Adam and Eve are portrayed in images that are seen as
sacrificial toward each other, nature and God. They are cast out
of the Garden when they attempt to become Gods. The trouble lies
in that the transformation was not complete, They only ate from
one tree and could not eat of the tree of eternal life. And so
it is, this story relates how our spiritual birth is accompanied
with pain. The Garden story is a metaphor for this truth that
is in all our lives. And our struggle with our creativity, which
is made in the image of God.God created
Adam before Eve? Does the order of the creation make a
difference as to one's favor with God? God did not create Adam
before all things. God also created birds before Adam. Yet,
Jesus spoke of us as being worth many sparrows. Eve is the crown
and culmination of creation. Does this mean she is of more worth
than Adam?
Did Eve force Adam to eat the forbidden fruit? If Adam was not deceived and yet ate also, how is it that this is not a greater transgression? Jesus spoke of the difference between the deceived and the undeceived often; and said in one place, that the difference is to be received in the Judgment, by, 'Few stripes...and Many stripes."
The Bible says, "in Adam all die" (I Corinthians 15:22), not "in Adam and Eve all die". It says, "by one man sin entered into the world" (Romans 5:12), not "by one man and one woman"! Paul never even mentions Eve in any of the First Adam/Second Adam passages. Why not? Because Eve's sin was not equal to that of Adam's sin.
"Wherefore as by one man sin entered the world"...Rom: 5; 12
If this statement (by one man sin entered) seems biased in favor of woman to you, perhaps it also reveals to the gentleman reader how it feels to be put in your place by the other sex and told that this is God's will.
The point is not to make contention, rather, to show that love speaks to no one as of less worth to God. And it is not by works that we are saved, rather, by grace so that no person may boast. Further, the Apostle Paul was a preacher of grace, yet, fundamentalism in an 'ink on paper' reading of the Bible often contradicts the message of grace by preaching that men are somehow in a preferred status with God. If God is love, then Love is God; in this is the paradox resolved concerning works and grace. Christ fulfilled the requirements of the law and released all of us to love God with unconditional desire for Holy Communion. This makes the daughters as well as the sons of the royal family of saints and in equal standing before their Creator.
The most important aspects of the image which humanity bears are
the close relationship of love between themselves and God and
the responsibility given them as God's representatives to care
for the rest of creation as God's helpers. The word "dominion"
does not imply that humankind is to destroy or exploit nature,
but man and woman are to be held responsible before God for the
way they serve God in taking care of the world. The Jerusalem
Reader's Edition Bible states in Genesis 2:15 Yahweh God took
the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and
to take care of it. If this is what is usually translated as
"giving dominion" then at least this translation offers a more
responsible perspective. God's characteristic as servant is even
more clear in the Gen., Ch. 2 description. Here, at the climax
of the creation story, Eve is created as the
"helper (ezer)" of Adam. Woman is
created as help and succor to man’s loneliness. Far from
denoting the idea of service in a subordinated position, the
word "help" (ezer) is generally
applied to God" who is par excellence the succor of those in
need and in despair.
Did Eve force Adam to eat the forbidden fruit? If Adam was not deceived and yet ate also, how is it that this is not a greater transgression? Jesus spoke of the difference between the deceived and the undeceived often; and said in one place, that the difference is to be received in the Judgment, by, 'Few stripes...and Many stripes."
The Bible says, "in Adam all die" (I Corinthians 15:22), not "in Adam and Eve all die". It says, "by one man sin entered into the world" (Romans 5:12), not "by one man and one woman"! Paul never even mentions Eve in any of the First Adam/Second Adam passages. Why not? Because Eve's sin was not equal to that of Adam's sin.
"Wherefore as by one man sin entered the world"...Rom: 5; 12
If this statement (by one man sin entered) seems biased in favor of woman to you, perhaps it also reveals to the gentleman reader how it feels to be put in your place by the other sex and told that this is God's will.
The point is not to make contention, rather, to show that love speaks to no one as of less worth to God. And it is not by works that we are saved, rather, by grace so that no person may boast. Further, the Apostle Paul was a preacher of grace, yet, fundamentalism in an 'ink on paper' reading of the Bible often contradicts the message of grace by preaching that men are somehow in a preferred status with God. If God is love, then Love is God; in this is the paradox resolved concerning works and grace. Christ fulfilled the requirements of the law and released all of us to love God with unconditional desire for Holy Communion. This makes the daughters as well as the sons of the royal family of saints and in equal standing before their Creator.
The most important aspects of the image which humanity bears are
the close relationship of love between themselves and God and
the responsibility given them as God's representatives to care
for the rest of creation as God's helpers. The word "dominion"
does not imply that humankind is to destroy or exploit nature,
but man and woman are to be held responsible before God for the
way they serve God in taking care of the world. The Jerusalem
Reader's Edition Bible states in Genesis 2:15 Yahweh God took
the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and
to take care of it. If this is what is usually translated as
"giving dominion" then at least this translation offers a more
responsible perspective. God's characteristic as servant is even
more clear in the Gen., Ch. 2 description. Here, at the climax
of the creation story, Eve is created as the
"helper (ezer)" of Adam. Woman is
created as help and succor to man’s loneliness. Far from
denoting the idea of service in a subordinated position, the
word "help" (ezer) is generally
applied to God" who is par excellence the succor of those in
need and in despair.