From: pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey)
Subject: what is the meaning of Genesis3, for real dough!
Summary: can you unravel the mystery?
Organization: The Duck Pond public unix: +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest'.
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 05:28:35 GMT

Genesis3 has been getting kicked around here and I thought it might be
interesting to try and see if we can come to any modern interpretations.
If you are a human being, you qualify as a possible interpreter, so have
at it already. Now is your chance for fame and stardom, and maybe even
some FREE GIFTS!

BACKGROUND:
[Here is some quick generalizations of the religions involved, these are
only generalizations and are not meant as insults or complements, only
some possible info available for use in decoding Genesis3]
Judaism:
Many tribes of the time have tribal deities for the tribe and then
global deities for the known world, as a new tribe is "discovered",
their deities are added, more or less, to the global deities. Judaism is
different. There is only one God, no Goddess, and He is a War God, but
this tribal God of the chosen people, (Hebrew tribe), is also the only
valid global God. There is no other valid God of the tribe.
Christianity:
A combination of Judaism, Greco/Roman, and Persian religions. The
concept of good/evil, light/dark is Persian. The concept of Lord of the
Underworld is Greco/Roman. The OT is the scriptures of Judaism, more or
less.
Islam:
An Eastern philosophical interpretation of Judeo/Christian, ends up
being somewhat of a return towards Judaism and away from new concepts of
Christianity, but some of the best intellectual analysis is to be found
here, despite the bum rap it gets from the West.

Genesis3 scenario:
God creates Adam and then Eve from Adam as symbolic of a man leaving his
father (Father?) and mother and clinging to his wife so that they become
one flesh. The two are placed in the garden of Eden with all trees that
are pleasing to the SIGHT and good for food, and the infamous tree of
knowledge of good and bad, which is of course placed right in the middle
of the garden. Just to make things interesting, God says to Adam, (2:16)
"Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat; (17)but as for the
tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon
as you eat of it, you shall die." Now, up to this point, Adam and Eve
are not as modern humans, maybe more like five year olds. The two of
them are naked and feel no shame. Enter the serpent who is said to be
(3:1)the shrewdest of all the wild beasts. Possibly smarter than Adam and
Eve at this point. The serpent tells Eve, (3:1)"Did God really say: You
shall not eat of any tree of the garden?" Trick question, eh? Eve
replies, (3:2)"We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden.
(3)It is only fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God
said: `You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die'" Notice that
already Eve's memory is fading slightly. And so the clever serpent
replies, (3:4)"You are not going to die, (5)but God knows that as soon as
you eat of it your EYES will be OPENED and you will be like devine
beings who know good and bad. (6)When the woman saw that the tree was
good for eating and a DELIGHT to the EYES, and that the tree was
DESIRABLE as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also
gave some to her husband, and he ate. (7)Then the EYES of both of them
were OPENED and they perceived ... God of course catches them and makes
the serpent a crawler who strikes at the heal of humans, who in return
step on the serpent's head. He makes Eve have severe pain at childbirth
and urges for her husband who shall rule over her [oh yeah, right!] He
makes Adam a toiler of cursed ground that sprouts thorns and thistles
and an eater of field grasses from which bread shall be made by the
sweat of his brow. Then he kicks them out of the garden, (symbolic of
birth?), and says in parting, 3:22"Now that the man has become like one
of us, knowing good and bad, what if he should stretch out his hand and
take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever!" (23)So the
Lord banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which
he was taken. (24)He drove the man out, and stationed east of the garden
of Eden the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way
of the tree of life.

So now it's your turn, what does it mean? Is the serpent the infamous
Christian Devil? Can we see patriarchy trying to suppress matriarchy?
Was it a setup? Did Adam and Eve have a choice? Where they legally
competent to judge the results of their actions? Did the serpent know
more? Did the serpent lie? Was the serpent duped, and he in turn duped
Eve who then duped Adam? Were the three punished and if so how severe were
their punishments? Is there a trinity here? Is expulsion from Eden
symbolic of expulsion from the uterus at birth? What were Adam and Eve
like before they had knowledge of good and bad? Did they do the right
thing? Did they commit a sin? Did the serpent have knowledge of good and
bad? If you were Adam or Eve, what would you have done? And what about
the tree of life? Attainable or not? At what cost? How perfect was Eden
anyway if Adam and Eve had no knowledge of good and bad? Were
pre-fruit-consumption Adam and Eve even human beings? Have at it, let
your imagine run away. Enjoy and remember, Jah! ... Ras TafarI! May the
memory of Bob Marley be with you always.
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc