Your take on Genesis

[Johnny916]

I always wonder what the Christian faith says about Adam and Eve. For about two days now I have been visiting a site critical of religion that discuses how the creation account in Genesis was influenced by cultures of the time who were influenced by astrology. Take it with a grain of salt. I like what I read. Done well but it is up to you about Genesis and what you believe. What do you as a Christian see in Genesis? Do you agree with Original Sin concept or that there is something with evolution and G-d wanting man to evolve around the world? I would like to hear what you have to say.

[Byblos]

I always wonder what the Christian faith says about Adam and Eve. For about two days now I have been visiting a site critical of religion that discuses how the creation account in Genesis was influenced by cultures of the time who were influenced by astrology. Take it with a grain of salt. I like what I read. Done well but it is up to you about Genesis and what you believe. What do you as a Christian see in Genesis? Do you agree with Original Sin concept or that there is something with evolution and G-d wanting man to evolve around the world? I would like to hear what you have to say.

It doesn't have to be either/or. Some Christians see complete harmony between scripture and and even evolution (theistic evolutionists, for example).

[Silvertusk]

Look at it this way. If you were God and you were trying to tell a bronze aged human about the creation of the universe - would you tell it them literally with all the physics and science involved -or will you tell it as a story that captures all the truths of it all but in a language that is clear and powerful so it would not be forgotten.

I for one believe in literary truth of the Genesis account but not the literal account of Genesis.

As for Adam and Eve - I am happy for that to either to be the actual first Homosapiens, or to represent the race of men. The fact is that it tells a true story that man was created in Gods Image and then turned away from his creator, thereby starting the story of salvation for us all.

All this of course is in my humble opinion.

Silvertusk.

[PaulSacramento]

I agree with silvertusk and would like to add the words of the great theologian Augustine of Hippo and his views on taking Genesis to be literal and concrete:
St. Augustine of Hippo, from his work The Literal Meaning of Genesis, written in about AD 415.

Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of the world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion [quoting 1 Tim 1:7].

(emphasis added; quoted from Noll, pp. 202-203, from the John Hammond Taylor translation of 1982)

[Danieltwotwenty]

The more i learn the more i think the Bible is the why not the how, the Bible explains all the why's starting at Genesis but not the exact how.
I havent made up my mind if it is literal or not i guess i will find out when i am worm food and it is not important to my faith in G-d.

[ROBE]

I am perfectly willing to accept Genesis as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
What I think it says might differ from what someone else thinks it says.
I have argued with both Young Earthers and Old Earthers over points.