Well I guess I’ll have to wait patiently till the day that calf will be killed (being vegan will not be an issue at all… you have me to do all the eating on your behalf ☺).
Talking of the killing animals, I’m glad you brought up the issue of forgiveness in Eden because it’s one of the most exciting things I learnt about a few years ago. There was shedding of blood to cover the sins of Adam and Eve in Eden. The garments of skin that God used to clothe Adam and Eve did not cover just their nakedness but their sin as well. From the two by four Agric Science I did in JHS, I’m pretty sure that to obtain the skin of an animal, you first have to kill the animal. Thus, from my understanding, the first person to kill an animal to atone for the sin of a man was God himself. Further more, other stories such as that of Job who made sacrifices to cover the sins of his children (Job 1:5) give credence to the fact that blood was used to atone for sins even before the advent of Israel (Just in case you were wondering, Job’s affliction happened while Abram was still in his father’s house).
Call me outdated and point fingers at me for my reference to ‘secular’ music but your talk of free will brings to mind Mario Vazquez’s ‘Gallery’. Mario is obviously madly in love with the girl he sings about and is convinced that her boyfriend doesn’t see her worth like he does. Like God he makes an appeal to the girl to make a choice to be with him. Why? Well I don’t know about you but I sure wouldn’t want to force someone to love me. Forced love is no love at all and if even I will pass on that, I’m sure God will do so too. When like this lady, we don’t choose the one person who knows our worth, what we receive is a wage; the consequences of our choices (Romans 6:23).
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 6:23
In the case of Mario’s dream girl, staying with her rich boyfriend brought her to a state of confusion. For us, the wages are a tad bit more serious. Not because God is cruel but because we choose to live in His absence. God doesn’t have love. God is love. As such just as darkness is the absence of light, hell is the absence of God (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Well not in the sense that He has no idea what is going on there cause remember that He is omnipresent. But in the sense that the fullness of joy, the glory of God and pleasure forevermore are absent. God respects our decisions alright and gives us what we ask for. A life without the essence of Him. But when we turn to Him, he redeems us (buys us back with Son’s blood since Adam sold our birth right as children of God through disobedience) from the hands of His arch rival. For his anger, I think a quick read of Ezeikel 16: 1–34 will help you understand how God feels.
Just like us, the fact that God can do something, doesn’t mean He must or will do it. I have watched enough TV to know all the curse words that exist. That doesn’t mean that I should paint this post red with all my new found vocabulary. So yes, God is omnipotent and can overturn His word and nature. He has defied laws of nature many times from the stopping of the sun to the splitting of the red sea. That He didn’t say He wouldn’t do. But He did say that He won’t go against His word (Psalm 89:34) so He hasn’t, He isn’t and He won’t revoke His word.
