Tag: christianity

Do You Believe Adam and Eve Were Historical Figures, Part 2

On By davidandersontheauthorIn Bible Study, PhilosophyLeave a comment

In response to my last post, I’ve received requests for Biblical references to the details of the cosmology of Genesis. If you haven’t seen it, I made a table of details about the creation of the Universe according to Genesis in one column and science in the other.

The Flammarion engraving is a wood engraving by an unknown artist that first appeared in Camille Flammarion’s L’atmosphère: météorologie populaire (1888). The image depicts a man crawling under the edge of the sky, depicted as if it were a solid hemisphere, to look at the mysterious Empyrean beyond. The caption underneath the engraving (not shown here) translates to “A medieval missionary tells that he has found the point where heaven and Earth meet…”
GenesisScience
The earth is approximately 6000-7000 years oldThe earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old
The universe is approximately 6000-7000 years oldThe universe is about 14 billion years old
There is a dome above the atmosphere and a large body of water above the domeNo water, no dome, just dark empty space (or dark matter) above the atmosphere
The moon, sun, planets, and stars all move under or inside the domeThe moon is about 238,000 miles from earth, the sun 93,000,000 miles, the planets millions/billions of miles, and the stars light years away. Again, no dome.
The moon, sun, planets, and stars all orbit around the earthThe moon orbits the earth, the earth and other planets orbit the sun, and the stars are all outside the solar system
The earth is flat, there are pillars at the ends of the earth that hold up the sky-domeThe earth is a sphere, there are no ends of the earth
The first humans appeared 6,000-7,000 years agoThe first humans appeared anywhere from 300,000 to 700,000 years ago
No other hominid species are mentionedFossils of several other hominid species have been uncovered
The first life was plants. Microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and amoebae are never mentionedThe first life was microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and amoebae. Over time, they gained complexity to evolve into the forms of life named in Genesis 1
Adam lived to the ripe old age of 930No 900+ year-old skeletons have ever been uncovered

If you are interested in seeing references for the left column, here they are. I would also recommend this article, which explains the whole cosmology of the Bible pretty well, with diagrams https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/what-is-the-firmament-definition-and-meaning-in-the-bible.html

6,000-7,000 years ago for everything.

In a literal reading of Genesis 1, the creation of the universe, i.e., heaven and earth and everything in them, happens in six days. Literalists insist that these are 24-hour days because the activity for each day concludes with “evening and morning,” so all of it was made at the same time. The 6000-7000 year figure is what I’ve heard from people going through the genealogies to calculate the first year.

The dome that holds up the waters above: Genesis 1:6-8

The word in Hebrew is raki`a. Depending on the translation, it might say firmament, vault, or expanse. Whatever term you use, it has to be solid in order to hold up the waters above. It says on the second day of creation, God divided the waters above from the waters below, and commanded a raki`a to hold up the waters above. This was in preparation for dry land to appear.

They also believed there were windows in the vault, so rain or snow could fall (Genesis 7:11; Psalm 148:4; Isaiah 24:18). When I first read the flood story and saw this,

… the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened,

(Genesis 7:11b KJV)

I thought the windows of heaven were metaphorical. No, when Genesis was written, they believed there were literal windows in the “firmament” to send rain on the earth. What happens when you open all the windows at once? How long can you tread water?

Plants were the first life forms on earth (Genesis 1:11). Fish and birds were on the fifth day (Genesis 1:20) while land animals were on the sixth (Genesis 1:25-26).

The sun, moon, stars, and other planets (back then, they didn’t distinguish between planets and stars) were placed “in the vault of the sky” (Genesis 1:15). That’s why they can talk about stars falling from the sky (Mark 13:25; Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 6:13). That’s also why they believed everything orbited around the earth.

Pillars holding up the sky come mostly from general cosmology of the time, but they are mentioned in Job 26:11 (cf. 2 Samuel 22:8).

Adam died at 930 years old (Genesis 5:5). It seemed most people lived into 700’s to 900’s before the flood, then lifespans gradually came down to “normal.” But as I said, with all the old skeletons we’ve found, none are even close to those early Biblical lifespans.

Fun fact: The oldest person in the Bible was Methuselah, who lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27). No one lived to 1,000. Rabbinic commentaries say this goes back to God’s warning that “in the day you eat it, you will die” (Genesis 2:17). Psalm 90:4 says 1,000 years are a day in God’s sight, so even with their long lives, everyone in those early generations died within “a day” (1.000 years).

***

Questions about the creation account in Genesis are bound to come up when you start learning about what is considered “common knowledge” in the scientific community. Everything in the right column of the table is common knowledge. For some people, that messes with their theology. But what I have found is in science, nothing gets to be “common knowledge” without a whole lot of evidence to back it up. Science doesn’t care about belief. It only cares about evidence, and that’s a good thing. You may have a hard time believing that now, but decades of faith deconstruction followed by reconstruction have convinced me of one thing. Your salvation does not depend on believing everything in the book of Genesis is literal. It is still possible to read it in a nonliteral way and still get meaning out of it.

If you need an example, I wrote more on the heavenly bodies back when we had that eclipse in 2017. I talk about the meaning of the creation of the heavenly bodies beyond a literal reading of Genesis 1:14-19. https://davidandersontheauthor.com/2017/09/05/and-evening-and-morning-were-the-first-day-or-was-it-the-fourth/

Do You Believe Adam and Eve Were Historical Figures?

On By davidandersontheauthorIn Bible Study, Philosophy1 Comment
Earth at center. Mountains to the east and west act like pillars to hold up the "Firmament" ("rokia" in Hebrew). "Stars, Moon, and Sun" are all beneath the firmament. There are "Upper Seas or Waters above the Firmament." "Chambers in Heavens" sit on top of the firmament. "Windows" and "portals" appear at various places in the firmament. Below the earth, there is "Sheol" and "Fountains of the deep." "Tehom or Great Deep" is below that.
Diagram of ancient cosmology from Ralph V. Chamberlin. “The Early Hebrew Conception of the Universe”. The White and Blue. Vol XIII no. 11, Dec. 24 1909. pp. 84-88

A friend in a Facebook group asked this question. I normally try to avoid questions like this, but I gave my answer. The friend wanted to know why. That could take a while, certainly more than an instant message. So I’m going to answer as concisely as possible, keeping in mind when you are messing with people’s theology (as one of my former pastors would say), you need to tread lightly.

They say we have to believe it

I used to believe they were. Not only that, I believed they had to be real people. Within the Bible, the central narrative begins with the creation of the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden. Life was perfect until they ate the forbidden fruit, lost their innocence, and were exiled from the Garden. This one act tainted the entire human race with Original Sin.

But God promised them one day, a Messiah would come who would defeat the serpent who had tempted them into disobedience, and restore God’s favor to the human race (Genesis 3:15). Christians believe Jesus was that Messiah. Jews are still looking for that Messiah. But either way, the promise of a Messiah was first made to Adam and Eve.

As a Christian, the implications of Adam and Eve not being historical were disturbing at first. The reason Jesus came to earth and allowed himself to be crucified was supposed to be to remove Original Sin. If Adam and Eve weren’t “real people,” there was no Fall. If there was no Fall, there was no Original Sin. If there was no Original Sin, why did Jesus have to be crucified? And that begs the question, was Jesus really crucified, and does it matter? Questions like these make some people go through faith deconstruction, so I understand the resistance of some of my fellow Christians to a non-literal reading of Genesis 1-2.

To answer that, I’ll say that whether Adam and Eve were “real people” or not does not change my views about Jesus. I don’t need a literal Adam and Eve in a literal Garden eating a literal fruit to know I am a sinner in need of a savior. I just have to read the teachings of Jesus to see that I fall short of the glory of God. How did I get this way if Adam and Eve were not “real people”? I don’t know. I just know this sin nature is in me, and it’s real. And to me, Jesus offers the only hope of overcoming it. That’s why I’m a Christian.

I’ve been through a whole lot of deconstruction and reconstruction. I know how scary it can be when you’re in the middle of it. Along the way, I’ve learned not everything in the Bible should be read literally. Reluctantly, I had to acknowledge that scientific evidence does not support a literal reading of Genesis 1-2. I’m also afraid that unless we make peace with science, the church will not last through the end of the century. So I’ll start with the scientific evidence and why I could and needed to accept evidence over dogma.

Scientific evidence

Perhaps the biggest challenge to Adam and Eve is the Theory of Evolution, which many Christians just flat out reject. An entire industry has been built around denying evolution. I remember in college someone telling me how the suborbital ridges of Neanderthals, or something like that, proved evolution. I said, “So you’re saying I’m supposed to believe in suborbital ridges more than the Bible?” If it had been only suborbital ridges (don’t quote me on that term), I could have kept my belief.

But even if you remove the Theory of Evolution, there are more differences between science and Genesis you have to contend with. Here are a few.

GenesisScience
The earth is approximately 6000-7000 years oldThe earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old
The universe is approximately 6000-7000 years oldThe universe is about 14 billion years old
There is a dome above the atmosphere and a large body of water above the domeNo water, no dome, just dark empty space (or dark matter) above the atmosphere
The moon, sun, planets, and stars all move under or inside the domeThe moon is about 238,000 miles from earth, the sun 93,000,000 miles, the planets millions/billions of miles, and the stars light years away. Again, no dome.
The moon, sun, planets, and stars all orbit around the earthThe moon orbits the earth, the earth and other planets orbit the sun, and the stars are all outside the solar system
The earth is flat, there are pillars at the ends of the earth that hold up the sky-domeThe earth is a sphere, there are no ends of the earth
The first humans appeared 6,000-7,000 years agoThe first humans appeared anywhere from 300,000 to 700,000 years ago
No other hominid species are mentionedFossils of several other hominid species have been uncovered
The first life was plants. Microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and amoebae are never mentionedThe first life was microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and amoebae. Over time, they gained complexity to evolve into the forms of life named in Genesis 1
Adam lived to the ripe old age of 930No 900+ year-old skeletons have ever been uncovered

That’s a whole lot more than suborbital ridges. Add all of this up (this is actually just skimming the surface) and I just can’t accept a literal reading of Genesis 1-11 anymore. I tried. I really did. I thought if anyone or anything contradicted the Bible in any way, I had to believe the Bible, no matter what. But while the Bible is based on belief, science is based on evidence. That is why science works.

Everything in the right column of the table above is based on evidence, not belief. Anyone who wants to investigate the evidence can do so. If anyone has evidence to change anything in the right column, and not just Bible verses, show it. The scientific community has adjusted its views whenever evidence demanded it. The way they view dinosaurs today is not the same as what I learned in school. Why? New evidence demanded they adjust their views. Scientists can adjust their views in light of new evidence, and the church needs to do the same. If we don’t, I believe we will lose credibility with future generations.

But the Bible says …

Why is there such a discrepancy between the Biblical account of creation and science? The Bible was written at a time before telescopes, microscopes, the fossil record, the scientific method, or the thousands of satellites we have put into orbit that did not crash into a giant dome and are not swimming through water. It was written before knowledge of DNA, the speed of light, tectonic plates, and atomic theory. The way they described the structure of the heavens and the earth was basically “common knowledge” at the time. If we had lived back then, no one would have had any problem believing the Genesis account of creation.

At some point, that began to change. It probably started when Galileo looked through the telescope and said, “Hey, we were wrong. The earth revolves around the sun, not the other way around.” For that, he was threatened with excommunication for contradicting the Bible. He officially recanted because he couldn’t stand being separated from the church, but he could not unsee what he saw. And millions of people since have looked through telescopes and confirmed he was right.

Galileo’s view of the Bible had to adjust to account for this new evidence. And so did everyone else, because anyone could look through the telescope and see what Galileo saw. Today, we readily accept that the earth revolves around the sun, so it’s hard to understand just how upsetting this was to people at the time. If you try to debate evolution with a creationist, you’ll get an idea.

But Galileo never stopped believing the basics of his Christian faith. Go through the tenets of the Apostle’s Creed, and he would have checked every box. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Check. And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord. Check. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. Check. Suffered under Pontius Pilate. Check. And so on. Go through the whole list, and he would have said, “I believe all of that. All I’m saying is when I look through the telescope, I see something different from what you’re telling me.”

The church’s response was, “Don’t look through the telescope.” That approach did not work then, and it won’t work now.

A view of space, one star illuminating a nebula, another bigger star illuminating a nebula, other stars appearing as tiny dots
The Universe post-Galileo. Photo by Frank Cone on Pexels.com

Conclusion

There is a lot more I could say, but I’ll try to sum things up. Some people cling to the left side of the table because they are afraid if it is not true, then nothing else in the Bible is true. Some people think because the left side is not true, nothing else in the Bible is true. I think they are both making the same mistake.

The Bible is not and should never be used as a science textbook. It is a book to help us begin to understand the nature of God and teach us how to love our neighbor as ourselves. Questions about the origins and nature of the Universe should be left to science. Scientists have much better tools for answering those questions than any religious texts. If science says the earth revolves around the sun, believe it because they have the evidence to back it up.

If science disproves a particular religious belief about the physical universe, then I recommend following Galileo’s example. Take in the new information and determine if it is compatible with your old beliefs. If not, then adjust accordingly. Maybe it simply means you don’t read it literally but metaphorically. I think the story of Adam and Eve is true in its portrayal of human nature. You tell your children not to go somewhere, and suddenly they want to go there. What do they do when they screw up? Cover their butts and blame someone else. And when you compare it with other creation myths in that part of the world, you learn a lot about how they viewed their relationship to God.

The good news is science has never disproved anything in the Apostle’s Creed, at least as far as I can tell. So let science do what science does. The Bible is not a substitute for a telescope.

I know it sounds good to say you believe the Bible over science or evidence. But denying evidence is denying reality, and I don’t think that’s how God wants us to live. Our medical technology is so much better today than in Biblical times. Why is that? Because modern medicine is based on science.

Would you trust a doctor whose medical textbook was written before the discovery of viruses, bacteria, or other microscopic pathogens? I guarantee if they tell me they don’t believe in viruses or bacteria because they aren’t mentioned in the Bible, I’m walking out.

A photo of a poster showing the Golden Rule in the sacred writings of 13 faiths.

The Distilled Wisdom of the Human Race

On By davidandersontheauthorIn World Religions2 Comments

Hillel was a great rabbi of ancient Judaism. Scholars believe he lived sometime between 110 BC and 10 AD. He founded a school, and his name was well-known to Jews then and even today. One story says a Gentile came to Hillel and said he would convert to Judaism if he could teach him the entire Torah while he stood on one foot. Hillel said, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to another. That is the entire Torah; the rest is its interpretation. Go study” (Talmud, Shabbat 31a).

Can’t you see him stand on one foot, and a few seconds later, he’s like, “What just happened?” For Hillel, this is a mike drop moment, because he’s won a convert. Then eight days later, a moyle shows up to the Gentile’s house and says, “I’m here to perform your circumcision.”

Aah!

Poor guy just had no idea who he was messing with when he challenged Hillel.

Don’t Do Bad = Do Good?

If you’re familiar with Hillel’s teachings, it’s obvious Jesus learned a thing or two from him. It may have influenced him when he said this: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).

You probably heard this called the Golden Rule. Some people might say Jesus stole this from Hillel, but they are not exactly the same. One is stated negatively, and the other positively. One says, “Don’t do anything bad,” and the other says, “Only do good.” To not do bad, you can just stay at home watching TV. You’re not doing anything hateful to anybody. But to do good, you have to, you know, do something. It requires you to be active, not passive. Unless we’re in a pandemic. Then, staying home and not spreading it is doing good.

I’m not knocking Hillel’s way of saying it. It is likely a distillation of commandments like, “Do not kill; do not steal; do not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Is it hateful to you if someone steals from you or lies about you (especially in court) or kills you? Then don’t do it to another. If you manage to get through life without doing anything harmful to anyone, you have done very well.

But in my view, you really can’t say anyone stole this idea, because it shows up in every major religion. Some express it negatively, and some express it positively, but all of them have this concept of treating others the way you want to be treated.

Golden Rule Poster by Paul McKenna of Scarboro Missions.jpg
By <a href=”//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Boyd_Reimer” title=”User:Boyd Reimer”>Boyd Reimer</a> – <span class=”int-own-work” lang=”en”>Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Many Religions, One Golden Rule

Hinduism: This is the sum of duty: Do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you (Mahabharata 5:1517).

Buddhism: Do not offend others, as you would not want to be offended (Udana Varga 5.18).

Taoism: The successes of your neighbor and their losses will be to you as if they were your own (T’ai Shan Kan Ying P’ien 13:18).

Confucianism: Is there any rule that one should follow all of one’s life? Yes. The rule of the Gentle Goodness: That which we do not wish to be done to us, we do not do to others (Analects 15:24).

Islam: None of you shall be true believers unless you wish for your brother the same that you wish for yourself (An-Nawawi’s Forty Hadith 13).

Sikhism: I am a stranger to no one, and no one is a stranger to me. I am a friend to all (Guru Granth Sahib, p. 1299).

Baha’i: Lay not on any soul a load that you would not wish to be laid on you, and desire not for anyone the things you would not desire for yourself (Baha’ullah, Gleanings 66:8).

Zoroastrianism: Do not unto others whatever is injurious to yourself (Shayast na-Shayast 13:29).

Jainism: One should treat all creatures in the world as one would like to be treated (Mahavira, Sutrakritanga 1.11.33).

Unitarian Universalism: [We affirm and promote] the inherent worth and dignity of every person (First Principle; cf. Second through Fourth Principles).

Stoicism: “Treat your inferior as you would wish your superior to treat you” (Seneca, Letter 47).

Native American: We are as much alive as we keep the earth alive (Chief Dan George).

One Rule to Follow

I want you to notice not just that this idea appears in every religion but how important they say it is. Confucius said it is the one rule you should always follow. The Hadith says you are not a true believer unless you follow this rule. The Mahabharata says it is the sum of duty. Hillel said it is the entire Torah, and Jesus said it is the Law and the Prophets.

You might be thinking it can’t really be that simple. All of these religious texts have a lot more commands than just “treat others the way you want to be treated.” But do they assign the same importance to the other commands as this one? Hillel said, this is the Torah. Everything else is interpretation. In other words, everything else in the sacred texts is there to teach you how to treat others the way we want to be treated.

Why do we need to be taught? This rule is as simple as it gets. Yes, it’s simple but not easy. If everyone followed that rule, we wouldn’t need 99% of the rules and laws we have, religious or secular. But as Paul said, laws increased because transgressions increased. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not commit adultery. Do not covet what is your neighbor’s. Do not take a bribe. Do not commit fraud. Do not take away food, clothing, shelter, water, medical care, or any basic necessity someone needs to live. If we all just treated everyone else the way we want to be treated, we wouldn’t need any of those laws, because we wouldn’t do those things.

But people’s selfish desires compete with the Golden Rule. So every society and every religion creates more laws to identify transgressions. But it all starts with the Golden Rule. Every major religion or philosophy has recognized that is the one rule everyone needs to follow, regardless of religion, nationality, race, or politics.

Can We Start Over?

Huston Smith, a renowned scholar of world religions, once said, “If we take the world’s enduring religions at their best, we discover the distilled wisdom of the human race.”

Is this not the distilled wisdom of the human race? The Golden Rule? The rule of Gentle Goodness? The sum of duty? The entire Torah and the prophets? The one rule that makes you a true believer? Treat others the way you want to be treated. You don’t even have to be part of any religion to do that. What if instead of arguing about which religion is right or wrong, we started with that?

Think about how all these different people—Buddha, Mohamed, Hillel, Moses, Zoroaster, Confucius, Jesus, and others, separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years, most of whom did not know of each other—dedicated their lives to finding the best way for humans to live, and all came to the same conclusion. They may not have agreed on everything, but they did agree on this: Treat others the way you want to be treated.

What if we all worked on getting that right first? Then and only then will we talk about what makes us different. I don’t know about you, but that is the kind of world I would like to live in.

Now at the risk of contradicting myself, I believe Jesus did something with this rule that no one else did, at least as far as I can tell. That will be my next post.