[Milton-L] Knowledge, free will, etc.

[mgrattan at ucsd.edu]

At the risk perpetuating pointlessness, I have wondered just what was the
point of God offering any kind of punishment for disobedience, and
especially one he knows is foreign to Adam.
           of all the Trees
In Paradise that bear delicious fruit
So various, not to taste that onely Tree
Of knowledge, planted by the Tree of Life,
So neer grows Death to Life, what ere Death is, [ 425 ]
Regardless of the level of God's complicity in letting Satan tempt Adam
and Eve (or more accurately, just Eve), it seems that God mentions the
punishment of death as a necessary element for Adam to choose obedience. I
always thought that the threat of losing Paradise would have been more
persuasive.
To me it raises a sticky issue of motives for obedience: does one obey out
of love and loyalty or out of fear of punishment? A student asked if God
preferred one kind of obedience to the other. I'm not sure.
I have another question regarding freewill.  When God relates to Jesus,
Such I created all th' Ethereal Powers [ 100 ]
And Spirits, both them who stood and them who faild;
Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
Is Jesus included in "Ethereal Powers," and if not, does he have freewill
(or does God)? Obviously he exercises "freewill" when offering to suffer
death for man's salvation, but as a manifestation of God, wouldn't he be
somehow separate from other Ethereal Powers?
Thanks for those who are wiser and more widely read than I for any insight.
Michael Grattan


> Well, if the horse starts out alive and winds up dead, then we've made
> good
> progress.  To pursue the issue further by responding to your question,
> we'd
> just be beating an already dead horse.
>
> I don't see the point.
>
> Jim R
>
> On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 4:04 AM, jonnyangel
> <junkopardner at comcast.net>wrote:
>
>> This list often introduces a horse, and then collectively beats it to
>> death.
>>
>> On this subject, I'm curious as to why no one has brought up Judas in
>> this
>> discussion?
>>
>>
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