The whole serpent thing is fascinating. I remember way back in the nineties, when I was an undergrad, my professor thinking that there was originally some sort of older, non-Jewish myth about “how the serpent lost his legs” and that this was incorporated into the Garden of Eden myth to try and explain how things are the way that they are. I think that a lot of these situations where the compilers/editors are trying to put distance between god and the “tempting” is when they, like so many people throughout the ages, are struggling to comprehend why bad stuff happens if God is all powerful and all-loving.
These questions are only important to Christians. Yhwh of the Hebrew bible is never a tri-omni deity, or even the only god. He is their god among many and can be as tricky and unpleasant as is required. The Hebrew bible and early Judaism is henotheistic, not monotheistic. Christians later claimed their God to be all good and so must explain away all the problems that arise in the text. The serpent, which is never associated with Satan, is simply a narrative tool. The larger question, for Christians, is how do we explain away the garden story if God knows everything and can do anything? The obvious answer is that God wanted everything to occur as it did and manipulated it. Including punishing Adam & Eve for something they did not know was wrong and then, completely arbitrarily, making all future humans a party to the non-crime and subsequent punishment. The real answer, of course, is that it is merely a myth and that is why the story is so full of holes.
Isaiah 45:5 5 I am God, the only God there is. Besides me there are no real gods. I'm the one who armed you for this work, though you don't even know me
@@abcisneros91 This must be seen as simple rhetoric, like saying my sports team is the only real team and the rest are all a joke. If we take it to be God's literal word and that there really are no other real gods, we must then explain away the many references to them in the bible that specifically call them gods. A reader may choose to think these other gods are demons or false gods for some other reason but that would be a personal choice of interpretation and is not supported by the text. This is an excellent example of why we should not see the Hebrew bible as univocal or of having a single message or purpose. If we place such burdens upon the text, we are forced to explain away and excuse so many contradictions and instances that do not match up. It is invalid and dangerous to apply later dogma to our reading of the bible simply because it matches what we believe today.
@theoutspokenhumanist Psalms 115:3-9 NLT [3] Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. [4] Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. [5] They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. [6] They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. [7] They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. [8] And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. [9] O Israel, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield.
@@abcisneros91 These are the words of men. Men who held certain beliefs. Other men believed other things. None of them were able to show that their beliefs were true and all other beliefs were false. Today, you believe in your god and I do not. Neither of us can prove our position to be true. You have a perfect right to believe whatever you feel is best but you do not have the right to pretend those beliefs are facts, unless you have verifiable evidence to prove it. And you do not.
The whole serpent thing is fascinating. I remember way back in the nineties, when I was an undergrad, my professor thinking that there was originally some sort of older, non-Jewish myth about “how the serpent lost his legs” and that this was incorporated into the Garden of Eden myth to try and explain how things are the way that they are. I think that a lot of these situations where the compilers/editors are trying to put distance between god and the “tempting” is when they, like so many people throughout the ages, are struggling to comprehend why bad stuff happens if God is all powerful and all-loving.
Isaiah 45:7
God's goal was for Adam and Eve to leave behind animal life and ascend to their new position as Humans.
These questions are only important to Christians. Yhwh of the Hebrew bible is never a tri-omni deity, or even the only god. He is their god among many and can be as tricky and unpleasant as is required. The Hebrew bible and early Judaism is henotheistic, not monotheistic. Christians later claimed their God to be all good and so must explain away all the problems that arise in the text.
The serpent, which is never associated with Satan, is simply a narrative tool. The larger question, for Christians, is how do we explain away the garden story if God knows everything and can do anything? The obvious answer is that God wanted everything to occur as it did and manipulated it. Including punishing Adam & Eve for something they did not know was wrong and then, completely arbitrarily, making all future humans a party to the non-crime and subsequent punishment.
The real answer, of course, is that it is merely a myth and that is why the story is so full of holes.
Isaiah 45:5
5 I am God, the only God there is. Besides me there are no real gods. I'm the one who armed you for this work, though you don't even know me
@@abcisneros91 This must be seen as simple rhetoric, like saying my sports team is the only real team and the rest are all a joke.
If we take it to be God's literal word and that there really are no other real gods, we must then explain away the many references to them in the bible that specifically call them gods.
A reader may choose to think these other gods are demons or false gods for some other reason but that would be a personal choice of interpretation and is not supported by the text.
This is an excellent example of why we should not see the Hebrew bible as univocal or of having a single message or purpose. If we place such burdens upon the text, we are forced to explain away and excuse so many contradictions and instances that do not match up.
It is invalid and dangerous to apply later dogma to our reading of the bible simply because it matches what we believe today.
@theoutspokenhumanist
Psalms 115:3-9 NLT
[3] Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. [4] Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. [5] They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. [6] They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. [7] They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. [8] And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. [9] O Israel, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield.
@@abcisneros91 These are the words of men.
Men who held certain beliefs.
Other men believed other things.
None of them were able to show that their beliefs were true and all other beliefs were false.
Today, you believe in your god and I do not. Neither of us can prove our position to be true.
You have a perfect right to believe whatever you feel is best but you do not have the right to pretend those beliefs are facts, unless you have verifiable evidence to prove it. And you do not.