the creation story of the good book, is no different to creation stories from peoples all around the world
Well yes, that story may be thousands of years older than Genesis itself, and it clearly borrowed themes that were know and in common understanding at the time. If you ever read, The Story of Gilgamesh you will find the foundational story of Genesis. It was written about 4,000 years ago. It is believed Genesis was likely started about 3,500 years ago and borrowed from the most famous story of its age.
But if Genesis is taken as a literal account it is impossible for an educated person to believe it literally, and it makes little sense, it's impossible. However if it's viewed symbolically it does impart a certain foundation of understanding for religious belief itself.
Firstly there is no such thing as nothingness. There has never been absolutely nothingness, because nothing can come from absolutely nothingness. Even God can't Create from absolute nothingness.
The story of Creating animals etc, does not exclude evolution, but to introduce evolution in the age of Genesis would have been like teaching pre-schoolers nuclear physics. As we advanced as a species the hope was that simple explanations from a bygone age would be replaced by scientific realities, because religion must essentially be in harmony with science because there is only one truth, but religion rusts onto its beliefs, so science became the surest means of teasing truth from nature and religion became a repository of superstition and dogma. It does not have to be this way but it is, and so religions get replaced because they never evolve in understanding in any meaningful way.
As for Adam, He is a generic human representative. We are all Adam in that Adam is the human spirit. We know this because God blew life into Adam, meaning that the human spirit is of the very same substance as God Himself. The rib signifies physical life. Eve represents all physical human life because she was made of a rib, flesh. So Adam is the human spirit and Eve is the life force of the human body. And why a woman as representing physical life, because the woman is the source of life. Adam and Eve represent you and I and everybody else, they are not literal people.
As for the snake, this represents attachment, because of all creatures the snake is fully attached to the earth. Eve, or the physical human is always being tempted by attachment to stuff, money, sex, power, etc.
The Tree of Good and Evil is the earth, because we live in a relative state, rich / poor, healthy / sick, honest / dishonest, loving / hateful, etc. Animaks function via instinct, but humans having eaten from the Tree of Good and Evil are responsible for their actions, they have transcended pure instinct.
The Tree of Life is the remembrance of God, eternal in every age. The Garden of Paradise is a state of being in good grace with God. Giving in to attachments, materialism, the self, is to be cast from Eden, and so on and so forth.
So while the story when promulgated by Creationists and the like as literal just inoculates people away from religion, and makes religion a mockery, if it is taken as a symbolic story it's pretty amazing for its place in human history.
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