Plan C - Response to ProfMTH

[ReverendWyrm]

If it is unfair to place our Greek and Roman based "Western" perception on an ancient Hebrew document, would you also conclude it unfair to impose those same ancient views upon modern, western thinkers? Wouldn't telling people that those ancient documents are historically accurate or the infallible word of "God" be unfair as well¿

[TruthCeeker333]

@ReverendWyrm Thanks for your comment. Actually to understand what the original writer meant we need to understand the mindset of their culture and not impose outside cultural approaches.  Peace be with you.

[hitobedut]

Roman ideology is the form we have and has been so for along time. Hebrew thinking is subtle, dynamic and multi levelled. Rabbis teach that Genesis is a Poem---- Filled with secrets. At the same time it is "dry" that is ,it needs expounding upon.

I know plenty of Hindus who study the Bible, that dont have a problem with any of this stuff !

[TruthCeeker333]

hitobedut,

Thank you for these observations! Many people do study the creation account as one account and not two and they do not impose a Roman worldview upon the text.

[ProfMTH]

1st, thanks for your response. 2nd, one needn't employ any "cultural ideas of Greece and Rome" in order to recognize, e.g., that in one creation story (Genesis 1, which purports to offer a chronology of creation) the animals and birds are created before the man and the woman, while in the other the creation story the man comes first, followed by the animals, followed by the woman. And that's merely *one* of the significant differences between the two stories. The fact that you suggest a...

[ProfMTH]

...metaphor for how human beings were created, i.e., the bit about Adam having both female and male attributes that were later (in the second story) separated from one another into two people, shows that there *is* a significant difference between the two stories that one will either accept as a difference or one will impose some atextual explanation upon in an attempt to reconcile the two stories. 3rd, I didn't argue "God is flawed, therefore there is no god." The god depicted in Genesis 2...

[ProfMTH]

...could exist, but this god is not the same omniscient god who planned everything out in advance that Christianity professes. (On a tangentially related note, it's always funny to hear a Christian talking about not imposing Greek or other Western notions upon things from the past when so much of Christian theology borrows so heavily from Greek philosophy and imposes it back upon not only the Jesus story but also the biblical god generally.) Fourth, yes, Plan B. No "suitable helper" was...

[ProfMTH]

...found among the animals and birds. So Yahweh Elohim made a woman and brought her to the man to be named.

Thanks again.

[TruthCeeker333]

Thanks for your comment. If anyone is interested in alternative answers to the "Two Creation" ideas. Check out the link in the description. Especially in regard to the "sequence" of events such as animals first then Adam second or vice versa.