Hi everyone!
I was just curious about everyone’s opinion on Adam and Eve. Do you interpret the story as literal? As in, they were the first two people, the Apple was an actual Apple, etc.
Or do you think it’s more allegorical? If so, how do you interpret what Adam and the Apple mean? Why do you think humans sin?
The fruit literally eaten was "good for food" -and "to make one wise" -but the tree of life is obedience to God alone -whereas the tree of the knowledge of good and evil makes us wise by experiencing both good and evil. Eating the perfectly good literal fruit was not the issue -it was that God said not to do so. Their sin was the beginning of God showing them he was who he said he was -by all of human experience (after Adam). Before that Adam and Eve didn't know God from Adam
.
Those who wrote scripture -especially the "begat"s -definitely believed they were real.
I think it "historically" likely that Adam and Eve were real people -but what is commonly believed about them -and Genesis -isn't actually biblical.
Adam is called "the first man" elsewhere in scripture -and Eve "the mother of all the living" -HOWEVER, the word "MAN" used in Genesis is not necessarily the same as the word "MAN" we now use.
Adam was the first like Adam. Scripture DOES NOT state that their were no other "humanoids" -or even "people" -at the time Adam was directly created -and it is also interesting to note that Eve was made FROM ADAM'S MATERIAL.
What is stated in the bible is that Cain went out of Eden -to Nod -and found a wife. He was also worried that anyone else who found him would kill him. All of that requires that other "people" existed outside of Eden -but they were not of Adam's line. Some believe the "Nephilim" (giants/tyrants) were the offspring of humans and angels, but scripture indicates that angels are not "given in marriage" -which equates to simply becoming "one flesh"/having sex in the bible.
That is likely the differentiation between "sons of God" (Adam's line) and "daughters of men" (other lines).
Adam was the first TO BE MADE IN THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD -with the potential to live forever -and was the beginning of God making "man" into the children of God -eventually to be made spirits. Eve was the mother "of all the living".
We may similarly use the word "man" -and it can refer even to different species. Early man, modern man, etc.
"Let us make man in our image" can also mean... 'let us make man' -already living and breeding -'in our image' -by building in the the character necessary to become immortal without making a mess of eternity.
Though Adam was directly created, it does not mean God did not have a reference in/from previous creative activity and/or "humanoids" reproducing "after their kind" -which means lack of direct lineage could be the ONLY difference in his DNA vs other "humanoids" -unless there was some specific design tweak which made Adam's line better prepared to be affected by what God had planned for them -and to eventually become the children of God. If God were able to design humans who reproduced after their kind, he would also be able to create on directly -or tweak the design in any way at any time.
What the bible does say is that their was some sort of thing similar to an extinction event which required the RENEWAL of the earth as described in Genesis.
Again -God would have had reference for creating those animals IN THE PAST.
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth" -a very vague statement -and no time reference or frame is given.
The next line should read (check the definition of the word usually translated "was") "and the earth HAD BECOME formless and void" -or "waste and ruin" TO AN UNSPECIFIED DEGREE -except where few specifics are given.
A general time reference IS given by the fact that Lucifer -who was perfect when created and eventually rebelled -had ALREADY rebelled by the time he interacted with Adam and Eve -which means he had already "ascend"ed "above the heights of the clouds" -and had already been cast back down to Earth.
The sinning angels "kept not their former estate" -which is likely how the earth became waste and ruin (at least that time) -and needed to be renewed in preparation for Adam, etc.
Notice that when the "spirit of God" (the Word creating by such) moved upon the face of the waters, the waters WERE ALREADY THERE.
What is described next is not the initial creation of the earth -or celestial bodies.
The water and land had to be separated (reversal of ice melt?) -Light had to be provided for some unspecified reason (atmosphere blocking light or a dimmed sun?).
The JUXTAPOSITION of various celestial bodies in relation to the earth are then corrected.
“Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16
God made two
great lights—the greater light
to govern the day and the lesser light
to govern the night.
That does not say it was their initial creation -and is similar to saying "I made the candle to shine its light upon mine desk" -which could be by taking an already-burning candle and moving it, etc.
Anyway -we tend to read scripture and get from it what we have heard already -rather than really studying it -and what the definitions of the words allow.
In summary -I believe Adam and Eve were real -but that has nothing to do with the age of the Earth, evolution, humans/humanoids on earth previously, etc.