11-04-2010, 12:00 AM
Hi Wei Shan Yang,
No-one will ever know how things were, before the advent of "civilisation", simply because, no-one kept written records, (coz, they could,nt write,).
The idea that, the concept of "bad" only came into our perception with the advent of "civilisation", seems unsupportable to me. All living creatures are require to discern positive from negative in order to survive. "Biting the apple" refers to a different type of knowledge. The story is allegorical, like much of the content of the Christian bible.
As you refer to the Old Testament, you may be interested to know that, (or, may already know that,), the Book of Genesis, was written during the period refered to as, "the Babylonian exile", during which, the tribe of David were enslaved by the Babylonian empire.
The Babylonians were one of the successor cultures which followed the ancient Sumerians, (long after they were conquered by the Akkadians,), and inherited much of thier culture and ideas.
The term "Eden"is Sumerian. The Sumerians refered to the fertile grasslands where they grew thier crops and kept thier livestock, as "Edin", (pronounced the same way,).
The Genesis tale refers to thier choice to abandon the wild lifestyle in favour of city dwelling, (with all that accompanies that choice,). Actually, the ancient Sumerian tale of how man came to be civilised, is far more interesting, but, I'll let you look into that, yourself.
Much of the material in the Old Testament, is borrowed from earlier or contemporary cultures,........ eg, the story of Noah and the Flood, which first appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and even, the earliest names of God, which refer to God as El, as in "El Shaddai",(God of the mountain,), or, "Elohim", literally, "the children of God".
El was used to refer to specific gods in various Middle Eatern religions of the time, and also, as a general term for any god.
To view the material in the Christian bible as, anything other than, allegorical, is simplistic and naive.
I notice that, despite the content of these forums, some members seem to show way too much respect for the hodge-podge of nonsense called "The Bible".
A peculiarly American obsession, it would seem. Maybe, it,s the influence of all those TV preachers?
Shoot that fucking TV!!!
PS; if, you have just read this, I have to ask, why? Have,nt you got anything better to do, than, reading the ravings of a demented Haggis?
No-one will ever know how things were, before the advent of "civilisation", simply because, no-one kept written records, (coz, they could,nt write,).
The idea that, the concept of "bad" only came into our perception with the advent of "civilisation", seems unsupportable to me. All living creatures are require to discern positive from negative in order to survive. "Biting the apple" refers to a different type of knowledge. The story is allegorical, like much of the content of the Christian bible.
As you refer to the Old Testament, you may be interested to know that, (or, may already know that,), the Book of Genesis, was written during the period refered to as, "the Babylonian exile", during which, the tribe of David were enslaved by the Babylonian empire.
The Babylonians were one of the successor cultures which followed the ancient Sumerians, (long after they were conquered by the Akkadians,), and inherited much of thier culture and ideas.
The term "Eden"is Sumerian. The Sumerians refered to the fertile grasslands where they grew thier crops and kept thier livestock, as "Edin", (pronounced the same way,).
The Genesis tale refers to thier choice to abandon the wild lifestyle in favour of city dwelling, (with all that accompanies that choice,). Actually, the ancient Sumerian tale of how man came to be civilised, is far more interesting, but, I'll let you look into that, yourself.
Much of the material in the Old Testament, is borrowed from earlier or contemporary cultures,........ eg, the story of Noah and the Flood, which first appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and even, the earliest names of God, which refer to God as El, as in "El Shaddai",(God of the mountain,), or, "Elohim", literally, "the children of God".
El was used to refer to specific gods in various Middle Eatern religions of the time, and also, as a general term for any god.
To view the material in the Christian bible as, anything other than, allegorical, is simplistic and naive.
I notice that, despite the content of these forums, some members seem to show way too much respect for the hodge-podge of nonsense called "The Bible".
A peculiarly American obsession, it would seem. Maybe, it,s the influence of all those TV preachers?
Shoot that fucking TV!!!
PS; if, you have just read this, I have to ask, why? Have,nt you got anything better to do, than, reading the ravings of a demented Haggis?