old hippie here-following a logical sequence?

A society of 2. The great society of deux, originated near what is now France. There were only two humans and their days were occupied with activities such as: naming animals,eating the fruit of trees, walking in the breezy part of the day. As there was only 2 of them, there wasn't a lot of room for war, hatred and murder. Adultery was impossible. Each day brought the wonder of living without illness, waking refreshed, with no troublesome thoughts to concern themselves with.

But as we know, that all changed. A change in thinking led to disruption and trouble. Their beautiful home was replaced by weeds and thorns. Hard labor and cruelty became the way of life.

All because of the unwillingness to listen to sound advice!

I hope this was thoughtful and unconventional enough to satisfy your request.

It was fun for me to put it into my own words!

:)

You're not old. I've been reading the Bible for years and I am still fascinated with the first few chapters. If you will notice that God placed them in the garden of Eden and most people assume that they screwed up and ate the fruit the same day therefore making things about 6000 years old. How do we know that Adam and Eve didn't live and raise up many nations before the "fall". An evidince of this would be that when Cain killed his brother he was worried that people would kill him so God marked him. He went to the land of Nod. Why would there be a place called Nod if it weren't populated and why would he be worried about people if there were just his parents and his brother. The big thing I think is that science and bible believers need to work together instead of trying to disprove each other all the time. keep up the search and above all never stop questioning

The only thing is there isn't a good description of the hunter gatherer life style in Genesis. I believe scientific evidence shows there actually was an Eve much further in the past than 6000 years. Mitochondrial DNA tells us that we all had a common mother. I believe some calamity occurred such as a volcano that wiped man out almost to a man. With the only survivors being the family of Eve hence our lack of genetic diversity.

Well, I think it's primarily a fable - it plays very much like the best of Aesop - and it's probably rolled together from a handful of diverse 'unanswerable' questions: "Where do we come from?" "Why don't we live forever?" "Why is it naughty to be naked?" "What happens if we don't obey what the big man in the village tells us God wants?" "How can we justify treating women as lower-class subjects?" etc. I imagine the story as told in Genesis took a long time to evolve to its final form. By that time, agrarian communities were probably well-formed.

It's an element of it, to be sure. Interestingly, a psychologist told me today that ophidiophobia is the only 'animal phobia' that may have a genetic - instinctive - origin rather than be a learned behaviour. Ergo the big baddie in the story is a snake. Coincidence? Or is that a Y!A question for another day?

Keep the peace :)

That seems a reasonable speculation. It could be a symbolic story about the rise of civilzation from prehistoric times.

Personally, I think it has a several meanings. One is symbolic of growing into adulthood. As we change from children into adults, we grow in intelligence and capability. While we certainly enjoy these new capabilities, they are also a burden, since we have to take on the roles our parents previously held for us.

The next level of meaning is one an old hippie might appreciate, which is the hidden symbolism of the tree of knowledge. The tree of knowledge is psychodelic mushrooms, used by ancients to enter into the realm of god, where they would become aware of the ways of god. Partaking of this fruit was forbidden for all but the priest class.

Finally, it has the traditional creation myth aspect.

If this is the message that the bible gives you, then follow your heart, the interpretation of others is not important with regard to your own spiritual growth.

I feel that mankinds separation from "Father" God and lack of faith in his "Mother"- Earth, to provide for all his needs, are the reason we feel the need to control our environment and employ our egotistical intellect in an attempt to force the earth to provide for our needs.

In my mind this is one of the greatest problems facing mankind and perhaps a return to a hunter gatherer style existence would be the only way of reversing the damage we have done to our environment through lack of faith in its ability to provide for us.

The odds that this is the message meant for you are very good!

Peace Love and Mungbeans brother.

That is a most unusually creative take on the story of Genesis. I don't agree with it 100% but I will say it is creative thinking. I believe that Adam was the first man born with a soul and the part of himself he gave to Eve was his understanding, his self awareness so that she developed her own soul as well.

I find it shocking that the story of Adam and Eve is taken as anything other than allegory. I think you're absolutely right on this one.

Symbols are a lot of it, I think. I mean - look at today - people are always wearing crosses to show what religion they have. Everything always has and had had to do with symbols - in my opinion, any way.

by a mans knowledge(science)the odds are 100%. by GOD's power to create us it is 0 %.we did not need to kill to eat until after sin entered the world.