A Question About Genesis 5:1-3

by Voices 22 Replies latest jw friends

  • Shanagirl
    Shanagirl

    Hi Voices,

    I've been interested in reading some of the writings of the ancient Gnostics and in these writings Adam and Eve were created by the creator archon god, Yaldabaoth, who created matter and chaos, and Adam and Eve. There is an interesting story about how he was angered at them for eating from the tree of knowledge and when they did they learned he was not the true God, but a false god. In anger he confined their soul to a mortal body created from matter. Eventually he raped Eve and she conceived Cain who killed Abel who was fathered by Cain. She then had Seth. This Yaldabaoth fits the angry cruel god, Yahweh, Jehovah. Anyway, I like to think that these stories seem more plausable to me then the creation story in Genesis. Rather than typing the whole story, I've copied and pasted a simplified explanation of these ancient texts.

    The Gnostic Jesus - Sethian Creation

    Adam and Eve
    The physical world has now come into existence. Yaldabaoth is also aware that he is not the only God, and he is not a truly powerful one.

    Yaldabaoth now wants to create an image of God from the image that he had seen in the water. To help his quest, Yaldabaoth summoned all the angels and archons; together they created a being in the likeness of the first man. The purpose of this was to steal the Spirit of the Father.

    To their dismay, their creation was lifeless and without a soul. Little did Yaldabaoth know, his mother (Sophia) was meeting with the Father and Barbelo in a desperate attempt to regain her power. To help Sophia, the Father and Barbelo tell Yaldabaoth to blow air (life) into his creation, and that will awaken it. Ignorant, Yaldabaoth did as he was told. This is how Adam's soul was created.

    When Yaldabaoth saw that Adam was good, pure and free from evil, he cast Adam out of the pleroma and sent him to live on the lowest plane of existence: Earth. To help Adam, Barbelo decided to send a helper along with him; a spirit named Epinoia. Adam's body hid Epinoia. While in hiding, she gives Adam secret knowledge of his existence, and taught him how to ascend back to the pleroma.

    Angry, the archons wanted to confine Adam. Out of punishment, Yaldabaoth created a physical body out of flesh to confine his soul. His body was mortal, and Yaldabaoth again cast him away, this time, sending Adam into the Garden of Eden. Yaldabaoth also bound Adam by sleep and forgetfulness.

    While Adam was sleeping, Yaldabaoth attempted to bring Epinoia out of his body through his rib, but she managed to escape. Yaldabaoth then quickly created another mortal body from Epinoia's image, and captured Epinoia inside. Yaldabaoth then placed Epinoia next to Adam in the Garden.

    Shana

  • Shanagirl
  • Shanagirl
    Shanagirl

    Ugh, I'm having trouble getting this copied and pasted Here's the rest of the account from the post above.

    Epinoia commanded Adam to awaken. Because of the spell of ignorance from Yaldabaoth, Adam thought that Epinoia was the one who gave him life, and he called her Eve. Yaldabaoth wanted Adam and Eve to remain ignorant. If the two first humans were forever ignorant, then they would forever worship him. Yaldabaoth told the two to do as they pleased, but to say away from the Tree of Knowledge.

    Some Gnostics believe that it was Jesus himself that told them to eat from the tree; the Sethian Gnostics hold the serpent of Genesis as the deliverer of knowledge.

    Once they ate from the Tree, Adam and Eve awakened from their ignorance. Now they realized that Yaldabaoth was a false God. The fruit from the tree had given them the gnosis to understand that their creator was not God. Yaldabaoth then placed a curse on the serpent, Adam and Eve.

    Yaldabaoth was angry, and threw Adam out of the Garden. Yaldabaoth snatched Eve when he observed her faithfulness to Adam. Epinoia escaped from the mortal body as Yaldabaoth raped the physical body of Eve out of anger.

    In the Apocryphon of John, this produced Cain and Abel. However, the Hypostasis of the Archons teaches that Cain was the only child conceived from this event.

    Adam and Eve later had a child together that they named Seth, and it is his descendents that possess the gnosis that their ancestors did.

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