"Yeeeya, ye shall be as gods"What did the serpent mean when he said, "ye shall be as gods"?
Taylor
The fundamental underlying error of nearly every false doctrine in Christianity as well as nearly every cult that passes itself off as Christian is to lower God to less than He is and to elevate and flatter man to much more than we are. As soon as this error is allowed to perpetrate, it invariably steamrolls and leads to things way outside the lines.
Whitley
Exactly! They believe Satan's lie: Ye shall be as gods, knowing good from evil.
Smith
We are nothing without Him.
Marks
"For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." Gal6:3
Polyak
Um, Satan's lie was "Ye shall not surely die." Knowing good from evil IS a godly quality.
Whitley
Mirko - Um, I quoted Genesis 3:5. They were in a state of innocency until they fell, but God said in verse 22: "the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil." That happened *after* the fall, when man believed Satan, the father of lies, and disobeyed God. He deceived them and directly.
Sing F Lau
Satan's lie was, "Ye shall be as God"!
"Knowing good and evil" in its context is to be AUTONOMOUS - behaving as gods, be the determiner of what is good and evil! God is the SOLE determiner of what is good and evil.
Let's get the sense, not just the sound!
God's word to Adam was literally, "dying thou shalt die."
Satan's word to Adamah was literally, "dying thou shalt not die."
Satan did not contradict God's word in a open and blatant way. Satan is never that stupid. He just twists it a bit. Gen 3:1 declares him to be more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. Satan subtly minimizes the enormity of the death spoken of. You will die, but it is not as bad as you has been frightened. So, be your own boss - you be the boss who determines what is good and what is evil. Be God yourself!
Polyak
So, Sharon, if I understand you correctly, you're saying that when God said "the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil" He was telling the truth, but when Satan said the same thing, he was lying.
I'm afaid I don't get it. But... don't worry; I will prayerfully study the matter and figure it out without any further assistance I'm sure.
Whitley
John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because *there is no truth in him*. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from hi...s own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Whitley
@Sing - Satan most certainly did openly and blatantly contradict God. He IS that stupid! Yes, he's subtle and twists too, as when he was trying to tempt Christ to sin, but in this case he just openly contradicted God.
Genesis 2:17, God said:" ... in the day you eat of it you shall surely die." This was repeated by Eve in Genesis 3:3
Genesis 3:4, Satan said: "... You shall not surely die."
God: "You will die" vs. Satan: "You shall not surely die."
That couldn't be more of a direct contradiction. Man died spiritually, and because of that, eventually physically, because he believed Satan and not God. Satan is the father of lies.
Sing F Lau
@Sharon - God said, "Dying, THOU shalt die" - that's the force of the Hebrew - death in its fullest form : death of fellowship between Adam and adamah, death of fellowship between man and God, death of separation between body and spirit, deat...h of separation between man and God, etc.
Satan said, "Dying, YE shalt not die" - that's the sense of the Hebrew... Satan denied the severity of the death threatened against sin. "It is not so serious... fear not, do your pleasure!" that's the same subtle seduction of Satan to this day!
Satan is more subtle than you think! One who thinks Satan is stupid is the real STUPID one... and you have shown yourself one! Didn't God Himself declare, "now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made."
When you can distinguish the second person singular "thou" and second person plural "ye", I will continue. Please remember that 'thee, thou and thine' are not just old fashioned English. It is precise English.
I know FB is not a church, but the truth of this passage still apply: "And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church."
Polyak
Whitley said "Exactly! They believe Satan's lie: Ye shall be as gods, knowing good from evil."
Then Whitley said ". . . but God said in verse 22: "the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil."
How can it be a lie if God said the same thing?
Let me repeat that.
How can it be a lie if God said the same thing?
None of us is denying that Satan is the Father of Lies. Sometimes bold, sometimes subtle. BUT IN THIS CASE, Lucifer said the same thing that God said. Satan said it would happen, and God confirmed that it did. And any time that anyone (including Lucifer) says the same thing God says, it must be true.
I hope it doesn't seem like I'm yelling. I'm sincerely just trying to understand. If my comments are causing contention, I am sorry and I will stop.
Sing F Lau
Mirko, you argument is air-tight.
The question then is: what does 'ye shall be as gods' mean?
Please give us your thought. Thanks.
What does God mean by "the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil"?
Sing F Lau
The context is: God sovereignly determines what man can and cannot do... God determines what is good and evil. Satan endeavors to make it all sound very arbitrary and despotic. Basically, Satan is trying to stir up resentment in the woman, "How could you let God boss over you like this. The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is perfectly harmless, and good for food...."
Eat it any way... be your own boss. Determine what is good and evil yourself... show that you are gods! And the chief characteristic of fallen man is autonomy!
