Dare I even point out the fact that the Adam and Eve parable has tracable roots to oral legends and traditions in non-Hebrew culture existant thousands of years before the Bible? Or that large tracts of said Bible are revisions, edits, and outright theft of ideas from various non-Biblical cultures? Dare I point out that the creation tale most likely evolved from similar creation tales of older cultures? Much like the entire Jesus tale is constructed of the same elements, situations, and concepts of other mythologies worldwide?
I recently read a dissertation about how the entire Savior storyline existed dozens of times over before the Gospel writers adopted it and wrapped it around the factual tales of a heretical Jew who was preaching unpopular notions started by an outcast Jewish priest of the times... Seems that Jesus was little more than a Jew-Hippy who was spouting unpopular ideas that went against the established church, and a few decades (centuries?) later, some 'Christians' added a lot of good-old-fashioned myth to this guy borrowed heavily from a very common mythological Savior thread to add legitimacy to their infantile religion. INterestingly enough, someone jumped into the discussion to point out that Satan threw out all those mythological Savior stories centuries in advance to try to corrupt the One True Savior Story...
Anyway, having read far more than merely the Judeo-Christian Bible, it always strikes me as hilarious when people quote from Genesis or refer to the events of the Savior's life as if it were fact, and not merely retelling of old fairy-tales to bring Pagan believers into the fold.
There's a fine book out there called "When God was a Woman" which, I believe, was written by someone calling themselves Merlin Stone - Not exactly an unbiased book, by any means, but the book IS full of references with which one is free to do one's own research, and with which one can see how the Bible and the entire Judeo-Christian faith REALLY evolved into the world. One man's religion is just another man's myth, ultimately.
Radook, you seem to be heavily into the notions of logic, reason, and evidence.. How, exactly, DO you reconcile the fact that almost every truly unique significant factor in the Bible can be clearly traced to sources in pre-Judeo-Christian mythologies? How DO you reconcile the many places in which there is heavy evidence that flawed human authors not only wrote the Bible, but also made significant changes later in the Book's history, or the fact that the Church had to weed out dozens and dozens of texts, many of which promote contradictory views, before settling on what would now be the Bible?
What if, next year, the Pope and a group of Roman Scholars sat down and tossed out half the Old Testament and replaced it with some of the formerly rejected Books, such as the book detailing Adam's first wife, Lilith, or another book that claimed to detail Moses' life AFTER entering the Promised Land? These books are said to have existed - and may yet exist - but were judiciously removed at some point in the Church's long and glorious history. Would your adamant clinging to the Genesis story change if a 2005 Bible were released claiming that God made the Universe from the remains of the older Universe, and that Man appeared spontaneously, surprising the Creator? (No, I don't think any book existed making this claim - it's just another Creation story that was circulating about the time that the Adam and Eve story is believed to have first been recorded).
One immense problem I have with Bible literalists is they often either fail to realize, or choose to ignore, the fact that their precious Scripture has, in fact, changed many times over the course of history. My mother-in-law, in fact, clings to her NIV Bible like it was the original text, and got right offended when I explained to her how the idea of the Trinity was ADDED in the 4th century A.D. (about the same time they decided women had souls). And if you think THAT upset her, you should have SEEN when I whipped out my Apocrypha! "More books? Nonsense - the only Bible is this one RIGHT HERE."
Now, I'm no Bible scholar. Just a person who reads... a LOT... and noticed a LONG time ago how much of this sacred Text borrows from the stories and legends of other lands, other times. It's no different from any other collection of popular myth, with the exception that a large body of people fanatically try HARD to believe EVERY WORD of it.
Well, every word that's convenient to believe. No need to worry about those passages advocating slavery, incest, or the possession of multiple wives and concubines.
