The Bible-Garden of Eden

[Eli]

So why did Adam choose not to follow God’s “aitzah tova,” Her good advice?

Her?

[Last Conformist]

I find refering to God as "she" grammatically offensive.

[DRoseDARs]

I find your taking offense of Eli's refering to God as "she" sexist.

And I find your failure to capitalize "She" equally inappropriate.

[Last Conformist]

I find it equally offensive to refer to Swedish människa "human being" with a masculine pronoun. Do you find this equally sexist?

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat

That's the "become one of us" bit, no?

No. The clause is "the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil". Knowing good and evil doesnt make us gods it means we have that one capacity that god has (as compared to animals for example).

[Barinthus]

LoTM - thanks for that post, it was a good read

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
I find it equally offensive to refer to Swedish m�nniska "human being" with a masculine pronoun. Do you find this equally sexist?

No, because the Swedish language is just an unrefined bastard cousin to the language of the Elves: Finnish. And like its linguistic cousin, it is irrelevent.

[Winston]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
irrelevent.

Saves us the trouble.

[DRoseDARs]

I never understood peoples' obsession with God having a specific gender. "He" needs to have a penis like He needs to have a starship...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by The diplomat
The loincloth cannot refer to sex because God specifically instructs Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiplify". In other words, God told Adam and Eve to have a lot of sex.

Remember, God is not against sex. He is only against sexual activity outside of the boundaries of marriage, but inside the boundaries of marriage, God actually encourages sex.

Adam and Eve were married?

If anything, given the rib business, they were blood relations.

I suddenly have a much clearer sense of why the Bible Belt is the way it is...

[Straybow]

There are at least three different kinds of "know" that could be at work. First is simple erudition, in which "good" and "evil" (or "bad") are abstract concepts. Second is experience, in which "good" and "evil" are sampled and compared. Third is establishment, in which "good" and "evil" are decided according one's own criteria, which may differ from another's criteria (God, for example).

Adam started at the first level, moved to the second level by tasting the fruit, and then defended himself by shifting blame. That was the third level.

God didn't want Adam and Eve to experience sin, but to live in trusting obedience. That childlike innocence was to give way to mature obedience as they learned and grew in fellowship with God. The implied promise that the tree of life would make them "as one of us" is delayed rather than entirely removed. It is the new birth promised by Christ.

[Robert]

The tree of knowledge of good and evil represents more then just -knowing- the concept of good and evil.
The word 'to know' (yada`) means "take possession" as well. Take authority over good and evil. Understand and use the concept. Decide over good and evil.

And that's what makes us gods.
Before the 'fall' God was the one who decided over good and evil. Men was here to serve God.
The concept of the fall in Genesis 3 is that man said: "I can decide myself what is good and what is evil, I can be god."

The problem is, according to the bible (and I'm sure according to our daily experience as well) is that man is not very good at making a good decision over good and evil. We want to do good, but we don't even agree with each other about what is good and what is evil.
We do agree that murder is evil. But we disagree if the dead penalty is evil or good.

We do agree that evil dictators are evil, but we disagree about possible solutions. Should we talk with them forever or should we remove them by force.

The result is that we're all little gods on this earth, hurting ourselves, others and God. We want to do good but we're not able to be perfect and make this world sometimes a hell to live in.

Of course on a large scale, wars, genocide, murdering. But on a small scale as well, insulting people, ignoring people, etc.

That's the story told by genesis. We're wannabe gods.
And that's why God removes us from eden. To prevent us wannabe gods to eat from the tree of life and live forever, incompentent as we are.

If there was an Adam or an eve. If there was a tree and a snake, if it happened 6000 or 6000000000 years ago.... it all isn't important at all. The concept is the message of the story in Genesis. And I think it's a very good concept that does reflect even our current situation in 2005.

[Berzerker]

The Sumerian "sar" or "divine year" lasted 3,600 years and may be the distant basis for the biblical claim that a year to God is like a 1,000 years to man. Its curious how this word carried on thru the ages representing kingship as a divine mandate, Czar, Caesar...

And that's why God removes us from eden. To prevent us wannabe gods to eat from the tree of life and live forever, incompentent as we are.

We didn't let the Serpent wander around the Garden making a mess of things

[Robert]

Originally posted by Berzerker
We didn't let the Serpent wander around the Garden making a mess of things

It wouldn't have been a mess if we wouldn't have had responded to the serpent :P

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Berzerker
The Sumerian "sar" or "divine year" lasted 3,600 years and may be the distant basis for the biblical claim that a year to God is like a 1,000 years to man. Its curious how this word carried on thru the ages representing kingship as a divine mandate, Czar, Caesar...

Is there any real evidence of this, apart from the theories of Zecheria Sitchins?