JW's frequently say that the first human couple were "perfect" and would have lived forever until they gave up perfection by their disobedience.
However, closer reading of the Genesis account shows that they were NEVER perfect, instead, they were designed to grow old and die, just like the rest of the animals.
Jehovah has Adam name all the animals, but finds that none of the animals is suitable as a companion (wonder how this was determined)?
Jehovah clones a companion for Adam, and tells them to NOT eat the fruit of a certain tree, or they will die "in that very day". No foggy meaning here, Jehovah is clearly saying that before the end of the day in which the fruit was eaten, they would die.
So they eat, and Jehovah says "Oh no, now they are like US, we must not let them eat from the Tree of Life", so expells them from the location of said tree. And they lived hundreds of years (if you believe the story).
This is the interesting part, namely that the Tree of Life is what would have given eternal life. In other words, eternal life was not "built in" to Adam and Eve. Presumeably ANY animal which ate from the Tree of Life would have gained eternal life. The first couple didn't HAVE eternal life inherently built into them at their creation. The story implies that they would have gained eternal life at some later time, when Jehovah eventually would have allowed them to eat from the Tree of Life. "Perfection" was something which came from the fruit of the Tree of Life, not something Jehovah built into the first humans. Without that fruit, they remained they way Jehovah made them, "imperfect", that is, growing old and eventually dieing, just like every other animal on the planet.
Adam and Eve were NEVER perfect.
by gaiagirl 32 Replies latest jw friends
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gaiagirl
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Eyes Open
Haven't considered the story like that before - will reread again sometime. Thanks.
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oompa
The tree of life was the back up plan for the other tree maybe....but the whole story is just so stupid!!! How could my folks have ever brainwashed me with crap like that.....from the orange Paradise book no less........oompa
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d.boon
If they were already imperfect what did they lose and why would they need to be redeemed?
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Layla33
I am surprised that anyone actually believes that the very first humans were people named Adam and Eve, especially adults.
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jefferywhat
The tree of life meant they had immortality or they become a "life unto themselves", namely they dont rely on God for life.
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marmot
Adam and Eve were never perfect because they never existed. The biblical creation story is no less fanciful than any number of other creation myths.
I'm ashamed it took me so long to realize that. -
d.boon
I think the point of the argument is not /Do you believe the story?/ the question that “gaiagirl” wrote was that the Bible writers had something else in mind then what is normally excepted in the world of Bible Scholarship.
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owenfieldreams
So you are saying God created them knowing full well that they would eventually die? By extension, then, what are you implying about God and his intelligent creation?
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maximumtool
Adam and Eve were meant to live just as long as any other mythical individuals whose existance is exclusively in literature and that literature is a rip-off of similar stories in older books...