"The Creation and the Fall was beginning of the epic God vs. Man, where humans try to be God."
Mr. Hogan in our sophomore Scriptures class gave us this idea of Adam and Eve wanted to be gods and that is why they allowed the serpent to deceive them, they could have called God and told on the serpent. I only say "they" because there could have been multiple ways both Adam and Eve handled the situation. At the time we were reading it from a more religious view so it made a little hard for me to really comprehend that people wanted to be God.
When Mrs. Whitley told us that we will be reading the bible from a literary perspective I was a little hesitant about the idea of because I read this story so many times. I just couldn't figure out what I could possibly learn that was new. As I read I stumbled on these lines, it made me change my opinion.
And the Serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.
This is the exact proof that shed some light on the idea of Man wanting to be Gods. If we look back at The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh's whole goal was to become immortal which would ultimately make him a god. Now this may not be a great example but it begins further thinking and questioning. Another example is the divine right of kings, and how it became a long standing symbol of this ultimately heavenly pedestal kings people put these kings on. Think about some more examples and comment down below! Where else do you see this "power struggle 101" happening?
Although I cannot think of any power struggles at the moment, you made some great points and connections. I def see the power struggles in the creation story.
ReplyDeleteGreat points Nana! In one of the summer reading books "A Brave New World" that I read this summer,I identified that the government had this constant want of power. The government basically took the term "be fruitful and multiply"( a biblical term. Genesis 1:28 ) to an extremist level. People were born to just make babies and making babies was no longer a sacred ceremony between husband and wife, it had become a science project to scientists in a highly technologically advance laboratory. If anyone ever did anything different to question the power of the government they were kicked out. Just like Adam and Eve were banished after eating the fruit.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that it was hard to look at this from a non-religious perspective but Mrs.Whitley is really teaching us that looking at something from a different perspective can open your eyes to things you hadn't seen or known before. She is really teaching us to not to be so close minded and to question things we were taught growing up.
Alyssa, this is a wonderful analysis of the connection between Nana's idea and A Brave New World. You've pointed out the danger of a mankind that becomes overly thirsty for power and control. Very interesting!
DeleteI see exactly where you're coming from nana! You really thought long and hard about this. I don't have any power struggles to add at the moment but I like what Alyssa commented too.
ReplyDeleteOh that's an interesting outlook nana good job
ReplyDeleteWow. I didn't even think about that "Man vs. God" power struggle, but now that I think about it, it's very obvious. This is a good analysis. I always thought that Eve was blindly tricked by the Devil, but in that translation of the Bible, it seems as if she wanted to be God and that's something I hadn't realized until now.
ReplyDeleteNana, I think you bought up an interesting point and Alyssa (Wilson) you did a great job at giving an extra example at helping met to understand Nana's man vs God point. Thanks Girls :D
ReplyDeletenana you brought up a excellent point . Alyssa you did great by making that connection . Very intellegent girls . ! :)
ReplyDeleteI never thought of that connection. thanks for pointing that out for me :)
ReplyDeletea power struggle i thought of was what goes on in a baptist church. not all but some church have that one person who thinks they know more than the pastor. so the pastor has to "put the person in his/her place" to gain the control again.
i thought this was a comparison to what Nana said about Eve trying to be God and God punishing Eve and Adam. God had to "put them in their place" in order to gain control again.
I agree. There is definitely a Man vs. God power struggle. This is why it is human nature to find all the answers and to actually have something to look to FOR the answers, through religion and science, even.
ReplyDeleteReligion has been utilized to explain the un-explainable, and to allow humans an almighty power, someone to pray to for guidance and change. Science has been used as well, through theories of how the earth and humans have been created. This being said, I feel like we, as humans, cannot help but to want to know the world. There is this struggle to be like gods. We want to have control of our world, and the other living beings in it. We seek all this knowledge and cannot stand not knowing about the past and the answers to all the "how's?" and "why's?" of the world. The Creation and The Fall stories could be metaphors for the lives we live today. We could live in blissful ignorance and never have to worry about anything, if we wanted to. However, we need to burden ourselves with knowledge and truth. Our forbidden fruits are the mysteries of how we came to be and who or what brings change.