ADAM, EVE & THE BAD APPLE
This story has often baffled me. Whether it is literal or metaphorical, there are obviously some things it wants to point us to. These may be silly questions but I think in some ways it could be seen as pointing towards negative character of God.
I wonder why knowledge of good and evil is a bad thing at all, is it not a good thing to be able to determine right from wrong?
Why is innocence of good and bad considered perfection?
Could it be that the whole bible story starts with the maligning our brain?
Also, -and now we are getting into a whole realm of debate on free will and predestination- why is this thing put there in the first place? Now I know that there is the pride aspect in there with the serpent telling the couple they could ‘become like god’
But, is wanting to become like God a bad thing?
I do not see how choosing knowledge is a sin; it is not in hatred but curiosity that separated us from God, and that doesn’t sit well with me.
I wonder how it points toward the negative character of God?
I think it's important to interpret the story within its cultural and historical context. In that sense, what was the writer (or writers, if we accept that that the story of the first humans shows layers of editing) trying to say?
Wataki wrote an interesting post about predeterminism a couple of years ago.
Posted by
Dayle |
1/20/2006 08:15:00 pm
Doug,
I know that the disobedience of God is what seperated manking from him. But the process still seems strange to me. "Dont eat that chocolate cake, becuse it said so" Its a little weak and as i questioned before, could be seen as pointing to a strange aspect of God.
I was also thinking along the same thing as you, If they knew not to eat from the tree, then they all ready knew what was right from wrong and they had knowledge of good and evil, and so the whole thing falls back on itself. But maybe we are being pedantic about these things...
Dayle,
I guess a bit problem is that it was so long ago that its hard to get anykind of historical context. I dont really know much about the context when Genisis was written. I have no idea about how many authors also. Its in the first five books of the law so its certainly been around for a while.
Int the most basic form i guess the author is trying to say that creation was seperated by God becuse of a choice. But that still doesn't take away from the fact that how mankind was seperated from God seems kinda lame.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that after they ate they realised they were naked...
Posted by
Chris |
1/21/2006 10:20:00 am
Dougie,
You ask if it is not a good thing to be able to determine right from wrong. Could you define what you mean by "right" and "wrong"?
While I respect your beliefs about Jesus being innocent of sin, it is important to realise that his life is represented in the Gospels, which were written after his life by people who deeply admired him. It is human tendancy to elevate a person's status after their death. The longer the distance between the event and our recollection of it, the more the narrative of the event becomes romanticised. (One current example of this is in Aikido; the founder died about forty years ago and some members of the aiki community are beginning to portray him as an altruist who had supernatural powers.)
I wonder if curiosity and disobedience for you are the same?
Posted by
Dayle |
1/21/2006 01:50:00 pm