The Bible, like many myths, begins with answering how the world came
to be and why it's so screwed up.
The Bible tells us that God created everything in six days. He created
Adam out of dust, and Eve out of Adam's rib. (Woman, being the
property of man, doesn't get the dignity of her own mud spawning.)
They were placed in the Garden of Eden and told they could eat of any
fruit except one. If they ate that evil forbidden fruit, they would
die that day.
Well, as you know, the snake tempts Eve, she eats the fruit and then
Adam eats some too — and what do you know, they're still alive. Soon
after, God shows up, asking, "Where art thou?" (Come on, God, do you
really not know?) When he finds them, he gets angry at their
disobedience and curses Adam, Eve, the snake and the earth.
And that's the explanation for why the world is the way it is — our
ancestors ate some forbidden fruit, God got angry, and now everything
is screwed up. That's definitely on The Top 10 List of Worst
Explanations Why the World is Screwed Up.
The Blame Falls on God
The story attempts to put the blame on man, but fails. The blame falls on God.
Man was doing what he does best — eating things that look delicious
and disobeying rules for which he has no reason to obey. Only the
snake gave an explanation, who said man's eyes would be open, and they
would know good from evil — that they would be like God. And you know
what? The snake was right!
God was the one who made man with a nature that is susceptible to
temptation. God made the tree look delicious and tempting. God made
man to require reasons — and didn't give him any. God created the
snake and let him into the garden. And God knew all this would happen,
yet still setup things so man would disobey him!
Man is not at fault — God is. This myth does not get God off the hook
for what a crazy, screwed up world we live in — it would make him
responsible for it.
What kind of God would punish so many innocent people and animals
throughout history because of one sin that he orchestrated to happen?
Why did he put the tree there anyway? Why did he make the tree have
magical properties so that when they ate Adam and Eve "knew good from
evil" — clearly a desirable thing? And if they didn't know good from
evil before they ate the fruit, how would they have known eating it
was evil?
Some may find this story profound, but instead of answering questions,
it just creates more. Of course it's just a crazy ancient story,
though — what did you expect?
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