Every so often, I get an e-mail or other sort of mssage from Christians to the effect that I might find it worthwhile to stidy the Bible. Apparently, there is this idea that reading that particular book will lead one to God. Well, a few years ago, I undertook the task of putting together a series of newsgroup posts along those lines. I will reproduce them here, hoping to stir up some interesting conversation and perhaps show some folks a few new things about this book.
So over the coming period of time (however long interest is sustained), I'll post a new thread every week with a chosen snippet from the Bible. I'll add my thoughts on the passage and invite responses from believers and non-believers. I only ask that everyone stick to commenting on the passages, and refrain from comments on other posters' ancestry and mental capacity. Thank you.
For my first weekly post, I think starting at the beginning is a good policy. Let's look in on the story of Eden...
Gen 2:15-17 – The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
and
Gen 3:4-7 – But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Well, let’s look at this famous passage for problems! First off, the serpent tells Eve the truth – she didn’t die, and she became like God, in the sense that she knew the difference between good and evil. The next thing that I found interesting was that before learning the difference between good and evil, Eve (and Adam, for that matter) supposedly had no idea that not following instructions might be “bad,” so that they were in a catch-22 situation. Lastly, it appears that this is following the standard model of male-dominated religions – blaming the “creation of evil" on women.
Comments?
