I most certainly did not.
I realize that according to the primitive ethics of the Bible's authors punishing large groups, like families or cities, for displeasing a king was accepted morality. Fortunately, we have moved beyond the primitive morality of their day even if Scripture hasn't.
I honestly believe that the primary reason for Creationism, the ability to disregard the mountains of evidence for evolution, is for this reason. The evidence demonstrates clearly that we were made just as we are, and continue to be born so. The unfortunate results of human nature aren't because some ancient people chose it somehow. It's because we are shaped that way, whether by Jehovah or evolution.
Tom
From your perspective, (going by your own description of your position, religiously speaking,) I can understand where you are coming from.
On closer investigation, I found that the "mountains of evidence" for macro-evolution (as opposed to the provable and relatively minor changes of "adaptation") turned out to be merely 'molehills of suggestion and supposition'. There is actually no solid provable evidence for macro-evolution....but there is solid proof for adaptation which only produces variety within a taxonomic family of creatures. Never has science produced real evidence for the macro changes or mutations that are supposed to be the foundation of their theory. This is the only real fact in evolution.
When I was searching for my answers, I looked a little deeper.
Science knows that DNA is basically the "building code" for all living things. Every cell in our body is designed to know what to become....a heart...a liver...a brain...a kidney....or whatever. A building code cannot be an accident. It is based on complex information and complex information cannot materialise out of nowhere. It has to have an Intelligent source.
Science also knows that the process of cell renewal in our bodies should theoretically continue indefinitely......but at some point, it slows down and begins to go backwards. That means that we reach physical maturity and then like a clock, it slows down and begins to wind down until it stops. The strange thing is, as we get older physically, our minds do not age along with it. Young minds then get trapped in old bodies. When you are young, you never believe that you will get old.....but we cannot stop or reverse the process....humans have been trying to do that for thousands of years.
As a Bible student, I have searched for the answers that science cannot provide. The most important questions can never be answered by science because it has eliminated the first cause of life, preferring to shove that inconvenient truth aside to focus on change rather than origin. To my way of thinking, if you can't show how life began, then what does it matter how it supposedly changed....and mostly by assumption and guesswork anyway.
The Bible's explanation satisfies all the hard questions for me.
God created everything to his own satisfaction and then sat back to see how his intelligent creation would respond to his generosity and care. In giving them free will, nothing was certain, so he allowed enough time for all eventualities to surface and be dealt with before continuing on with his plans.
Abuse of free will was the first sign that lessons needed to be learned.....and what better way to teach than by experience?
Humans stepped out from behind Jehovah's protective care to make their own decisions without him. He did not abandon them, but allowed them to 'reap what they had sown' whilst providing his guidance and giving humans a written record of his dealings with the only nation to whom he gave his laws.
In Eden, God's first response was to take away their only source of everlasting life. They had merited the death penalty and it was not stated how that penalty would be implemented. Something happened to their DNA, so that whatever defect was now active in their bodies as a result of the penalty, would be passed onto their children, who would also learn from their parents. For our benefit, no sinful human would be permitted to live forever. The whole human race needed to learn this lesson....."obey God and reap blessings or disobey him and reap hardship and suffering". it could not have been taught collectively any other way.
Every human suffering on this planet is caused by some human abusing their free will in some way. There are perps and victims in this scenario.....but regardless of the situation, we have to learn what it means to obey the directives of the Creator who knows better than we do, what is best for us. Words are apparently, not enough as was demonstrated in Eden....it was also demonstrated all through the Bible. God's words were backed up by actions, so that his people were left in no doubt that they needed to obey him to receive his blessings. He showed them that meriting his displeasure would not result in happiness or freedom. At times this involved 'community responsibility' because unless the whole community was affected, there was no real impetus for changes collectively in behavior.
Whether we believe that God's ways are just or not, matters little, as his ways reflect was is for the common good, not just for the individual. Precedents are being set for all eternity to come.....rebellion can never surface again because all the lessons are now set in law forever.
That is how I see things....
Jehovah is my Sovereign Ruler and my God....
Who am I as a mere mortal to challenge my Maker and treat him and his ways with disrespect? What do I know, and what do my personal opinions matter to him? Why would I think that God should fit into my 'box', when all he ever asked us to do was to fit into his? Nothing he has ever asked was too hard. I believe that the rewards for doing what God asks of us will be well worth the effort.
