The Apostle's Creed is
A statement of faith formulated by early Christians, not
THE statement of faith. Paul's was even shorter and considerably earlier:
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: [1Co 15:3-4 KJV]
It doesn't talk about a lot of things the Apostle's creed talks about. Does that make the Apostle's Creed inaccurate or not important? It might by your logic. But the focus was on different things, as you said--to combat gnostic teachings and other heresies.
In fact, this is what creeds are usually for--tom combat particular problems of the time period they are developed in. You seem to be arguing for a new creed to combat YE creationism.
What would your creed say?
it has nothing about the fall,and nothing about why Jesus came to die for us...
What does that have to do with the message in the creation story?
How much material do you need to consider to be more than "nothing"? The first thing we say we believe (from the creed) is that the Father is "Maker of heaven and earth"--that's the foundational principal in the creation story, and possibly in the whole entire bible: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth". Since the creed is short, it doesn't have much real estate to go into great detail about each thing, but surely even you must admit that the header to the creation story is quoted almost verbatim in the Apostles' Creed.
Nothing to do with the fall? nothing about why Jesus came to die for us? I beg to differ. Do these phrases mean nothing to you:
"I believe in ...
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting."
Why do you point out that it was formulated during "the" persecutions? Perhaps you will answer this in your idea offerings. The church is still under intense persecution in many areas. Does that help or hurt the formulation of accurate creeds?