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All of us creatures have different genetic codes. Those creatures within a well-defined group of genetic codes are considered to be human. You and I are within that group.
Years ago, there were no creatures within that group. In other words there were no humans.
However, there were some creatures whose genetic codes were very close to being human. They mated and when their genetic codes merged and mutations occurred, a creature was created with a genetic code that was within the human range.
The two parents had no idea they had created a human because he (or she) was very much like the parents.
Much more plausible than being fashioned from dirt and a spare rib.
Catholics are told it is OK to take Genesis as an allegoric tale as long as they recognize God is behind the primordial event.
The man and woman of Genesis … are intended to represent an Everyman and Everywoman. They are paradigms, figurative equivalents, of human conduct in the face of temptation, not lessons in biology or history. The Bible is teaching religion, not science or literalistic history.” - See more at: The Catholic Review > Work > Catholic Church has evolving answer on reality of Adam and Eve
When I was a kid, I had to go to church, my mother required it every Sunday...except for my dad who got to sit at the table in his green bathrobe and drink chocolate milk as we left. He is an agnostic so he never went to church...well, except special occasions........
Anyway, I digress...
I used to question just about everything. Nothing made sense to me. I questioned and questioned and questioned, and most of the time, I got lame answers, (according to my 7+ year old brain), like "It's not for us to understand, we just have to have faith..." Yah, sorry, that's not a good enough answer for me.
So, one day, I asked, "Wait a minute....Adam and Eve are the first two people. They have two sons, Cain and Abel. One of them gets all jealous of the other one, destroys something, and is banished to another tribe. WHERE DID THOSE PEOPLE COME FROM?!"
I got told all kinds of things that made zero sense whatsoever. One person did finally state that there were other people, not just Adam and Eve. So, from what I gather, if they were indeed real people, they were part of a tribe, but that does not mean that they were the first people ever on the face of the earth, EVER.
This is why people do not embrace religion....there's so many things said in that Bible that make absolutely no sense whatsoever, and then when you go to church, the person who stands up there preaching it, doesn't seem to understand it either. You are left with more questions than answers. Well, except the, "you just have to believe and have faith" answer which is a non answer.
So, no, I do not believe that they were the first two people on this earth. Not at all. Were they real people? Sure, why not? We just don't really know who they actually were.
Edit: Oh, forgot to add, I was raised Episcopalian. Catholic Lite. Half the guilt.
This is why people do not embrace religion....there's so many things said in that Bible that make absolutely no sense whatsoever, and then when you go to church, the person who stands up there preaching it, doesn't seem to understand it either. You are left with more questions than answers. Well, except the, "you just have to believe and have faith" answer which is a non answer.
So, no, I do not believe that they were the first two people on this earth. Not at all. Were they real people? Sure, why not? We just don't really know who they actually were.
Edit: Oh, forgot to add, I was raised Episcopalian. Catholic Lite. Half the guilt.
You do not have to make sense of religion. By definition religion is filled with magic and mythology.
YOu were lucky to be raised Episcopalians, they usually understand religion much better than others.
So the bible says homosexuality is bad. The episcopalians say, "yeah sure, but we know that was the mind set of barbarians that lived 3500-4000 years ago, we know better".
No need to become enslaved to barbaric words of primitive men.
In fact the Romans used to call barbaric anyone that was not Roman. And the Romans did not take their pagan religion very seriously at all. IN fact, they changed and embraced other religions all the time.
You do not have to make sense of religion. By definition religion is filled with magic and mythology.
YOu were lucky to be raised Episcopalians, they usually understand religion much better than others.
So the bible says homosexuality is bad. The episcopalians say, "yeah sure, but we know that was the mind set of barbarians that lived 3500-4000 years ago, we know better".
No need to become enslaved to barbaric words of primitive men.
In fact the Romans used to call barbaric anyone that was not Roman. And the Romans did not take their pagan religion very seriously at all. IN fact, they changed and embraced other religions all the time.
Well...the point I was trying to make is that no one can seem to agree on what the Bible actually says. Take a look around at any of the threads on here. You will have some people who believe the Bible, word for word. You have some people who say that the Bible is not to be taken literally. You have some people who say that things get lost in translation. You have some people who say it's just mythology.
Which one is it?
No one can agree. For someone trying to make sense of it, it gets highly frustrating when no one can agree what it actually says or means.
Well...the point I was trying to make is that no one can seem to agree on what the Bible actually says. Take a look around at any of the threads on here. You will have some people who believe the Bible, word for word. You have some people who say that the Bible is not to be taken literally. You have some people who say that things get lost in translation. You have some people who say it's just mythology.
Which one is it?
No one can agree. For someone trying to make sense of it, it gets highly frustrating when no one can agree what it actually says or means.
That is why you have 40,000 Protestant sects.
Which one is correct? Who knows! But, they all claim to be correct.
I don't think correctness is important. What really matters is the essence of the message of Jesus.
Which one is correct? Who knows! But, they all claim to be correct.
I don't think correctness is important. What really matters is the essence of the message of Jesus.
Which leads us to those who do not believe that Jesus was the son of God. Again, there's all these interpretations, and no one agrees. Some believe he was the son of God, some people think he was just another Joe like the rest of us, some people believe he was a messenger, and some people don't even believe that he existed at all.
If you have a panel of 10 people, and one person sitting on the opposite side of them telling them, "I don't understand this", you will get 10 different answers. People are going to get frustrated, or they will throw their hands up altogether and denounce any religion at all, because none of it makes any sense with 10 different answers.
Look at that, despite all those forced church Sundays, for all of those years, my dad's agnostic beliefs were apparently more influential. And that really is where I am right now. I'm not saying that there isn't a God, but I'm not saying there is one either. Give me something...show me something. Most people would show you the Bible...and yet no one agrees on what it says or means. This is where I think religion fails....anyway, I think I'm steering way off topic with all of this. I answered your question with my opinion, but that's coming from someone who is extremely confused on what the heck has really gone on.
Which leads us to those! do not believe that Jesus was the son of God. Again, there's all these interpretations, and no one agrees. Some believe he was the son of God, some people think he was just another Joe like the rest of us, some people believe he was a messenger, and some people don't even believe that he existed at all.
If you have a panel of 10 people, and one person sitting on the opposite side of them telling them, "I don't understand this", you will get 10 different answers. People are going to get frustrated, or they will throw their hands up altogether and denounce any religion at all, because none of it makes any sense with 10 different answers.
Look at that, despite all those forced church Sundays, for all of those years, my dad's agnostic beliefs were apparently more influential. And that really is where I am right now. I'm not saying that there isn't a God, but I'm not saying there is one either. Give me something...show me something. Most people would show you the Bible...and yet no one agrees on what it says or means. This is where I think religion fails....anyway, I think I'm steering way off topic with all of this. I answered your question with my opinion, but that's coming from someone who is extremely confused on what the heck has really gone on.
Just read the Jefferson bible. You will be fine! :-)
Catholics are told it is OK to take Genesis as an allegoric tale as long as they recognize God is behind the primordial event.
The man and woman of Genesis … are intended to represent an Everyman and Everywoman. They are paradigms, figurative equivalents, of human conduct in the face of temptation, not lessons in biology or history. The Bible is teaching religion, not science or literalistic history.” - See more at: The Catholic Review > Work > Catholic Church has evolving answer on reality of Adam and Eve
I think you need to preface your remarks above with "I think" or "it is my opinion."
One does not put a paradigm or figurative equivalent in their genealogy. The genealogies in the Old Testament and the genealogies in the New have Adam in their genealogies. He was a real person.
Also, in the New Testament, it is shown that Adam's one act caused death to be passed through into all mankind (see Romans 5:12,18 & 19. The apostle Paul, a Jew, did not believe Adam was an allegory or a fictitious character. There are many more verses in the New Testament where the Jewish writers took Adam to be a real living, breathing human. Maybe you should side with them who knew their bible and genealogies so well?
I think you need to preface your remarks above with "I think" or "it is my opinion."
One does not put a paradigm or figurative equivalent in their genealogy. The genealogies in the Old Testament and the genealogies in the New have Adam in their genealogies. He was a real person.
Also, in the New Testament, it is shown that Adam's one act caused death to be passed through into all mankind (see Romans 5:12,18 & 19. The apostle Paul, a Jew, did not believe Adam was an allegory or a fictitious character. There are many more verses in the New Testament where the Jewish writers took Adam to be a real living, breathing human. Maybe you should side with them who knew their bible and genealogies so well?
I think you need to preface your remarks above with "I think" or "I believe what all the hundreds of bible writers told me to believe."
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