- 23 Sep 2005
- 1,295
- 76
Although i am agnostic, i was raised in a Christian manner and so know of quite a few of the bible stories.
While having a random philosophical musing session today, i was thinking about the story of Adam & Eve in the bible and people's interpretations of it.
For example the story is commonly interpretated as a warning against disobeying god, by not having faith in his word and of succumbing to the Devil's temptations etc.
But i was thinking, is the story actually an anti-pagan message? For example;
1. In the bible there are many anti pagan messages, so for a start the story of the Garden of Eden as an anti-pagan message is possible.
2. Trees were worshipped in many ancient pagan religions- ancient trees were viewed as sacred, and some people not only worshipped ancient tree's but also consulted them over difficult matters, as such ancient trees were viewed to have spiritual powers or even have spirits residing within them.
Is the Tree of Knowledge actually a symbol of such pagan ancient trees?
3. Most ancient pagan religions were very female (or goddess) orientated, with a fixation on Mother Nature, the cycles of life and fertility. But in the bible, God creates a son (Jesus) and most Christians view God to be male rather than female. Not only this, but instead of Eve creating Adam, Adam creates Eve- Adam, a male, is the creator of the human race, Jesus (a male) is the saviour of the human race. Jesus's diciples are all male. Apart from Mary, there are almost no big/major female characters in the bible at all etc.
The bible sets a very male-orientated precedent right from the start, and this is contrary to what a lot of pagan religions at the time would have believed in.
4. In the story a snake tempts Eve and leads her down the wrong path. Many people interpret the snake as symbolising Satan and his temptations, but in a lot of pagan religions people worshipped animals or animal-like gods (as well as general nature worship).
But perhaps the snake does not symbolise Satan but is rather a symbol of pagan religion, and the message is that it is pagan religion that leads Eve astray as Eve decides to follow what the snake says instead of God?
5. God is generally depicted in the bible as supposedly being quite merciful. But because of Eve's actions, he evicts the whole future human race from the Garden of Eden to live in harsh reality where the ground is rocky & cuts the feet, people die of diseases & starvation, and people have to work the soil hard to get any food out of it etc.
But perhaps the punishment was for not simply giving into temptation, but rather giving into/converting to pagan religion.
When Christianity first came about it was not a big or powerful religion- in fact, up until the Romans eventually adopted it towards the end of the Roman empire, Christians were regularly heavily persecuted and the religion did not list in the dominant religions of the day. Pagan religions were for the most part much more powerful/widespread and they posed a great threat to Christianities survival at the time.
So perhaps the message is: Don't turn to pagan ways, otherwise the Christian God (& truest of gods) will banish you from his love forever and doom you to a life of hardship? That only by becoming a good absolutely faithful Christian will good things come to you?
What do you think? Was the story of Adam & Eve more of a story to secure followers to the religion by warning them against what would happen if they decided to convert to pagan religion, rather than just being a simple bible moral story?
While having a random philosophical musing session today, i was thinking about the story of Adam & Eve in the bible and people's interpretations of it.
For example the story is commonly interpretated as a warning against disobeying god, by not having faith in his word and of succumbing to the Devil's temptations etc.
But i was thinking, is the story actually an anti-pagan message? For example;
1. In the bible there are many anti pagan messages, so for a start the story of the Garden of Eden as an anti-pagan message is possible.
2. Trees were worshipped in many ancient pagan religions- ancient trees were viewed as sacred, and some people not only worshipped ancient tree's but also consulted them over difficult matters, as such ancient trees were viewed to have spiritual powers or even have spirits residing within them.
Is the Tree of Knowledge actually a symbol of such pagan ancient trees?
3. Most ancient pagan religions were very female (or goddess) orientated, with a fixation on Mother Nature, the cycles of life and fertility. But in the bible, God creates a son (Jesus) and most Christians view God to be male rather than female. Not only this, but instead of Eve creating Adam, Adam creates Eve- Adam, a male, is the creator of the human race, Jesus (a male) is the saviour of the human race. Jesus's diciples are all male. Apart from Mary, there are almost no big/major female characters in the bible at all etc.
The bible sets a very male-orientated precedent right from the start, and this is contrary to what a lot of pagan religions at the time would have believed in.
4. In the story a snake tempts Eve and leads her down the wrong path. Many people interpret the snake as symbolising Satan and his temptations, but in a lot of pagan religions people worshipped animals or animal-like gods (as well as general nature worship).
But perhaps the snake does not symbolise Satan but is rather a symbol of pagan religion, and the message is that it is pagan religion that leads Eve astray as Eve decides to follow what the snake says instead of God?
5. God is generally depicted in the bible as supposedly being quite merciful. But because of Eve's actions, he evicts the whole future human race from the Garden of Eden to live in harsh reality where the ground is rocky & cuts the feet, people die of diseases & starvation, and people have to work the soil hard to get any food out of it etc.
But perhaps the punishment was for not simply giving into temptation, but rather giving into/converting to pagan religion.
When Christianity first came about it was not a big or powerful religion- in fact, up until the Romans eventually adopted it towards the end of the Roman empire, Christians were regularly heavily persecuted and the religion did not list in the dominant religions of the day. Pagan religions were for the most part much more powerful/widespread and they posed a great threat to Christianities survival at the time.
So perhaps the message is: Don't turn to pagan ways, otherwise the Christian God (& truest of gods) will banish you from his love forever and doom you to a life of hardship? That only by becoming a good absolutely faithful Christian will good things come to you?
What do you think? Was the story of Adam & Eve more of a story to secure followers to the religion by warning them against what would happen if they decided to convert to pagan religion, rather than just being a simple bible moral story?
