What can we gather from Genesis?

[marco]

Can we extract anything good from the Genesis account of creation? God apparently told Adam, the first human: "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." He didn't say why he had planted poisonous berries in a perfect orchard. Adam seems to have lived on, having escaped the dangerous garden.


We can extract beautiful meanings from the tales of Hans Andersen, such as the Little Mermaid who learns that pleasure comes at a great price. From the story of Orpheus and Eurydice in Greek mythology we can understand that a man can enter his dark psyche to find something precious, only to have it snatched away.


Can we learn anything useful from the Genesis creation story?

If we accept the existence of Neanderthal man do we simply throw Genesis in the bucket?

[Athetotheist]

I believe in the equality of life forms on earth

Nothing within the Yahweh creation is more or less.

Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground without your father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
(Matthew 10:29-31)

It doesn't seem that the Jesus figure was so highly enlightened.

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

I don't see how that justifies what he says about the poor sparrows.

[Athetotheist]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Levant
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History ... ent_Levant

The Southern Levant has a long history and is one of the areas of the world most intensively investigated by archaeologists. It is considered likely to be the first place that both early hominins and modern humans colonised outside of Africa. Consequently, it has a rich Stone Age archaeology, stretching back as early as 1.5 million years ago. With one of the earliest sites for urban settlements of humans, it also corresponds to the western parts of the Fertile Crescent.

Great location for a Genesis narrative!

Welcome to Gilgamesh Country!

[earl]

Thomas McDonald,
Just a few points surrounding my posts showing poor historical documentation by the historians.This is not to push or pedal any thoughts here stated but what I have discovered.
As the story goes,God cursed the ground and Adam will have to toil and till among the thorns.
Well backing up God said there was no one to till the soil so he created Adam to do it.
Adam was already prepared by God to till the soil.To till it one must toil to get harvest.For God to make a curse to come to sorrows would show him to be evil by todays moral standards .Modern teaching is do not cause one to stumble.
In so making a curse it would have caused God to modify his creation which he finished on the day before.
God also would have to modify the traditional serpent which he previously created,both creative acts.
For God to cause hatred he would then have willed himself into the minds of his subjects .Hatred is not a moral thing to do but God caused immorality?
On the days of creation,
The third day grass,herbs ,trees were caused to grow.
But how could they for the sun and moon was put in place on the fourth day.
No photosynthesis.
I cannot view Genesis as traditionalists do.Neither can I view God as a curse maker or cause one unnatural sorrows when it is the position of newer Biblical teachings not to do these .Modern man should be able to weed out primitive God concepts like these I stated.In those days God was the cause of everything good and evil.

[brunumb]

[Replying to post 93 by Thomas Mc Donald]

Snakes were regarded as Gods in much of our ancient past. Personally ,I dont get it.They do nothing for me.

It's all in the way you worship

[Purple Knight]

I don't see how that justifies what he says about the poor sparrows.

So here's how I interpret this.

This fellow...



...is worth more than half a copper coin.

2 bald people = 1 sparrow
2 sparrows = 1 copper coin
2 copper coins = 1 hair
100,000 hairs = 1 son
2 sons = 1 sparrow with hair

[Thomas123]

The Snake and the Fig Leaves ( a complex hypothesis )

The Genesis origin myth ,emanating from its roots in oral tradition was meant to possess a narrative clarity for its listenership .This intent of meaning should still be discoverable to a modern mind.

Why pick a snake?

Snake mythology has a very obvious natural platform from which to receive its energy. Rural herdsmen and farmers encountered these creatures regularly in their daily routines. Snakes were plentiful, as a thriving species and many of them are still very dangerous to humans.

Their characteristics fascinate and beguile us. They often appear to not eat at all, their eyes have suggested wisdom and their hunting habits have suggested cunning and strategy to us.They are ,in essence, the perceived opposites of our human selves and from this perception alone, is born ,a fascination.

In snake mythology they are a symbol of eternity as they form a circle, they appear ever young as they frequently shed their skin . All this , and more is the beguilement power of the Genesis serpent. This is why this creature of the earth was a narrative choice here. The early listeners and compilers of Genesis understood the currency of the snake.

The Fig Leaves

I suggested earlier that the woman learned the rudiments of stealth and deception from close contact and engagement with the snake. She is told by the observed traits of this creature that there is a new way that hints at previously unconsidered possibilities. Is it the circle of the snake or is it the process of it shedding its skin or is it all of the snake?
Whatever, the important point here is that the narrative compilers have used this creature to focus on an exact happening in human evolvement.What makes these early humans into new humans is the wisdom of the snake, the new skin , clothes, the fig leaves.

The compilers clearly emphasise that a previously unabashed state of nakedness is replaced by a state of concealment and cunning.All this is a consequence of the snake encounter and not of the eating of the apple. The apple is displaying a human going against its instinct and against the established perimeters of Yahweh protection into a new world of responsibility and self reliance.

Clothes?
Please answer this simple question.
What have been the evolutionary implications of mankind's unique decision to wear clothes?
I welcome comments regarding this complex hypothesis.

[Charles]

Can we extract anything good from the Genesis account of creation? God apparently told Adam, the first human: "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." He didn't say why he had planted poisonous berries in a perfect orchard. Adam seems to have lived on, having escaped the dangerous garden.

Still telling the story badly in twitter movie plot fashion I see: #ExplainAFilmPlotBadly

This caricaturization of the Story of the Garden is specious at best, an indulgence which has been answered many times. With your quick wit you should have fun but it hardly seems like a debate topic.

[marco]

Can we extract anything good from the Genesis account of creation? God apparently told Adam, the first human: "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." He didn't say why he had planted poisonous berries in a perfect orchard. Adam seems to have lived on, having escaped the dangerous garden.

Still telling the story badly in twitter movie plot fashion I see: #ExplainAFilmPlotBadly

This caricaturization of the Story of the Garden is specious at best, an indulgence which has been answered many times. With your quick wit you should have fun but it hardly seems like a debate topic.

I think the test of a debate topic, Charles, would be if it extends beyond a century of posts and we are on post 108 now.

We are all allowed to see things as we see them and report on our perceptions. When I read that God played hide and seek with Adam, finally shouting excitely: "I can see you, I can see you" and Adam comes out shame-facedly covering himself, there is no need for satire. The story satirises itself effectively.

[Thomas123]

Can we extract anything good from the Genesis account of creation? God apparently told Adam, the first human: "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." He didn't say why he had planted poisonous berries in a perfect orchard. Adam seems to have lived on, having escaped the dangerous garden.

Still telling the story badly in twitter movie plot fashion I see: #ExplainAFilmPlotBadly

This caricaturization of the Story of the Garden is specious at best, an indulgence which has been answered many times. With your quick wit you should have fun but it hardly seems like a debate topic.

I think the test of a debate topic, Charles, would be if it extends beyond a century of posts and we are on post 108 now.

We are all allowed to see things as we see them and report on our perceptions. When I read that God played hide and seek with Adam, finally shouting excitely: "I can see you, I can see you" and Adam comes out shame-facedly covering himself, there is no need for satire. The story satirises itself effectively.

Thomas
Surely, the blatant favouritism shown by Yahweh to Abel over Cain, might also appear to support your interpretation of a 'vindictive' Yahweh marco. So also the flood ,and Babel narratives ,etc. You and others, do appear to promote this ' bad Yahweh ' synopsis quite vigorously .

Consider what counsel, is offered to Cain.

Genesis 4

7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

What does this passage actually say.
Has this rejection of a person's actions by Yahweh, any modern relevance?
What was wrong with Cains offering?
Why did he kill his brother?

ps: I think that you will find that there is no 'I can see you' in Genesis , but rather the rhetorical 'who told you that you are naked'. If there is indeed, no need for satire, then why use it?

[Thomas123]

I find a consideration of the Genesis narrative to be totally relevant to the issues faced by humans in the world today. Genesis is, in its essence, based on human realities.

During the latest virus outbreak the plight of migrant workers in this modern world has been compounded greatly. These migrants are everywhere and are a displaced ,stateless people who are blown about by the vagaries of circumstance. I can provide, endless examples and statistics of this phenomena.

In Genesis there are endless excursions into Egypt, for many reasons . Egypt enjoyed the fertility and security of the, then, magnificent Nile river.

Why are migrant workers, from all over the world, building soccer stadiums in Qatar.
Why play soccer in this unsuitable place?
The desperation of these people in their own countries blows them to these unlikely locations.

They are not following money, nor the vitality of water.
In this case they are following oil.