Did God know Eve would eat -- a non-Abrhamic perspective

[Netti-Netti]

This being the Comparative Studies thread for the Genesis story, I thought the Bahai view is worth mentioning. It strikes me as an integration of Christian and Buddhist ideas: identification with the material/phenomenal world of forms tends to lead to bondage. In the Bahai view, sin = attachment:

For the spirit and the soul of Adam, when they were attached to the human world, passed from the world of freedom into the world of bondage, and His descendants continued in bondage. This attachment of the soul and spirit to the human world, which is sin, was inherited by the descendants of Adam, and is the serpent which is always in the midst of, and at enmity with, the spirits and the descendants of Adam.

(T)he tree is the human world, and the serpent is that attachment to this world which constitutes sin, and which has infected the descendants of Adam....(A)ttachment to the earthly world, in relation to attachment to the spiritual world, is considered sin.... physical life, in comparison with eternal life in the Kingdom, is considered as death. So Christ called the physical life death, and said: "Let the dead bury their dead."
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Bahá'í Reference Library - Some Answered Questions, Pages 122-126


Christ is seen as the redeemer and a source of the spiritual knowledge that frees us from the bondage of sin by giving us our spiritual heart back. The Fall described in Genesis sets the stage for this action. The story illustrates wanting to live on our own terms, which invariably involves identification with the material/phenomenal world of forms that we use to structure our experience accordance with our own shortsighted whims.

The idea of Christ and the spiritual heart is recognized:

 

[LeoSalinas22]

Please you are not on my list. I really want to know about your belief on the Gen's account.

Darren

howdy do winner,
i'm going to give you a couple of links to some threads that i started that i think are relevant to the 7 days of creation. let me know what you think.

here and here.

and also just for extra info, a thread started by nick the pilot. an alternate point of view. probably the reason nick is ignoring me. sorry nick.

here.

 

[LeoSalinas22]

This being the Comparative Studies thread for the Genesis story, I thought the Bahai view is worth mentioning. It strikes me as an integration of Christian and Buddhist ideas: identification with the material/phenomenal world of forms tends to lead to bondage. In the Bahai view, sin = attachment:

For the spirit and the soul of Adam, when they were attached to the human world, passed from the world of freedom into the world of bondage, and His descendants continued in bondage. This attachment of the soul and spirit to the human world, which is sin, was inherited by the descendants of Adam, and is the serpent which is always in the midst of, and at enmity with, the spirits and the descendants of Adam.

(T)he tree is the human world, and the serpent is that attachment to this world which constitutes sin, and which has infected the descendants of Adam....(A)ttachment to the earthly world, in relation to attachment to the spiritual world, is considered sin.... physical life, in comparison with eternal life in the Kingdom, is considered as death. So Christ called the physical life death, and said: "Let the dead bury their dead."
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you know, this the reason i like this site. so far i have seen that every religion or doctrine has similarities to what i adhere. in this case sin equaling attachment.

i completely agree with that concept. it is man's attacment to this dyng world that is destroying all of us. we can't seem to just let go. its unecessary weight. we hold on to stuff that doesn't matter. financial security, lifestyle, belongings etc. its just all so unnecessary. but comfortable. instead we need to hold on to each other. help each other. but we just don't. maybe that is why this nation is in such a poor condition. i don't know. who am i to judge?

thanks for sharing that, netti netti.

leo

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[Netti-Netti]

thanks for sharing that, netti netti.
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[shawn]

Sean,

I agree that Adam and Eve were not individuals, but represent humanity as a whole. Again, I see this as a re-writing of the original story, which I obviously see as a bad thing.

The original story was itself a re-write of much older stories which were condensed and altered significantly so what's the problem with doing it again?

 

[Nick the Pilot]

Shawn,

Rather than re-write a re-write, instead, I suggest we go back to the original story.

 

[Thomas]

Hi Netti-Netti —

It strikes me as an integration of Christian and Buddhist ideas: identification with the material/phenomenal world of forms tends to lead to bondage.

I can see what you're saying, but would put a more nuanced view on that, from a Christian perspective (and I would assume Judaism and Islam) the material/phenomena world is essentially good (as said six times in Genesis 1), so does not necessarily lead into any negative situation.

If the material world is fallen, it's because we fell, and brought it down, rather than we fell, and landed up here as a consequence.

I only make this point because dualist/gnostic/Manichean notions tend to see the spirit = good / material = evil, a view we absolutely do not hold.

Rather, the Christian sees the world as a 'theophany', a manifestation of the Divine Will.

In the Bahai view, sin = attachment

Same with us ... we regard the attachment as a fault of the person, and indeed a spiritual fault, not the fault of that to which the person has become attached.

Human nature allowed itself to be seduced by the sensible, the surface, and the superficial, whereas true human nature should perceive the intelligible, the interior, the essential nature of things ... should see with the inner eye.

We would not agree that the human world is sin, quite the reverse, we regard humanity as the pinnacle of creation, in that man is the union of spirit and matter, so the aim is not to 'escape' the material world, but to sacralise it.

This view has tended to become opaque in general Christian, and even Catholic teachings ... it is my vocation to vivify 'Christian Cosmology' according to the vision of the Fathers...

The Fall described in Genesis sets the stage for this action. The story illustrates wanting to live on our own terms, which invariably involves identification with the material/phenomenal world of forms that we use to structure our experience accordance with our own shortsighted whims.

Agreed, you seem also to view the fault is ours, rather than an inherent problem with the material/phenomenal world?

Thomas

 

[shawn]

Shawn,

Rather than re-write a re-write, instead, I suggest we go back to the original story.

I agree....we have some from the Sumerian sources.

 

[Nick the Pilot]

Hi Shawn,

I think that the original text is much older than even the Sumerian version. I am a member of Theosophy, and Theosophy has what is said to be a copy of the original text translated directly into English.