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?

[Purple Knight]

No one could mistake Michelangelo's David for a casual lump of marble. The artistry and skill are there in the beauty and balance. I was forced by artistic friends to visit the Tate in London and when I saw a used coffee cup pinned to a wall, as a manifestation of the new Da Vinci, I had to leave. A lady who was cleaning a German gallery threw away some scrap iron which she thought - correctly - was rubbish, and she was reprimanded for throwing out some valuable modern art exhibit.

What's really sad about this (and I actually come to the verge of tears) is the other half - the one we don't see.

Real artists with real talent languish as janitors while people crowd around the pineapple. I imagine that German lady was one, and I nearly cry thinking of real artists, their work never seen, tossed aside for the filth they're reduced to cleaning the pedestals of.

I honestly dare you to go to ebay and search for "original painting" where you will find a mix of a few fairly decent artists trying to sell their names rather than their work, people who obviously can't draw, and genuine artists trying to get 99 cents for a painting that cost far more than that to make.

[marco]

Why shock with a fraticide?
Why require a pretext for murder?
What does the enclosed passage actually say?
What was unacceptable within the Cain offering according to the piece provided?

I see I omitted to answer this.

I think the composers were interested in human evil and its retribution at divine hands. They exemplified various sins.
Theft: simple theft in a glorious garden, made worse by disobedience.
Murder, made worse by being fratricide and compounded with anger against God's favouritism.
Later the taboo subject of sex is introduced with Noah and Lot. It is always an interesting question as to what Ham did other than see his dad without clothes and more intriguing why his son was cursed. What makes the story rather silly is that we are dealing with the best of the best, chosen by God himself to survive and yet Ham is depicted as the worst of the worst. Such is Bible narrative.

A reason for having somebody commit murder is just a simple story method. Gide in Vatican Cellars worked on the motiveless murder but I don't think our bible playwrights were up to that.

I'm afraid I do not, like you, expect to extract wonders of wisdom and instruction. We have a crime reported. God is partly to blame. It's simple stuff.

What was unacceptable? What's unacceptable about pork or certain types of cloth? God arbitrarily chooses to like or dislike, to favour or not; he is portrayed as a jealous deity who puts up with no nonsense and does whatever he wants. If that's the kind of divine being the authors wanted to create, well and good. The Greek gods had elements of spite too.

[marco]

The Genesis narrative is extracted from our pre history and it's actual subject is about our primal parents and has nothing remotely to do with pineapple.
To attempt such a connection is simple mischief.

It might be simple mischief or it might be a courteous reply to Purple Knight, who introduced that piece of fruit. I was attempting to use his example in a way relevant to the OP. Mischief was not in my head.

[marco]

No one could mistake Michelangelo's David for a casual lump of marble. The artistry and skill are there in the beauty and balance. I was forced by artistic friends to visit the Tate in London and when I saw a used coffee cup pinned to a wall, as a manifestation of the new Da Vinci, I had to leave. A lady who was cleaning a German gallery threw away some scrap iron which she thought - correctly - was rubbish, and she was reprimanded for throwing out some valuable modern art exhibit.

What's really sad about this (and I actually come to the verge of tears) is the other half - the one we don't see.

Real artists with real talent languish as janitors while people crowd around the pineapple. I imagine that German lady was one, and I nearly cry thinking of real artists, their work never seen, tossed aside for the filth they're reduced to cleaning the pedestals of.

I honestly dare you to go to ebay and search for "original painting" where you will find a mix of a few fairly decent artists trying to sell their names rather than their work, people who obviously can't draw, and genuine artists trying to get 99 cents for a painting that cost far more than that to make.

Interesting but far from Eden, our proper subject. There may be a connection between the silliness of the Genesis tale and the inadequacy of modern art, but best keep to my opening proposition.

[Thomas123]

[Replying to post 122 by marco]

Thank You, marco ,for explaining your thoughts on the Cain incident.
I did hope that we might be , half full ,half empty on these matters. I must accept that there is a cavernous expanse between our opposing perceptions of this narrative. You can pitch questions to me if you want.

[Thomas123]

I have been reinvigoured by my slumber. I slept well.

'Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments'

Why choose to, fundamentally, reject Genesis?
Why elevate its merits beyond obvious reason?
Is there a deal breaker, in all this for you?
I am going to confine myself to 50 words and this is my, Genesis, project for today?

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 126 by Thomas Mc Donald]

There is no valid reason to reject the Genesis account.

I believe it to be a true and accurate accojnt of mankinds origins.


JEHOVAHS WITNESS

[Difflugia]

It frequently happens that on questions relating to the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, the motion and rotation of the stars, or their magnitude and distance from each other, the calculation of the eclipses of sun and moon, the periods of years and seasons, the properties of animals, plants, stones and the like, a man who is not a Christian possesses information grounded on undoubted reason or on experience. Now it is a most shameful and pernicious thing, and greatly to be avoided, that a Christian discoursing on such matters, according to the Christian Scriptures, should rave to that extent that an unbeliever noticing how utterly he wanders from the truth should with difficulty be able to suppress his laughter. And what is most annoying is, not that the man brings ridicule upon himself by his foolish ravings, but that outsiders are led thereby to suppose that these are the opinions of our sacred writers, whom in consequence they despise and reject as ignorant persons, to the great detriment of those for whose salvation we labour. For when unbelievers find a Christian to be in error regarding matters with which they are perfectly well acquainted, and hear him backing up his errors by the authority of our Holy Books, how is it possible for them to give credence to what these same books state concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, after they have been led to suppose that these books contain false statements concerning matters which they themselves have tested by experience or can prove by undeniable arguments? The annoyance and grief which these rash and presumptuous Christians cause to thoughtful brethren is greater than can be expressed.

—Augustine of Hippo, Literal commentary on Genesis Book 1, Chapter 19, English translation from "The Days of Creation".