Random thoughts about Garden of Eden and Big Bang theory

by ballistic 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  ballistic

  I was reading about the Garden of Eden as follows...

  Knowledge and Eternal Life Separate the Gods from Humanity

  “The Garden of Eden story indicates that divinity consists of two primary elements: knowledge and immortality. Through an act of disobedience, human beings acquired the former, but they could not be allowed to attain the latter, lest they become like God. Similarly, the alewife (in Gilgamesh) observes that the gods are jealous of their own supremacy. The boundary between the human and the divine may not be traversed, and immortality must remain the sole province of the gods….

  anyway, I realised there were actually two trees in the Garden of Eden, I began to think, if I were some omnipotent mad scientist creating universes, I would probably speculate and propose theories about what would be the product of the universe. Would a universe appear that out of itself came creatures which could become not only self aware, but aware of the universe in which it lives (Knowledge) or could it even become master of his own mortality (Life)...

  It's just a thought... carry on...
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  ballistic

  darn, really thought I was onto something there... lol
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  Mall Cop

  Ballistic the Garden of Eden never existed in reality. It is a story written by a Hebrew culture that has two separate accounts that contradict each other. Ask yourself, who actually wrote Genesis, when and where was it written and by whom or how many authors wrote the account.
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  ballistic

  Jesus Mall... I KNOW the Garden of Eden didn't exist. But having not been a Witness for many years, I still think the Bible is very ancient and has some fascinating things in it. I'm hypothetically exploring the Garden of Eden for things which metaphorically make sense in terms of modern understanding of the universe?
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  OnTheWayOut

  Personally, I think many ancient myths had some basic lesson in them and later philosophies of men complicated them. Rather than admit something simple about the possible lesson of the Garden of Eden, men (particularly Bible-believing men) have come up with all kinds of hidden meaning where (IMHO) it never existed.

  I think the only thing that was supposed to be gained by the writing of this story was that God is a real S.O.B. and you all better watch out for him.
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  Leolaia

  Another Mesopotamian parallel is the tale of Adapa and the Southwind; Adapa is granted divine wisdom and is offered immortality but he is deceived into refusing the food of life, being told that it is really the food of death.
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  DanaBug

  Why was knowledge or wisdom forbidden in the first place?
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  ballistic

  Dana, there's probably a million people on this board who can answer you better, but wasn't it something to do with "becoming like God knowing good from bad"...

  On the way out (long time no see), that's a very interesting explanation, but are you saying it's like a parable that lost it's meaning? Surely the whole point of a parable IS the meaning without which it becomes.... pointless. But I do agree with you, as a lateral thinker, I'm looking unintentionally for some hidden meaning there... somewhere...
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  OnTheWayOut

  Why was knowledge or wisdom forbidden in the first place?

  It had to be because of the current situation of mankind. It's like writing a mystery novel. You know at the end who the killer is, so all you have to do is write something to lead everyone to that conclusion.

  Writers of holy scriptures knew that man doesn't have complete knowledge, so they have to write something that shows us why that is so. It is either forbidden, lost, or taken away.