So I found this article via a Facebook friend. The following comment is what I wrote on that friends wall. I felt it only appropriate to allow the author to read and respond to my criticism.
So, as black man who's, currently, very irreligious but was a Christian for 15 years, my perspective on this article may be different from that of the author's. While I think the author of this article has internalized the patriarchy inherent to many religious circles (be they Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc), I disagree with the author even more on her understanding of the Bible. There are 4 things in particular that really irked me about this article.
1. The author totally misunderstands the story of Adam and Eve. The quote "...just remember what
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3. The author is really arrogant! If you accept that God is omnipotent and omniscient and you accept that God created you, then you also accept that God created your freewill. And you also accept that not even God is powerful enough to go against your freewill. For this I call your attention to Deuteronomy 30:18-20 which says "This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now CHOOSE life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Even in the Old Testament God makes reference to the fact that you have a choice and he is not at liberty to make that choice for you. The fact that the author can tell you how to express your freewill in choosing who you will and won't pursue romantically, or otherwise, but God can't belies the author's arrogance.
4. Finally, my last comment is simply a warning. Beware of anyone who tells you they know God's will for your life. Again: if you accept that God is omniscient, then you accept that God knows his plan for your life. And if you accept that God is the "Alpha and Omega," "the beginning and the end," "the first and the last," "the
And the will therein lieth, which dieth not. Who knoweth the mysteries of the will, with its vigor? For God is but a great will pervading all things by nature of its intentness. Man doth not yield himself to the angles, nor unto death utterly, save only through the weakness of his feeble will.
4) This passage fits into the context of Genesis because it follows creation, which is where Genesis begins. At the beginning of Genesis, God is creating everything, including man. In Genesis 3, man's sin will change the perfect creation forever. God had created a perfect world in which He could walk and talk with man. Also, God had created the world in which He had provided for man's every need. In the garden, man did not work for his food nor did he have to wear clothes. After Genesis 3, none of this perfection existed anymore.
Biblical wisdom emphasis is another approach in which one can investigate to see what reigns to be important. Like the wisdom approach, biblical share in the importance of seeking wise counsel. Horton (2009) states that in the biblical approach several areas are important in determining spiritual discernment. These areas consist of decision being determined by the guidelines in the Bible, common sense, individual gifts, God has a plan but do not reveal it, sovereignty of God, and free to make choices (Horton, 2009). One may object to the fact that God would want us to do something but do not give us the tools or clues to do it. God being sovereign is an area that many can agree on. Gill, (2006) states that it is through the sovereignty of God which is presented through the Holy Spirit that allows for us to understand God’s will for our life. Gill (2006) also implement the wheel of life for the coaching process whereas God is at the center. I highly believe that nothing happens without God ordaining it to happen. God is in control of all things. Roman 8:28 states that God works all things together for those who love him and who are called according to his purpose (NIV). Therefore God is in control and guiding us towards his plan or purpose for our lives.
“Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.” (Doren) Perhaps the foremost purpose of the novel is to illustrate the difference between shaming someone in public and allowing him or her to suffer the consequences of an unjust act privately. “Sin and knowledge are linked in the Judeo-Christian tradition.” (Lei) The Bible begins with the story of Adam and Eve, who were expelled from the Garden of Eden for eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As a result of their knowledge, Adam and Eve are made aware of their humanness, that which separates them from the divine and from other creatures. Once expelled from the Garden of Eden, they are forced to toil and to procreate—two
Chewing Blackbones’ Indian myth entitled "Old Man and Old Woman" is so similar to the well-known creation story of "Adam and Eve" from the Christian Bible that some readers see them as essentially the same. I do not, and a close examination reveals that the two stories differ in very important ways.
When approached with a readers responds critique, one is reminded of the biblical story of Adam and Eve, the creation of man. The story of Adam and Eve happens in Genesis chapter 2 and 3. Long story short, god made Adam and eve to look after Eden, he told them to never eat from the tree of knowledge. A serpent, Satan, persuaded eve to eat the fruit of knowledge, and she persuaded Adam to do the same, when god found out they were banned from Eden.
Many people want to know what God is like. One of his characteristics is that he is the supreme ruler, who created everyone and everything in this world (Psalm 97). This is the Christian worldview of God. He is three persons: God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Houdmann). He is also just, merciful, and loving towards all his creatures. Because he is all these things, God has given us humans, his creation, free will. With this free will, comes decisions that can either make us good or evil. Depending on if someone was good in life, he will go to heaven, or if he was evil, he will go to hell (Ezekiel 18). Now with the free will, humans decide what they want to do, and it is in their nature to be selfish. They will always strive to make their life better, choosing choices in which they will be benefited before others.
The classic tale of Adam and Eve is famous, not only with Christians but with people worldwide. This tale is found in the Christian bible and depicts the creation of humanity is the same tell that Michelangelo told with paint instead of words when he made “The Creation of Adam”, regarded as a masterpiece by most. There is much to analyze and read into when one talks of The Creation of Adam, but before that can be done, there is background information that must be known.
I found this article to be very interesting due to the fact that it brought up points that I had never thought of before in regards to the Bible. The part that stuck out to me the most was when just a single Bible verse is picked out it may alter the meaning when it isn’t read in its full context. Just because a specific verse makes it seems like the whole book is that ways doesn’t mean that is the case at all. By looking at the whole book and not just a verse it will show more about the whole story and the message the author is trying to get through to the reader. The main idea that I am going to take away from this article is be sure to consider the context when it comes to reading and using any quotes from the Bible.
In Genesis III, the story of original sin is told, where Adam and Eve fall from the grace of God and into the everyday sufferings of mankind. It can be easy to interpret Eve as the greater sinner of the pair, and often, scholarly works of early and medieval Christianity, and other religions influenced by the Old Testament, has done that. One can see how this line of thinking is attractive to those analyzing Genesis as Eve is in fact the original perpetrator of the sin, and the one who gets Adam to enact the same sin as her, bringing about the end of human bliss with God. However, some in the theological community would argue that it is in fact Adam that is the greater sinner of the pair. Now while the reasoning in early Christianity can be fairly sexist in tone, it is very credible in that it uses direct biblical evidence as the structuring for its argument. The above would be an important conclusion to come to in the theological community, as it would remove centuries worth of blame on the woman when referring to original sin and the downfall of man in the eyes of God. In the following paragraphs, the historical perspective on the failings of Eve will be discussed, followed by the argument for why Adam is in fact the one to blame in this story. I will conclude on a personal analysis and reflection on which of the pair seems more to blame in the context of Biblical teachings, as well as what that conclusion would mean for women within these communities.
Within this book review we will discuss many characteristics of the author and the book. Who he is, where his stance on the subject is, his motives, and techniques that were used to open the readers mind to understand his perspective on Genesis one.
First question I will talk about is why didn’t God only create free beings who use their freedom for good? We all see good and evil around us every day. The sources of good and evil are independent and eternal. God made everyone good, but it’s the induvial choice to do good or bad. God is fair, but sometimes life isn’t and that’s what makes it hard to understand. God is good but people do bad things and that’s what makes them bad. It’s up to us day to day to the right things, god gave us all the tools to do good and bad but it’s the induvial choice on whether they will or not. We make mistakes and that can cost dearly.
Adam and Eve is a well know story in the book of Genesis. There are many versions of this religious story, and many interpretation that go along with it. Focusing on the Hebrew versions of Genesis 1 and 2, comparing the two similar creation stories of Eve & Adam, and look into how the Early Christianity New Testament affected the way woman were seen as well as treated. In the book 'Eve & Adam ' by Kvam Schearing and Ziegler, it focuses on Genesis 1; the stories of Creation.
God also gave us something that he didn’t have to give us. He gave us the power to make our own decisions, free will. Everyday we make decisions, big or small. The small decisions like what to wear and what to eat are not as important in our development as a person as who we surround ourselves with, our friends. At one point in my life, I surrounded myself with the wrong group of people. As a consequence of being around people with questionable values, my image suffered greatly. People make decisions sometimes that they are going to hurt someone. These are life altering decisions. These decisions can really hurt your relationship with God and with other people that you surround yourself with. Sach’s, he brings up another great point by saying, “We are really free to be, free to ourselves, different from God. The real freedom of the world is what God most intensely desires and is its greatest good. For, only in freedom can there be a real relationship of love in which each of the lovers takes delight in the mystery of the other.” (Sachs 27). Later in that same section, he says, “On its deepest level, it is the capacity and responsibility to be in loving relationship with
God is an end in himself, not a means to an end; value in and of self.