In your analogy, you are presuming that this locksmith has the ability to lose a key. But if the locksmith lost a key, then she couldn't be said to have every key in the world.
I said nothing about losing a key. The analogy was if a locksmith had a key that could unlock every lock in the world, would he have to unlock every lock, just because he could? If God can know everything there is to know, then he too can choose to know what he wants to know when it suits him.
When you give creatures free will, you cannot take that freedom of choice away from them, even if you know it will be disastrous. In the case of Adam and his wife, God stepped in with a solution straight away. (Genesis 3:15) His purpose in connection with the seed would gradually be understood as more details were revealed with the passage of time.
You stated...."There is no such thing as a rebellious angel appearing anywhere in the entire Hebrew bible."
Then you said...
"The adversary is one of G-d's angels. Notice that G-d issued it an order and it obeyed.
J o b 1:12 Now the Lord said to the Adversary, "Behold, all that he has is in your hands; only upon him do not stretch forth your hand." Now the Adversary left the presence of the Lord."
So there are rebellious angels mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures? Agreed?
Of course God has control of the Adversary's actions but all the same, tragedy of an enormous magnitude was permitted in Job's case....why was this rebel angel permitted to do what he did to Job?.....twice? The man's integrity under the severest test imaginable is testimony enough. God knew Job could pass this test with flying colors or he would not have permitted it.
But in the account Job said to God....
"But a man will die and he is weakened; man perishes and where is he?". . .
"So does a man lie down and not rise; until the heavens are no more, they will not awaken, nor will they be aroused from their sleep.
יבוְאִ֥ישׁ שָׁכַ֗ב וְֽלֹא־יָ֫ק֥וּם עַד־בִּלְתִּ֣י שָׁ֖מַיִם לֹ֣א יָקִ֑יצוּ וְלֹ֥א יֵעֹ֜֗רוּ מִשְּׁנָתָֽם:
13 Would that You hide me in the grave, that You would keep me secret, until Your wrath has subsided; give me a set time and remember me.
יגמִ֚י יִתֵּ֨ן | בִּשְׁא֬וֹל תַּצְפִּנֵ֗נִי תַּ֖סְתִּירֵנִי עַד־שׁ֣וּב אַפֶּ֑ךָ תָּ֚שִֽׁית לִ֖י חֹ֣ק וְתִזְכְּרֵֽנִי:
14 If a man dies, will he live? All the days of my lifespan, I will hope, until the coming of my passing.
ידאִם־יָמ֥וּת גֶּ֗בֶר הֲיִ֫חְיֶ֥ה כָּל־יְמֵ֣י צְבָאִ֣י אֲיַחֵ֑ל עַד־בּ֜וֹ֗א חֲלִיפָתִֽי:
15 Call and I will answer You; You desire the work of Your hands.
תִּקְרָא וְאָֽנֹכִ֣י אֶֽעֱנֶ֑ךָּ לְֽמַֽעֲשֵׂ֖ה יָדֶ֣יךָ תִכְסֹֽף:" (Job 14:12-15)
What is Job asking here? He is unaware of the Adversary's taunts or God's permission of an awful test.
He is asking God to hide him in the grave until his anger has subsided. He obviously thinks that God is punishing him for something he is unaware of. But his belief in the resurrection is clear...there is a set time for God to remember him. He expected God to call him from his sleep and restore his life.
Do you get a different understanding from reading Job?
I disagree with this entire post.
That is your prerogative of course. It is what my study of the Bible has revealed. It all makes sense to me.
I've never thought about the mechanism before. I shouldn't think it would work like how humans travel. Heaven isn't a physical place, so it doesn't seem likely to me that regular human travel is applicable.
In the Hebrew scriptures, angels are said to interact with humans in materialized form (eating and drinking what was offered to them by both Abraham at Mamre, and later by Lot in Sodom (Genesis 18 & 19) so spirit creatures apparently have the ability to materialize and dematerialize at will. The angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel as a man. (Daniel 9:20-22)
After the disobedient angels ("sons (plural) of the true God" who joined the Adversary in rebelling against God) caused trouble in Noah's day (Genesis 6:2) and influenced mankind in the worst way, he took that ability away from the rebels whilst still allowing faithful angels to do their job. Since people could be demon possessed in Bible times, it is obvious that wicked spirits are still with us, causing trouble, but in a more controlled way. It seems as if the spirit realm is not that far away from us. Probably like stepping through a doorway....or having some kind of control over matter....? Its fascinating anyways.
Deeje said:
Man was designed to be led by his Creator and to follow his instructions to the letter, not deviating to the right or the left.
If this is true, then why did G-d give us the Atonement Laws? If we were designed to never make a mistake, how could we ever make a mistake and need atonement?
The law was given long after man's fall in Eden. We were never designed to make mistakes, so when Adam and his wife deliberately broke the only law there was at the time, they set their children up for a life of sin. This then required God to set some rules in place. Humans would have a set of laws that were not negotiable.
Atonement, according to the law, was to offer God's people temporary forgiveness of their sins until the seed of promise came to offer the ultimate sacrifice, cancelling out Adam's debt forever. You know that we believe that the seed was Jesus Christ....?
There is another explanation. You might not be aware that the Hebrew bible is only half of the authoritative Jewish content. The other half is the Talmud. You are correct that the Tanakh is mostly silent on material about the afterlife. The majority of our thought comes from the Talmud, the verbal teachings that the Lord taught Moses. The Talmud never contradicts the written Law, it only expands upon it.
I see.....so the Hebrew Scriptures form only half of what you believe? If God gave Moses the Tanakh, why was there a need to for the Talmud? Weren't God's laws clearly outlined in the Law of Moses? What more did Israel need to know?
If the Tanakh is silent on the afterlife, then perhaps that was because there is no afterlife to speak of? If the Talmud does not contradict the Tanakh then how do you know it doesn't, if the Tanakh does not speak of an afterlife at all?
If, e.g. God told Adam that he would simply return to the dust when he died, if there was an afterlife (heaven or Gehinnom) wouldn't that make God remiss for not warning him of such dire consequences?
Since Adam's sin was responsible for the death of the entire human race, he was surely deserving of the greatest punishment possible...? Yet God told him he would simply go back to where he came from....back to the dust. Would it be unthinkable that God would do the same to any humans who sin deliberately? Where were we before our parents conceived us? We simply did not exist.....the Bible says that the wicked will suffer eternal death as the opposite to eternal life. That makes perfect sense to me. It also makes sense as to why Israel's law included no attempts to contact the dead under penalty of death. (Deuteronomy 18:9-12) If these were really the spirits of our dead loved ones, why would death require that we do not communicate with them? It only makes sense if the spirits are not who they claim to be. It seems as if the spirit realm, like the physical realm, has its share of bad guys.