April 19, 2021

Evolution and Genesis

Timothy Birdnow

Here is an interesting discussion about the Adam and Eve story in the Book of Genesis.

Bob Clasen says:

Thoughts on "Original Sin”

Is there any truth to the Adam and Eve myth?

We evolved (or were created) by an evolutionary process of millions of years. During that process, we competed for scarce resources with warring tribes and large carnivores. We also competed with fellow humans for desirable mates and for success on the dominance hierarchy.

This is not a background to encourage the development of peaceful angels or self sacrificing martyrs. Everyone is born with these evolutionary instincts.

In this sense, I believe there is realistic truth in the Original Sin myth. Humans are not born sweet and loving and self sacrificing. We are evolved to compete for scarce resources and mates and to struggle to rise on our dominance hierarchy. We are the last in a long list of ancestors whose one shared characteristic is that they survived AND reproduced.

Jim Shepherd replies:

If you call the Adam and Eve story a myth, perhaps you've already determined whether it's true or not.

Bob Clasen adds:

A myth is a story that has real meaning but which is not necessarily literally true. Stories that have lasted for thousands and thousands of years last for a reason. They signify something important. The Tree of Life. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Modern critics say it is not fair to punish children for the sins of an ancestor (except for Black Lives Matter) but that is taking the story literally. Isn’t it interesting that the very first human disobeyed and and sinned, after he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Setting aside the question of whether it is literally true what does this mean? See Jung, Joseph Campbell and Jordan Peterson, to name just a few.

Jim adds:

Yes I understand the concept that myth has different meanings other than the regular one of not being literally true. What I find fascinating about the Genesis story of Adam and Eve is that even the literal understanding of this story is missed by many people. Recently, I've read the story taking pen and paper, reading it word for word, and using a Hebrew lexicon to find the what the words actually mean in Hebrew. It's quite interesting indeed. I toss in my 2p:

I too find the story in Genesis quite fascinating in so many ways. For instance, the curse made to Adam was one of poverty. God created poverty by cursing the ground. If you understand this you then have to accept the fact that the corporal works - feeding the hungry and the like - are secondary to the spiritual ones. God can end poverty any time He likes.

Also,the curse to Eve is interesting in that the second half is often ignored "and your desire shall be toward your husband and he will rule you with a rod of iron". I once heard a Bible scholar explain this is not her SEXUAL desire but more like her jealousy. In other words, women will be jealous of the roll of men in society but it will not do any good because the men will still ultimately rule over them - sometimes quite heavily.

Another interesting point; the Bible says God made clothes of animal skins for them after they finally came clean. They were naked and hiding it. Why? I have often theorized about that. I think they were SPIRITUALLY naked.

I wonder if God making clothes for them meant making a corruptable body as opposed to the immortal one they had. They weren't animals before the Fall. Maybe I'm wrong on that but it makes sense based on the scripture. They probably could read each-other's emotions and so there was no misunderstandin
g. But the animal bodies made that impossible. It DID allow them to hide - inside their own heads.

Richard Cronin jumps in:

More recent thinking on Evolution:

There’s a growing body of Evolutionary thought which makes a lot more sense than Darwin.

It’s not "survival of the fittest” — it’s "path of least resistance”. That is, run away to fight another day. No creature wants to fight for survival. The large predators are extremely cautious about hazarding their health. If a cheetah is injured and loses one or two steps, it’s a death sentence.

You survive by adapting. You survive by finding multiple food sources, shelter, and protection from predators.

Omnivores are advantaged vs. strict herbivores or strict carnivores.

For all of our frailties, man is the most adaptable of all species, especially as you throw in tool making, clothing, speech, written communication as well as complex & cooperative organizations. The last is probably most important , yet differing social patterns or beliefs bring individual tribes into conflict. The individual voluntarily accepts the complexity of communal existence in order to survive.

Man is also the most symbiotic of all creatures and so we recruit other species to enhance our survivability. Both species benefit but the higher species benefits more.

In fact, this train of thought includes the view of the human genome as the "central line” of Evolution. That is, the multiple steps in evolution favored humanity and the other lesser species evolved away from the central line. They are sub-optimizatio
ns or dead ends if you will.

The only logical conclusion is that we, or species like us, are the reason for the whole she-bang. To bring creatures such as we into existence.

Holy Star Trek, Batman !!

Bob Clasen adds:

You definitely don’t survive by being stupid or helpless.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:14 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 Here is an interesting discussion about the Adam and Eve story in the Book of Genesis.

Posted by: jaeger at November 20, 2023 09:03 PM (MCuaA)

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