January 1 WT - Garden of Eden - Most inane article in a while (page 2)

Soldier77

Pick up the book From Eden to Exile http://www.amazon.com/Eden-Exile-Unraveling-Mysteries-Bible/dp/1426200846 and look up the chapter on the Garden of Eden. Pretty interesting reading.

sabastious

Sab - I sometimes wonder whether the Writing Dept. is just stupid or really smart but malevolent. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and just assume they are stupid. Though in this case, it might be impossible to tell the difference.

The Writing department has a LICENCE to be dishonst. They will do anything needed to validate their claims and their Bible (including the myth of Adam and Eve). They know the evidence isn't there, and that actually there is strong evidence for the opposite.

They don't care. Adam and Eve WERE real (according to them) so even if people come to that conclusion with misrepresented facts that's ok:

The ends justify the means.

-Sab

Soldier77

Also, a break down of the chapter I listed above here, talks about the Garden of Eden: http://northstatescience.blogspot.com/2007/09/review-of-from-eden-to-exile-chapter-1.html

"Ultimately, however, Cline concludes that, although there may be a kernel of historical truth to the Garden of Eden stories (the writer was, after all, referring to some kind of geographical reality, although at what scale remains debatable), the final historical “truth” will probably remain elusive:

It is hard to put the Garden of Eden into historical context, for it belongs to the realm of prehistory, if not myth or legend (p. 13).

From my perspective as an archaeologists and researcher, Cline also offers a much-welcomed assessment of current views: any future evidence announced will have to be backed by legitimate scholars following proper archaeological and historical methodology. Cline raises this important problem, too often ignored by the media and professionals in the field, in greater detail in later chapters of the book."

sabastious

Watchtower theology HINGES on the Adam and Eve story being literal. If Adam and Eve are a myth then their WHOLE theology goes down the tube.

-Sab

Soldier77

The problem is Sab, there are SO MANY different doctrines that hinge the WTS theology together that any one of them can be proven wrong the whole thing would collapse. Adam and Eve being literal, 144k being literal, Jerusalem destroyed in 607 BCE to get to 1914.... the list goes on...

The whole thing is built on a house of cards. The real problem is that JWs take this bullshit as the word of God when the GB say it...

TD

Among other things, it's the usual study in circular reasoning:

Page 4 states: "However, the Bible presents the account about Eden, not as parable, but as history, pure and simple. Yet, if the events described never occurred, then how can the rest of the Bible be trusted?"

Not all Christians would agree with this dilemma, but the JW writer obviously does. Therefore if doubt over the Adam and Eve story would by extension cast doubt upon the rest of the Bible as well, then the rest of the Bible is now disqualified as direct proof of the story. If they really are that closely connected, such proof would obviously be circular, having come from the same source that was in question to begin with.

Yet the writer or writer(s) repeatedly go back to the Bible for proof of the story:

The flood story, which is a separate and equally improbably account is assumed to be true without question. A footnote states: "The Deluge, an act of God, evidently wiped out all traces of the garden of Eden itself."

While admitting that the talking serpent is one aspect that can be "Puzzling," it is legitimized by pointing to Balaam's donkey, the book of Job and Revelation.

On page 9, under the subheading, "The Most Compelling Evidence" it is pointed out that Jesus Christ spoke of Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:3-6) Since Jesus Christ is "the faithful and true witness." (Revelation 3:14) then the story in it's entirety is obviously true(!)

The false dilemma on page 4 was not really necessary. The story is rich in allegory even down to the names of the characters (e.g. Adam means "Man" Even means "Mother" etc.) Many who believe in God including liberal Christians and believing Jews accept the story as such.

artemis.design

I find it ironic that they point out that most schollars and even religious thinkers accept that the majority of the story is allegorical, yet pride themselves as having the "truth" without one solid piece of evidence to back themselves up. Technology has advanced to the point we are are finding planets in other solar systems. If there was a global flood this would be a very easy event to prove. My folks just don't get that. Arte

MinisterAmos

Interesting that to JWs, so much of the Bible is figurative, but when it somes to Adam and Eve and their lineage, well that is all very literal.

Literal to the point of calculating the age of man-kind year-by-year. The rest is all "A week is a year or a day is a month" etc.

bohm

TD really nails it, and the insanity is just to overpowering that i can add anything.

my brain hurts

WTWizard

The flood that wiped out all traces of Eden is a lie needed to back up the lie about Eden in the first place. Just take the Bible's word for it, and don't look for any signs of it because the same lying Bible tells us that God destroyed all proof. Yet God expects us to believe it?

In fact, I wonder if any of the people in the line from Adam to Noah even existed. Or, if they were specifically righteous. I can hardly see them all spending 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, preaching to everyone else on the planet--yet the Bible (and even the Washtowel Slaveholdery) points to them as righteous. Proof? Don't ask--Jehovah probably destroyed any evidence to that as well, so just take Jehovah's word for it.

Any god that cannot be trusted to provide me with the opposite sex in a TIMELY fashion does not deserve to be trusted on bullsxxx like this, ever.

January 1 WT - Garden of Eden - Most inane article in a while

Share this