aspergers + God negative? ORIGINAL SIN

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Isn't that what's so wild about WP? You post something, and people take your meaning ten different ways from the way you thought it up?

Seriously folks...

This is just such a BIG question. I find when discussing the Genesis story that it's very hard to get past the argument of "Do we take this literally or figuratively?"

Because, if we take it figuratively--and I don't think Aspies do this as much--then the original Sin has nothing to do with an APPLE.

It has to do with the fact that man--or woman, really--made the choice that put him into the knowledge of the state of DUALITY. Life/death, love/hate, etc. Before this, there was no duality. Only unity in God.

The guy that you quoted in the beginnging, what he said about AS being punishment for sin:

Well, if you think about it symbolically, IT SURE IS. See, at some point, our soul or spirit willingly dove into this universe of duality from unity with God. And our particular punishment? We have a disorder that makes it very difficult to function in certain ways. We have a particular concentration of the down side of the duality of health/sickness--if we choose to look at it that way, that is.

But that doesn't mean we're being punished SPECIFICALLY. Everyone who isn't a saint is going through some punishment as they try to regain that unity with God. Think about it: ever met an NT who told you, "Yeah, my life is fantastic ... no problems at all. Never have been." Never, right?

So ... Repent all ye sinners and stop being so darned Asperger-ish!

Druid, I view the story of the fall in much the same way as you.
But I don't see Aspergers as being any particular punishment.
In some ways it seems to be a blessing, and I know there are a lot of people who disagree with that idea.

But if we look at the sermon on the mount I think we can find some aspie characteristics in there.

Of course who's to say that punishment and blessing aren't essentially the same thing.

It never fails. One can never bring up anything remotely connected to Christian theology without someone turning religion into a straw man. This thread is no exception.

Personally, I do not see AS as a "defect" or deficiency at all. Every person on this planet has particular strengths and weaknesses. People are born/made different because no single type of person is bested suited to deal with all tasks. If you want to know why God made you an Aspie and what to do about it, find what you do best at, and what brings you the most personal happiness.

And what do I think about Genesis? It's a very powerful story, and conveys a timeless universal truth about human nature. It is by no means a story about the origin of life, but rather, our relationship with God. Our "fall" and "death" is a SPIRITUAL one. It is not physical. If it were, then Jesus' sacrifice would prevent us from dying physical deaths today, and it obviously does not. Therefore, it is safe to see disease and death as entropic forces of nature (i.e. God) that are actually "good" for bringing about the necessary cycles of life. As physical death and ailments have surely existed since the beginning of life, our time in "Eden" must have been our (personal) union with God prior to existence.

It is interesting to note that in ancient times, people used to say, "What we do to make the Gods angry at us?" Now, we live in an age of irony in which people as "Why did God allow this to happen?", as if we are the center of the universe, and would know better. Job questioned God, and so did Jesus. Neither got a straight answer, and both found peace in resignation.

Hm, that's kind of what I meant when I said:



But whatever. Any supposed debility or sickness can be looked at as a blessing. Christopher Reeves said that falling off the horse and breaking his kneck was the best thing that ever happened to him, because it made him see how much he had.

Sorry, I guess I worded that poorly.
I'm actually surprised how closely your ideas resemble my own.

Tha's cool...

You know what they say about great minds thinking alike.

I believe God created us with AS for a reason. Come on, count how many geniuses were mentally tortured. Almost all of them. God created us for a reason. We are loved by Him, even though you may not know and love Him yet. There's something so special, we are prized by him. AS is our gift, not our curse.

I was bought up in a hard line, fundamentalist "take the bible literally" home, so often, when I meet other Christians, I automatically (and wrongly) assume they hold the same beliefs. That said, for this thread, I was hoping that people would just take the creation story literally "for the sake of arguement", as in - hypothetically speaking, if genesis is the literal truth, would we be NTs if Adam and Eve hadn't sinned?

Anyone who is an Aspie and a Christian may find the following quote meaningful. I'ts one of my favorite passages from the Bible. It's John 15:18-20:

I once heard of a Christian parent of a low-functioning autistic child drawing the analogy that how the regular world sees an autistic who lives in his own world with almost no ability to interact with the outside is just how God must view all us humans (in our natural state), living in sin and unable to follow a handful of simple commandments. Perhaps that has little relevance to Asperger's but I found it fascinating nonetheless.

i hate religion for this reason because religon complcates things why cant we live in happiness with out a god and AS is genitic any way and had been proven how ever i dont want a stupid scientist it a labrotory to find my cure because i am what i am, and if any one has a problem then to hell with them. (sorry if spelling mistacks my spelling sucks i know)

No kidding. Representatives are going to be treated like He who they represent.

Maybe god knows there need to be diversity in minds, that is so we can end up with people like Einstien.

Who is god? Do you mean God?

From what I learnt is that it is an old idea that if you know gods names then you can control them, andsupposidly god does not give people his own name. As far as I know that is not his name, in fact it is not a name, maybe it is a nickname, God, but I will not call someone a nickname without ther permision. I rather use it the same way we use the word human, or dog.

The world is in a fallen state, which is why there is exists all manner of suffering and injustice. After Adam & Eve were kicked out of the garden, the world suddenly became a whole lot crappier. Things no longer rocked but in fact sucked. That's the best explanation I've heard so far.