Thursday, November 12, 2009

"Think about it" Thursday

Here's your weekly question, intended to provoke thought and civil discussion. This week's question is aimed more at believers, but anyone can jump in.

Adam and Eve: Literal history or allegory? And what are one or two things we're supposed to learn from the story?

Have fun!


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6 comments:

  1. I think the writers of the bible took it literally, certainly the writers of the New Testament took it literally seeing as Luke chapter 3 has the lineage of Jesus all the way back to Adam.

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  2. I'm sure it was originally intended as literal history, however it has since been proven fictional.

    As for the lessons:

    Lesson 1: Women are secondary to men and should be subservient helpmeets and like it. They're also not to be trusted; they're easily swayed to commit evil, and they cause nothing but trouble for men. Eve is the reason Adam got kicked out of the garden, and why Jesus had to be brutally tortured to death.

    Lesson 2: Knowledge is bad. Knowing right from wrong is bad. God wants you to remain forever in a state of intellectual infancy and dependency—apparently because he's insecure about having followers who think for themselves and know right from wrong like he does. Horrible parenting if you ask me.

    Lesson 3: Thinking for yourself and refusing to obey commandments that you judge to be illogical or harmful (even if they're from God) is a good and necessary thing. Think about it: if Adam and Eve HADN'T broken God's (wise? perfect?) commandment, they would have had no qualms about stealing from and killing and raping anything and anyone they pleased; they wouldn't have known any better.

    Lesson 4: Sometimes it's part of God's divine plan for you to break his commandments. He gave Adam and Eve a commandment that they HAD TO break in order for God's divine plan to work (and then punished them for it to boot). So apparently the will of God is sometimes the opposite of what he says, which leaves any of his commandments open to guessing games.

    Lesson 5: All humans are guilty—in the eyes of a supposedly just, perfect God—for something they didn't do and had absolutely no choice or control about. Not only is this grossly unjust, but it is, in fact, an impossibility: where there is no choice there can be no guilt. This fact was already pointed out when Lucifer was kicked out of heaven.

    Lesson 6: Nudity is a sin, and you should be ashamed of your disgusting body (which God created... in His image no less).

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  3. I've believed Adam and Eve to be allegorical for a long time. I hadn't really thought about it until we studied Genesis in one of my religion classes in college. When I stopped and thought about it, it was very clear to me that it was a figurative story. I still believe that God created the universe, and I'm not sure how the Adam and Eve story fits in there, and where it came from, but I'd love to find out. I find the history behind the Bible much more interesting than the teachings of the Bible.

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  4. It's hard to fully assess the story of Adam and Eve for a couple of reasons:

    1) Parts of the story have been cut out as "apocrypha." In other words: We don't want to try and explain this crazy nonsense, so we're leaving it out.

    2) There are translation issues. My understanding (which could be flawed, as I do not understand and have never attempted to read the bible in it's original language) is that the punishment of Adam and Eve was worded EXACTLY THE SAME WAY, and it was only when it was translated into other languages that Eve was portrayed with a different admonishment.

    Ultimately, it seems silly to view it as anything but a really neat story. The book Ishmael did an excellent portrayal of what Genesis really means (specifically regarding Cain and Abel, if I recall).

    ReplyDelete
  5. In a previous post you averred that atheism was the truth. It would seem that the goal of this blog is that you wish to lend a helping hand to those who wish to escape the lies.

    What, then, may I ask, is the truth about Adam and Eve? Instead of asking the believers their opinions about Adam and Eve should it not be you who offers us, the lost sheep, the truth of its contents? You said the question was intended to provoke thought but you didn't even offer your own thoughts or opinion in the matter. Unless, of course, you still have doubts yourself about the contents of the Bible. But if that is the case then how can you show such confidence in your claims about atheism?

    I agree with XR4. The authors of both the OT and NT believed Adam and Eve to be historical figures. I say this based on the multiple references to Adam as a person who existed, he is referred to on multiple occasions throughout the Bible in a geneological sense. Later chapters in Genesis talk about Cain and Abel as being the children of Adam and Eve. How could they have existed if not for the existence of Adam and Eve? Were Cain and Abel also allegorical?

    One moral from the story: it is an account of original sin. Humans were created in the image of God and intended to be in fellowship with him. However, because we were given the freedom of choice Adam and Eve (both ate the fruit, does it matter which one ate first?) chose to rebel against God thus resulting in us having a sinful nature. We each have the ability to decide to follow or to reject God.

    So, that said, I am now curious what the truth of the matter is. I am not asking for your opinion because if I am to follow your lead into atheism and away from the butcher I will need more than your opinion. Something more along the lines of empirical evidence.

    ReplyDelete
  6. In a previous post you averred that atheism was the truth. It would seem that the goal of this blog is that you wish to lend a helping hand to those who wish to escape the lies.

    What, then, may I ask, is the truth about Adam and Eve? Instead of asking the believers their opinions about Adam and Eve should it not be you who offers us, the lost sheep, the truth of its contents? You said the question was intended to provoke thought but you didn't even offer your own thoughts or opinion in the matter. Unless, of course, you still have doubts yourself about the contents of the Bible. But if that is the case then how can you show such confidence in your claims about atheism?

    I agree with XR4. The authors of both the OT and NT believed Adam and Eve to be historical figures. I say this based on the multiple references to Adam as a person who existed, he is referred to on multiple occasions throughout the Bible in a geneological sense. Later chapters in Genesis talk about Cain and Abel as being the children of Adam and Eve. How could they have existed if not for the existence of Adam and Eve? Were Cain and Abel also allegorical?

    One moral from the story: it is an account of original sin. Humans were created in the image of God and intended to be in fellowship with him. However, because we were given the freedom of choice Adam and Eve (both ate the fruit, does it matter which one ate first?) chose to rebel against God thus resulting in us having a sinful nature. We each have the ability to decide to follow or to reject God.

    So, that said, I am now curious what the truth of the matter is. I am not asking for your opinion because if I am to follow your lead into atheism and away from the butcher I will need more than your opinion. Something more along the lines of empirical evidence.

    ReplyDelete

Religion, skepticism, and carving out a spiritual life post-Mormonism