by highdose 12 Replies latest watchtower bible
just a thought. Lets just say for a moment that we belive the bible account of eve eating the forbidden fruit. The bible clearly states that she was decived and thats why she ate. Adam on the other hand wasn't decived and ate the fruit with full knowledge of what he was doing, he even tried to pass the buck later and blame his wife.
But it is Eve that is villified by the WT and other religons... why is that?
I guess because she did it first?
is that enough for Paul to basicly condem women forever? ( they can't teach etc, the spend their time gossiping etc, rules about what they kind wear etc) and of course the WT takes its cue from Paul and expands further
It's because when the bible as we know it today was formed, it was a verry maledominated society.
Not sure if there's a WT supporting this, but I heard it on several occasions that it might be that Adam was the more faulty one, because he was supposed to instruct Eve (as her head), which he didn't seem to do it properly - besides the points you already mentioned.
The WTS in recent years has placed most of the blame on Adam rather than Eve but it still sneaks in.
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w97 6/15 p. 15 par. 5 "Male and Female He Created Them" ***But Adam did not live up to his responsibility, and Eve used her femininity in a persuasive way to entice Adam to join her in disobeying God. (Genesis 3:6) By allowing himself to do what he knew was wrong, Adam failed to display true masculinity. He weakly chose to accept the word of his deceived mate instead of what his Father and Creator had said. (Genesis 2:16, 17)*** w92 10/15 p. 6 Family Distress—A Sign of the Times ***God decreed that Adam was to be the head of the family. Eve was to cooperate with his headship as his "helper," or "complement." But Eve rebelled at this arrangement. She usurped her husband’s headship and disobeyed the one and only prohibition God had placed upon them. Adam then abdicated his headship and joined her in this revolt.—Genesis 1:26–3:6.
*** it-2 p. 521 Obedience ***The willful disobedience of the perfect man Adam, as the responsible head over Eve and as the male progenitor or life source of the human family, brought sin and death to all his offspring.
*** Life Purpose 1977 chap. 5 p. 59 par. 37 Why Has God Allowed Suffering on Earth? ***Adam’s self-excusing reply blamed the woman as the guilty one. But Adam was fully responsible, and, as head of his household, he was the one with whom God dealt directly. He was reprehensible.
*** w56 9/1 p. 538 par. 14 Marriage Under Imperfect Conditions ***In the first place, the failing of the first man and his wife to love God unitedly and more than each other. Along with lack of love for God and as a result of it, each one failed to respect the God-assigned places of husband and wife in the marriage arrangement and to live up to the responsibilities and the obligations of that place. Adam, as the head, was foremost in responsibility for all this. Pointing to him as chiefly responsible for all the sinfulness and death that have come to us who have been born as a result of their damaged marriage, the Word of God the Judge says: "Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned— . . . death ruled as king from Adam down." (Rom. 5:12-14, NW)
The view that Eve was deceived and Adam was not is specific to (pseudo-Pauline) 1 Timothy (2:11-15), which reacts to a widespread Gnostic view that the Woman was actually the instrument of Wisdom in giving Man access to knowledge, against the will of a false God (the creator or demiurge) who wanted him confined to ignorance. From the author's perspective (which is clearly misogynist by modern standards), there is no hint of Adam being more morally responsible/guilty (to the contrary, the transgression is Eve's), only to male superiority in leading/teaching: he was made first and was not deceived. The woman, on the other hand, can only be saved through marriage and childbearing (cf. the curse in Genesis 3), both things being often looked down upon in Gnosticism as they kept you attached to and furthered the flawed material world.
I think the 'evilness of Eve' rhetoric will continue to lessen as the US society continues evolve.
I know I have pointed many times for Eve to transgress under 'normal' biological cycling without benefit of pregnancy is if she was in the garden only a week or two.
Yknot, are you saying she was PMSing?
Sylvia
Adam is to blame in my eyes, he was told directly from Jehovah, Eve got it second hand. Lets blame the men lol
