Introduction, The Bible
Stories:
The Creation of the World
The Garden of Eden
The Bible, especially the Old Testament, has had more impact on the Western world than any other written work. In fact, it
has shaped western culture. Moreover, unless you are a sadistic, sociopath you would not have liked “civilization” as it
existed before the moral religions developed. Regardless of your sociological, political or theological views, your views,
especially your values, are built upon the Old Testament. That’s true even if you are an avowed atheist or Marxist.
It is difficult for me as I listen to well-intentioned, but potentially oppressive, socialists denounce the Bible and then site as
their rational a group of moral principles that are clearly Judeo-Christian in origin. Or, conversely, listen to right wingers offer
their spin on the Bible to rationalize judgmental, exploitative and/or repressive concepts that facilitate their religious or
capitalist agendas, but are antithetical to the Bible they use to support their rhetoric.
I think it is imperative for readers of this site who want the truth (unabridged by thought police on either side who warp the
truth to fit their agendas,) to have some knowledge of these Biblical stories just to understand our culture and the literature
that developed within it. It is so ridiculous to talk of total revolution when nearly every moral principle most people espouse is
already contained within the existing ethos.
It is the misuse and abuse of the Old Testament and the lack of knowledge of its content in conjunction with the lack of
ethics in political communications that brings us to such intense hatred and conflict with each other. The Bible, itself, is
designed to ultimately remove those things that cause conflict and bring us together as one species.
Of course, I too have a perspective and this is but my interpretation of the Bible Stories I’ve read. But so too is the Bible,
and the stories within it, already interpretations written by others down through centuries. That’s why we must also pray and
meditate so that God will speak directly to us and help us to find our own truth.
I will try to capture the spirit of the text, regardless of my “logic” or my personal feelings. As a simple example, in Genesis,
Chapter 1: 29, 30 it is clear to me that the Biblical text is portraying mankind as a caretaker of all living things on Earth and
that it is saying that Adam and Eve, as well as all living things, were made to be vegetarians. To me that is an illogical,
possibly dangerous message. My college freshman biology class made it clear that man is designed to consume some
meat. And, while it is true that most people can arrange their diets to include the proper proteins through legumes and other
vegetarian foods, there are some people that can not go without any meat. These people might be at risk if they took the
story literally, but that is the story, so that’s how I wrote it down and I trust each person to decide for his or herself what, if
anything, to take from the stories.
I believe God is within us all. Although, most of what I convey is pretty close to conventional interpretations, I do see some
controversial areas that many people will think are wrong. Obviously, I think my version is correct. I have read and studied
for many years to achieve the level of understanding I possess. Still, it is hard to say sometimes whether what someone else
has taught you is a help or a hindrance to truth. I know this: I do not have a religious or political agenda in the usual sense
of the words.
I am going to work my way through short retelling of the stories I loved so much as a young person, and still enjoy today.
So much literature and poetry directly references these stories that knowing these stories will help anyone to understand
western literature.
As I said, I am reasonably well read Biblically. I attended Christian summer camps as a child. After a secular college, I
joined and attended the Mormon Church for twelve years. I spent the last year or two in their Bishopric. At this point I am still
technically a high priest in the Mormon Church although I don’t endorse all of their doctrine.
Still, I have no prejudice towards or against the Mormon perspective or any other, and I do not profess to convey the
doctrine of any organized religion. In my view, organized religion often brings out the worst in people and just as often,
"religious leaders" warp and pervert God’s word to suit their particular dogma. God is in each of us; each perception of God
is as valid as any other.
Please feel free to send in your own comments or corrections or your own interpretations in the retelling of these stories.
People have been putting spin on the “word of God” for a long time, sometimes for very ugly reasons. So, if you feel a small,
still voice inside telling you something other than what you are reading, liberal or conservative, black or white, male or
female, you may well be right. Neither the left nor the right owns the word of God. I find the Bible actually embraces the best
of both, and most people are far less antagonistic towards the Bible once they have actually read and understood it.
The Creation of the World
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. There was nothing. Then the spirit of God came to give form to
the earth and bring it life. God said: “Let there be light.” And there was an explosion of light, and God gave the earth form.
God looked and liked the light and he liked the form and he separated the darkness from the light. “Let the light be called
day,” he said, “and the darkness shall be called night.” And so it was that the earth was formed and day and night came to
be and the first day of the earth ended.
On the second day God said: “Let there be an expanse between the water of the earth and the water of the heavens. And
let us call the expanse sky.” And it was so that the water of the sky was separated from the water of the earth.
On the third day God said: “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let dry land
appear. And as the waters gathered there appeared mountains and plains and valleys on a massive continent God called
the earth. And where the water gathered there were great depths God called the seas. God said: “Let the earth bring forth
herbs and grass and flowers and trees, each with seeds of its own kind that would continue to sprout for countless
generations. And they did sprout and the earth was covered with soft grasses and plants with flowers and seeds. Trees
grew and yielded fruit and the seeds of all the new growth would spread across the world.
On the fourth day God said let there be lights in the expanse of the sky. And these lights will be important as they will mark
seasons and days and years. And they will give light upon the earth. And of the two great lights, the greatest light shall
govern the day and the lesser of the two lights shall govern the night along with the stars that shall also light the night and
mark the change from night to day. And God looked upon the moon and stars in evening and the morning of the fourth day
and saw that it was good.
On the fifth day God said let the waters teem with living creatures and let birds fly above the earth in the heavens all of
whom will reproduce their own kind. And so the whales swam the seas as did the many little fish while the great hawks and
the little sparrows flew in the skies by the end of the fifth day.
On the sixth day God said bring forth living creatures upon the earth, cattle and creeping things and all manner of
domestic and wild beasts that walk on legs all of whom will reproduce their own kind. And so it happened, but as yet there
was no being that was in the likeness of God.
And God said let us make man in our image and let him look like us and let man have stewardship over all the fish that
swim in the sea and over the birds that fly in the air and over the cattle and all the beasts and over every creeping, crawling
little creature. Let man care for all the creatures of the earth.
So it was that God created man in his own image. From dust he first shaped man then blew life into man’s nostrils. Man
was a living soul and God named him Adam. God gave Adam domain over all that God had created. He gave him the
flowers and plants and grasses and fruits and fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and everything that walked or crept or
crawled upon the Earth.
Now it was for Adam to use the fruits of the garden as meat and it was for Adam to have stewardship over all the animals
for they were his companions on Earth and he gave names to all the beasts so that he might care for them. But there was
no living thing that was like Adam. Adam was lonely.
And God said, “It is not good that man should be alone. I shall make a partner for him.” God caused Adam to fall into a
deep sleep. While Adam slept, God took a rib from Adam’s body then closed the flesh in its place. From Adam’s rib God
made woman.
Now the first man had a wife. And the man said:
“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh.;
She shall be called ‘woman,’
For she was taken out of man.”
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The
man and wife were naked, but felt no shame.
Adam named his precious companion “Eve” and he loved her deeply.
God had planted a garden in the nascent world for Adam and Eve to live in and in that garden were precious stones and
flowers and abundant fruit and clear streams of fresh water, all there but for the taking. The name of this garden of paradise
was Eden.
And god blessed Adam and Eve as His representatives on Earth and God gave them dominion over the garden and
stewardship of the life within the garden. Not that they would exploit, waste or despoil life in the garden, but that Adam and
Eve would care for the earth and its living creatures and use them in the service of God and man.
And God blessed Adam and Eve and said be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth and have dominion over all that is
on Earth.
God saw all this he had made and said it was very good. That ended the sixth day.
On the seventh day God rested and God blessed the seventh day as a day of rest.
The Garden of Eden
The garden where Adam and Eve walked with God was a beautiful place. The care that they gave to it was minimal for God
did not want man to live in toil of the Earth but in friendship with the Earth and all its living things. There were blossoms year
round and always there was a variety of fruit that the couple could partake of it at their desire. They were as free and
unafraid as the birds in the heavens and the fish in the sea and the animals that roamed through the woods and fields. And
God would walk with Adam and Eve in the Garden and talk with them that their hearts were never troubled and their given
happiness and joy would be perpetuated.
The Lord asked only that Adam and Eve obey. For in the center of the garden there was the Tree of Life and there was also
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told Adam, “You may eat of any tree in the garden, except The Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil. For on the day you eat of that tree you will die.”
Adam assured God that he would not eat of that tree. He did so readily for there was plenty in the garden and he had no
need of the fruit of that tree and Adam knew that he must love the God that created him and obey.
So too would it not be hard for woman not to eat of The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil were it not for the cunning and
crafty serpent. At that time the serpent was to woman the most cunning and beautiful of the beasts of the field. The serpent
knew that if his words caressed the woman’s senses as a subtle perfume and he approached he gently he could make the
forbidden fruit desirable.
So the serpent appeared to Eve speaking persuasively and he was tall and handsome and wearing a multicolored coat.
“Did God really tell you that you can’t eat of any tree in the garden?” the serpent asked the woman. He was the most crafty
of all the animals God had created.
“God has said we can eat of all the fruit in the garden except from the tree in the center which is The Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil. Of all others we can eat, but if we eat of this tree, we surely will die.”
You will not surely die if you eat the fruit of the tree. God knows that if you eat of that fruit your eyes will be opened and like
God you will know good from evil.
Eve did not know how she was being carefully tempted by the serpent. She looked at the fruit again and thought to herself
that it was good, and she thought that if it would increase her wisdom she would like to taste of it. She reached out for the
fruit and plucked it from the tree. She then tasted of the fruit and while she ate the serpent left her to her meal.
Because she shared the world with her husband Eve said to herself she must share this new thing with Adam. She gave the
fruit to her husband who did not want to be without Eve and would share any fate that Eve share and so Adam ate of the
fruit.
But both did not die immediately. But they had given up eternal life. Also, both of their eyes were then open and they then
knew they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Still they felt shame and when
God called to them they hid in the bushes.
“Adam. Where are you?” God called.
I have hidden in the leaves because I am naked and ashamed.
“Who told you of your nakedness? Have you eaten of the forbidden fruit that I commanded you not eat?”
“The woman offered me the fruit, and I ate of it.” Said Adam.
“What is this you have done.” God asked the woman.
“The serpent deceived me and I ate of the fruit and shared it with my husband,” replied eve.”
So God said to the serpent, “because you have done this,
Cursed are you above all the livestock.
You will crawl on your belly
And you will eat dust
All the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your offspring and
Hers.
He will crush your head
And you will strike his heel.”
To Eve God said, “Did you forget you had a husband and that your actions would bring unhappiness to Adam as well as
yourself? That you will not forget you have a partner and a family that needs you, you will have more pain in childbearing
that your children shall be precious and you will not forget them or your husband. Because your children will need your
care, I shall punish your husband for your actions. You will watch him labor all his days and you shall listen to your husband
and be a partner to him. But always, from here after, lead him away from the temptation of evil not to temptation that will
bring a fall.”
To Adam God said. Because you were weak and listened to Eve and ate of the fruit you were commanded not to eat your
life shall be the hardest. Cursed is the ground because of you, no longer will you eat without toil. The land will offer you only
thorns and thistles. By the sweat of your brow and ache of your back will it be all the days of your life that you eat and feed
your family while the woman cares for your child. So it will be until you die and return to dust for from dust you came and to
dust you will return.
God made Adam and Eve clothes out of skins and God said, “Man has now become as we are with the knowledge of good
and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out and take from the tree of life that he would live forever.
So God banished all mankind from the Garden of Eden to the east God placed a cherubim swinging a flaming sword to
guard Eden and the way to the tree of life.
Cain and Able