This story, among many other things, is an etiological myth about the origin of agriculture. As every farmer knows, it's such hard work. There are weeds, the ground is dry, the soil may not be good -- if you can see images of the land of Israel, you can see that it isn't exactly paradise. So one purpose of the story is to explain why the ground is cursed. Yahweh is the creator, he could have made it any way he wanted, so he had to have made it that way on purpose. So the question is why? Why did he make it so hard for man? There must have been something that our ancestors did that made him make things the way they are. And because there are so many other things about the human condition that are less than ideal -- painful childbearing, death, shame, snakes that bite -- these are attributed to the same event. Because the point of the story is to explain why things are the way they are, the plot certainly wouldn't have Yahweh kindly forgive Adam and Eve and they all live happily ever after. The plot is driven by the reality of hardships in life and the storyteller's concern is to find some narrative explanation for the state of affairs. Of course Yahweh is going to seem callous and cruel in the story, if he is responsible for the hardships people experience in the present then he would have been responsible for creating these hardships in the first place (e.g. only Yahweh could have created the weeds, made the ground dry, made man mortal, made it painful to bear children, etc.).
"Adams Punnishment"
by cluless 20 Replies latest watchtower bible
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beksbks
So Leo, are you a Christian?
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Leolaia
Can't say that I am -- but maybe that helps me read the story without layers of doctrinal baggage piled on top of it. Squeezing the story into different theological schemes over millennia of interpretation has imo taken it very far from its conceptual roots.
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LouBelle
clueless - he did respect adams decision to die. Just be happy that its figurative and not a literal story.
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wha happened?
Oh gosh, can't we just kick this to the curb?
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rocky
The JW mostly learn that Adam did more love Eve then he did love God; also that Adam was a unthankful person to God...
So he did not love God or not enough ... he more loved Eve..
God made dicission that if a human being like Adam and Eve would die if they would eat of the forbidden fruit. So it was a warning and a new rule for them that would/could test their obedience/loyalty and or love to God .... it was just a simple ruel not difficult to obey it... Jesus had it much harder to obey his father wishes... it was difficult/hard to do... not for Adam ... the ruele was simple and easy to do... they had enough food in the garden.. they would not really miss the forbidden one.. if Adam did obey maybe some simpler solution would have been given to him ... maybe an other wife in stead of Eve or somthing else.. I do not know .. it surely did test also the trust in God to solve the matter if he would have obeyed it .. as he was perfect he would know exactly what was on stake and could clearly oversee the consequences of his dicissionOK I am DF and no longer a JW but somehow an answer like this would surely come from a JW... so most of you could give an answer like that and did also know this I think...
Rocky
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wobble
Presumably if Adam hadn't rushed into eating the fruit,God could have given him the option of Eve dying,Adam sacrificing his perfect life,then he and Eve are ressurected,both sin free.
Damn his listening to a woman!
Love
Wobble
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LouBelle
It's the apples' fault! The apple looked too desirable from the start. That green curve. The way the morning dew would cling to it's skin. The way it fit into adams' palm. He couldn't resist and had to take a bite of the irrisitable forbidden fruit.
When I grow up I want to be an apple.
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possible-san
LouBelle.
It is not an "apple" although I do not care about it.
I think that Jehovah's Witnesses never say it an "apple."cluless.
I think that your question is reasonable.
Probably, you are a gentle person.Although I do not know whether it is help you, the following is written in the book "What Pastor Russell Said."
ADAM--Why Given Second Trial?
Q6:2:: QUESTION (1909)--2--If Adam has had a trial
and failed, will he have another and if so, what for? Why
should he be resurrected if he failed in the first trial?
ANSWER.--The reason that he is to have a resurrection
and another trial is because God willed it so, and that is the
very best reason. Now, if you want to know why, we may do
some guessing, perhaps, to our advantage.
I think the reason God willed it so is that in some respects
Adam did not have a trial under the most favorable conditions
that God could have arranged, although his trial was a just trial.
He was fully equipped mentally,
{Page Q7}
but a great temptation came to him, and because of the lack of
experience he failed. AWhat was the trial or temptation?
You remember that the Apostle tells us that Adam was not
deceived; he knew what he was doing, that he was eating the
forbidden fruit, violating God's command, and that it meant
death. There was no ignorance about it. Why did he do it? I
think the narrative bears out the thought that he did it because
of sympathetic love. He had been without a wife, and while
the various kinds of birds could twitter, and the other animals
make some commotion, such were not satisfactory to man, so
after God gave him a wife, bone of his bone, and flesh of his
flesh, and he had enjoyed that sweet companionship, and he
realized that he would lose her and that he would be alone
again after she disobeyed, he said, I will eat with her and die
with her. If she must go out in the unprepared earth and die, so
will I. So, really this is a very noble feature of the first man's
character, and the condition of his trial, you will see, made it a
very severe trial. Now, then, I think it would be just like our
Heavenly Father to say: Adam, at the time you did that, you
did not know fully what I could or would do for you, and what
you might have had at that time if you had been obedient.
Now, Adam, I intend to redeem you and all your race. You
will have a demonstration of my love, and after you have
learned of the height and depth and length and breadth of my
love, I will expect you to fully and perfectly keep my law and
live forever, but if you do not obey, then you will die the
second death and will never have another opportunity for
restitution. -
undercover
A. Adam was commanded not to eat from a tree or he would die.
B. The circumstances arose where he chose to eat from the tree and die.
To my understanding he chose non-existence to life without Eve. Why could God simply not respect that choice?Why did God not live up to his word and punish them as he promised?
According to the account, A&E were told...eat of the tree and die.
What actually happened?
Along comes the serpent and he tells them they wouldn't die. He said they would become like God knowing good and bad.
According to the account, they ate and they didn't die, they became like God knowing good and bad. What punishment did God dish out? Eve's birth pains would be substantial and Adam would toil trying to cultivate the ground until they did die.
What's interesting is that is not ever promised that man, including A&E, were meant to live forever. God reneged on his promise to kill them the day they ate, instead giving them punishment that he did not spell out earlier. They would eventually die anyway. God lied and the serpent was proven right: A&E did not die as punsihment and they did become like God, knowing good and bad.