Adam and Eve

[sealoch]

The story of Adam and Eve is not to be taken literal then what is the moral that is supposed to be gleaned from this jem?

 

[davidv]

The story of Adam and Eve is not to be taken literal then what is the moral that is supposed to be gleaned from this jem?

According to Church teaching the literal meaning of the story must be understood before the moral meaning can be properly discovered. Note bolding (mine) in the selection below.

The senses of Scripture

115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two *senses *of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.

116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation**: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal**."83
117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God’s plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.

1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ’s victory and also of Christian Baptism.84
2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written “for our instruction”.85 3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, “leading”). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.86

 

[sealoch]

According to Church teaching the literal meaning of the story must be understood before the moral meaning can be properly discovered. Note bolding (mine) in the selection below.

That is not an answer sir. It either is or is not a literal story and as it is likely not. What is the moral.

 

[Deep_Roots]

God created everything good.

We chose egotism in rebellion against God’s way.

Thus, we, Icons of God, became marred and disfigured by sin.

 

[Robertanthony]

God created everything good.

We chose egotism in rebellion against God’s way.

Thus, we, Icons of God, became marred and disfigured by sin.

Don’t say “we”, say Adam and Eve, our first parents etc., but don’t say “we”, unless you were around, say “they”. The tree could have stood there to maintain an appearance of free-will, God didn’t have to let the serpent, or whatever it/he was, do the tempting. Adam and Eve sounds a lot like Pandora, a kindergarten explanation for an unbelievably complex world. Another one one would be: rain doesn’t come from a cycle of evaporation and condensation, but it really is angels’ or Jesus’ tears.

 

[Deep_Roots]

Don’t say “we”, say Adam and Eve, our first parents etc., but don’t say “we”, unless you were around, say “they”. The tree could have stood there to maintain an appearance of free-will, God didn’t have to let the serpent, or whatever it/he was, do the tempting. Adam and Eve sounds a lot like Pandora, a kindergarten explanation for an unbelievably complex world.

I say “we” as in “humans.”

Since I don’t believe in a literal Adam and Eve, the vagueness of a collective-metaphor will have to do.

 

[davidv]

That is not an answer sir. It either is or is not a literal story and as it is likely not. What is the moral.

It was an answer. It may have been one you didn’t like.

To repeat, the story has a literal meaning. Some of these literal meanings include:

1. Humans are created by God, in His image and likeness.
2. Sin entered the world when humans believed, and acted on, the words of satan instead of the words of God.
3. Sin has consequences.
4. God promised to provide for the overthrough of satan.
5. above is also a moral meaning.

 

[grannymh]

The story of Adam and Eve is not to be taken literal then what is the moral that is supposed to be gleaned from this jem?

I cannot speak for other Christian Faiths.

Catholicism teaches the literal reality of two first persons biblically known as Adam and Eve. Some of the Catholic doctrines related to that lovable couple are found in post 7. However, for Catholics not every single verse is to meant to be automatically literal. Consequently, the first three chapters of Genesis are a mixed bag which includes some figurative language. The Catholic Church is in the business of sorting out the truths.

Some people prefer to avoid the literal reality of Adam and Original Sin. Usually these people substitute some sort of “moral teaching”. May I respectfully suggest that if you are looking for the “the moral that is supposed to be gleaned from this jem”, then you should ask those people.

 

[Deep_Roots]

I cannot speak for other Christian Faiths.

Catholicism teaches the literal reality of two first persons biblically known as Adam and Eve…

Some people prefer to avoid the literal reality of Adam and Original Sin. Usually these people substitute some sort of “moral teaching”. May I respectfully suggest that if you are looking for the “the moral that is supposed to be gleaned from this jem”, then you should ask those people.

umm. A simple Google search will demonstrate that a HUGE swath of Catholics, lay and clergy, don’t hold to a literal Adam and Eve.

 

[davidv]

umm. A simple Google search will demonstrate that a HUGE swath of Catholics, lay and clergy, don’t hold to a literal Adam and Eve.

So? What does the popularity, or lack thereof, of something have to do with its truth?

 

[Deep_Roots]

So? What does the popularity, or lack thereof, of something have to do with its truth?

cool story

 

[edwest2]

It’s literal and they are the source of Original Sin.

"Adam and Eve: Real People

"It is equally impermissible to dismiss the story of Adam and Eve and the fall (Gen. 2–3) as a fiction. A question often raised in this context is whether the human race descended from an original pair of two human beings (a teaching known as monogenism) or a pool of early human couples (a teaching known as polygenism).

"In this regard, Pope Pius XII stated: “When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parents of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now, it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the teaching authority of the Church proposed with regard to original sin which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam in which through generation is passed onto all and is in everyone as his own” (Humani Generis 37).

“The story of the creation and fall of man is a true one, even if not written entirely according to modern literary techniques. The Catechism states, “The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents” (CCC 390).”

Peace,
Ed

 

[Deep_Roots]

there’s plenty of room in there for future interpretation on the matter.

and it WILL happen, mark it down. At some point, a future Pope will almost certainly find a way to amend/extend/interpret those words. It will happen.

But yes, the belief in a literal Adam and Eve is a position that is held within the Church.