Hmm just read back through this thread, wow talk about some wonderfully interesting ideas. And very typically whooshite in the civility in which opposing or noncompatable ideas are presented and received. Bravo Peeps.
So I'll throw my own two pence in here. Many ideas of God and creation rest on some very specific prerequisite ideas.
i.e. just two of many of these ideas.
A) that god began, executed and COMPLETED creation as a singular and personal task. (regardless of the specifics of time -7 days or 7 billion years)
or
B) That as part of this singular creation mankind was created in a state of grace or in a better mould and has since fallen or debased itself and therefore their task is to re-attain this perfect state.
Well I've always subscribed to a belief noted by many Progressive Jewish rabbis and scholars, that somewhat addresses both of these ideas.
Namely that God left the work of Creation incomplete and offered humankind a role in helping the continuation (and perhaps the completion) of creation. And that this creation was not just a linear forward thrust of progress but a winding route with peaks and troughs and turnings back upon itself.
And of course, given that creation was not complete and perfect itself, then neither was mankind who is trying to progress along with all the rest of creation.
Anyway, my twopence on the creation and mankind.
Now for the examples about the deity's great gift of Free Will, for which the Adam and Eve story is so often used as illustration. This too is an ongoing gift, for humankind in general and individuals as well.
Perhaps a better example of this free choice, mistake making and learning from those mistakes is far better illustrated by some stories surrounding Abraham.
1) The Akida or the story of the binding of Isaac, is an excellent example of the exercise of free will. Abraham hears a divine voice that first commands him to kill his son, and then commands him not to. He recognises the divine authority of both choices and chooses the ethical path of sparing Isaac. (And he needn't have done so just because the command to spare the boy came after the command to kill him. He could have chosen to ignore the second command as coming from another or false deity, or as a test of his resolve to obey the first command.)
2) However the test of the Isaac story is in fact a resit exam for Abraham who had been in similar divinely commanded circumstances with his firstborn son Ishmael. In this story, although some of the instruction comes from the human agency of Sarah, God instructs Abraham to listen to her instructions.
Abraham is given the choice to deal with Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac and their difficult relationships, or to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael by sending them out into the desert where death was almost a certainty. In this instance with a Divine assurance promised for their well being Abraham actually chooses to do the ethically incorrect thing, shirk his responsibilities and sends Hagar and his own son Ishmael of into the desert.
So Abraham had free will in both cases, and having made a bad choice with Ishamel, he made the right choice with Isaac.
Sorry, hope that wasn't too long winded, I have something of a personal beef with the Akida story.
XV