Everybody knows some of the broad themes of Genesis: God creates earth,the Garden of Eden, the story of Noah, etc. Here are some things that may not have been brought to your attention in Sunday School.
~ God creates day and night on the first day, but doesn't create the sun or the stars until the 4th. (Genesis 1:3-5, 16-19)
~ God repeatedly refers to himself as "us," though why (and why only in Genesis) is never explained. (Genesis 1:26, 3:22, 11:7)
~ Adam was not kicked out of the Garden of Eden for eating the forbidden fruit. God became nervous that his newly-enlightened creation would also eat fruit from the tree of life and become immortal.(Genesis 3:22-23)
~ Cain killed Abel because God liked Abel more. Why? Because as a farmer, Cain could only sacrifice plants to God. Abel was a herdsman,and so could sacrifice animals. (Genesis 4:2-5)
~ God's sons come down from the heaven to have sex with earth women. (Genesis 6:1-2, 4)
~ "There were giants in the earth in those days" isn't an accurate translation. The word translated into giants was "Nephilim", which nobody actually knows how to translate. (Genesis 6:4)
~ Noah gets drunk on wine from his vineyard and passes out with his genitals exposed. Ham, his son, accidentally sees this. When Noah wakes up, he punishes Ham by making his youngest son a slave. (Genesis9:20-27)
~ God makes a covenant with Abraham and demands that he and all his descendents become circumcised. God never explains why cutting off the foreskin is important, but it seems quite contradictory to all the other laws about never exposing one's genitals. What good is a distinguishing self-mutilation that nobody is allowed to see? (Genesis17:10)
~ Rachel and Leah battle for Jacob's favor by giving him their maids as sex partners. (Genesis 30:1-11)
~ God has a wrestling match with Jacob and loses. To honor the occasion, God changes Jacob's name to Israel. (Genesis 32:24-30)
~ The "sin of Onan" is not masturbation. Onan wasn't punished because he "spilled his semen on the ground" but because he didn't impregnate his sister-in-law. God kills Onan. (Genesis 38:1-10)
Of course, many of these issues have light shed upon them when the Bible is viewed from a critical, rather than inerrant perspective. For example, God referring to himself as "us" is explained by
Wellhausen's documentary hypothesis. For a great book on how to read the Old Testament in a historical-critical perspective, I highly recommend Brettler's
How to Read the Bible.
Comments (44)
I absolutely HATE it when Christians try to argue that birth control is sinful because of the Onan story, using that as a defense let's me know straight off that they've never read the Bible for themselves (I have, I'm agnostic though at best but I spent many years studying theology and history of the church before realizing it's complete bullshit.) Great post.
What an amusing set of myths.
@loner_writer - It does have a mythological feel, doesn't it?
My youth pastor has actually used all of these verses. Interesting though. I like the post. it causes me to think.
The wrestling match with Jacob and the subsequent name change to Israel is talked about frequently. I'm also unsure why this is included in this list. What's the purpose of it? Same with Rachel/Leah competing for Jacob, though there's far more to that episode then just that - for instance, Rachel and Leah's father misleading and tricking Jacob for seven years' labor (twice).
I can see why some of the others would be included, but that one stood out as an odd one for me.
Also, (at least in all the churches I've been in), it's always been clear why Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. It wasn't the act of eating the apple that was at issue, it was the instance of disobeying God's direct order, though it's correct to say that it was fear of eating from the Tree of Life that led God to banish Adam and Eve.
My point is that some of these require more context than is given to make a judgement about the philosophy of these verses. It's also a bold assertion to make that these verses are not used - my experience is that it's just not true.
It's quite barbaric, that bible, eh? It just screams out "written by ignorant, primitive men" on every page. The fact that people today, in civilized nations still believe this is the inerrant word of a being possessing an intelligence that's eons ahead of ours is more than baffling. It's both sad and laughable.
@cmdr_keen - I agree with you. context is needed in these verses. saying just these verses alone will obviously cause those who do not care to understand to make an instant assumption. I did find it interesting that god does say us and we a lot though only in genesis. never really noticed that one before.
Interesting....
Genesis is a very beautiful book when it is read critically. It's a very confusing book when read literally.
Nearly every one of these items were talked about in the church I grew up in. Granted, their explanations for them were not always satisfactory, but at least they were honest about what the Bible said.
For the Onan thing, it might be fair to be even more specific: Onan's sin wasn't what most people think it is, but failing the obligation to carry on his heirless, deceased brother's line. Funny you should mention the first part of Genesis 6, it's the basis for one of my fave sculptures.
@In_Reason_I_Trust - Guessing you've never read the Qur'an...
you should read up on the Documentary Hypothesis. basically...
- where it says "God" in the Bible, the original text is "Elohim"- where it says "LORD", the original text is "Yahweh"
Elohim is, technically, a plural noun.
also, the Israelite religion was not monotheistic but, in fact, monolatric. they acknowledged the existence of other deities ("Thou shalt have no other gods before me") but determined that Yahweh was the only one worthy to be worshiped.
lmao @ the image
Interesting stuff to know!
@flapper_femme_fatale - Read the last paragraph of my post, where I link to a summary of the Documentary Hypothesis (it was a major overarching theme in my Hebrew Bible class).
None of the pastors I've ever known have spoken from Genesis. That's not to do with fear of refuting anything that social convention would believe sacred. Rather, my pastors all spoke on the positive messages found throughout the Bible, specifically the Gospels.
My pastor has brought up the first two.
Your third sets up a false dilemma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma). In the Creation myth, God forbids them to eat the fruit, then expels them in order to prevent them from being immortal, and because they ate the forbidden fruit.
Your fourth is a bare assertion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipse_dixit). The verses don't indicate why God looked upon one with favor and the other without, but that one was a grain offering and the other wasn't isn't a permissible explanation, if only for the fact that grain offerings are standard in the OT.
My pastor has discussed the fifth. (Also, the phrase "sons of God" is difficult to translate into English, and at any rate, has been used to refer to both angels and human beings. I wonder why you don't use the same level of analysis here as you did with regard to Nephilim There, you say we don't know what Nephilim means. Here, you assume that "sons of God" means angels. Convenient.)
As to your seventh, yeah, my pastor has not discussed that. Good catch, Krisko!
"about never exposing one's genitals" Source?
My pastor has discussed the ninth, about Leah and Rebecca. It's a sad story, indeed.
My pastor has discussed the story of God "losing" to Jacob.
My pastor has discussed the story of Onan, and yes, it's not an argument against birth-control, but rather an argument for men to take care of their wives that they have been entrusted to them where the wife's husband passed away, instead of using her for sex.
Thanks for playing, anyway.
Here is another one for you, if there was a tree of eternal life in the garden, that implies that Adam and Eve were mortal, yet death is the penalty for sin......before they sinned.
I would suggest you post this in ReveLife. This will stir the shit there. I should like to see their explanations to deal with your valid points. I absolutely agree with every one of them. It is a sad thing when I agree with a lowly liberal over something so important.
Try more logic in your arguments next time. This is as lame as the quotes used by your opposition.
Cool stuff. Never thought of them that way
This link and the books it summarizes will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the "us" references like in Genesis. There has always been a plurality with God.
Here is a good summary regarding the Angel View of Genesis 6 and the nephilim issue. Nephilim comes from the Hebrew root word naphal which means "to fall" or "to be cast down." Nephilim literally means "the fallen ones."
All of these items have been discussed either in a sermon or Bible study led by the pastoral staff at my church. Normally when you find an oddity in Scripture like the ones listed in this post, it is a pointer to a very interesting, deeper concept. Dare to dig.
I've heard all of these addressed in sermons...........
But I haven't usually gone to typical church services.
....usually....
There are some pretty inept churches out there. But there are also some decent ones.
But what is decent, anyway? Who gets to define that?