"The story of Adam and Eve is not a story about the first man and woman. It is the story of every man and every woman who has ever lived. Everyone who reads the Adam and Eve story needs to be reminded that they are not reading history. Rather they are reading an ancient story that seeks to explain why things in life are the way they are. . .
. . . People who try to read the creation and Garden of Eden stories as history will always be chasing rabbits that do not exist. Myths can never be read as history. Myths do not conflict with history. History attempts to report the facts of what has happened. Myths attempt to explain why things happen the way that they do. . .
. . .The Israelite tradition says that the experience described in the Garden of Eden story is repeated by every human being. We human beings keep making the same wrong decisions over and over again. One would think that we would learn and change our ways. But we do not. The Israelite tradition says that life is unrelentingly consequential. But we constantly avoid and deny this truth. Profoundly, I believe the Adam and Eve/Garden of Eden story. People who deny it, do so at their own peril. The writing of this column was triggered by the current argument about whether or not Adam and Eve were historically the first man and woman on earth. The brief summary that I have shared is taught in every non-Fundamentalist seminary in America. I cannot fathom why ministers do not share with their congregations what they have learned in seminary. Meantime we avoid the hard truths of the stories and engage in silly discussions."
(excerpts from ADAM AND EVE ARE YOU AND I by Howard Bess
The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net)
download your
very own copy of
ANOTHER SHOT
by Ray Jozwiak
Tweet
