Genesis Chapters 1-3
The first myth was a way of establishing male dominance.
The first myth was a way of establishing male dominance.
God created the first woman,
Eve, from the first man’s rib. Also, the woman was created only to serve to the
man as a helper, and to reproduce. God created women without giving them any
real intention or self-interest. “Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that
the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” This is the foundation for the idea that women are
secondary or not equal to men. The woman is the first one to succumb to the
desire of eating from the tree of knowledge. The man is foolishly persuaded by
the woman, thus giving up his male dominant trait, and power. Human Kind’s
first social conflict is that of Adam and Eve.
The
tree of knowledge was life’s first test that was presented to Adam and
Eve. I perceived it to be god’s
way of testing human kind and seeing if they would succumb to desire. The idea
that humans want what they can’t have is evident in this myth. Selfishness,
jealousy, and desire are all presented. The knowledge of good and evil is
forbidden to the point of death because of human’s inability to see bad
situations in good ones, and good situations in bad ones. The pursuit of
happiness is impossible to obtain because we are tied down by our hopes,
dreams, and desires. Our own selfish needs present us from becoming one. Unity
was never evident in mankind. Our curious minds lead us to the confusion and
anxiety of life.
Knowledge
is beautiful and powerful but it also opens a whole series of anxiety and
problems. There are numerous huge problems in the world that we have knowledge
of, see everyday, complain about, and hate. Although we have knowledge OF the
problems, we don’t have knowledge on how to fix hem. Thus, the knowledge of
good and evil evolving.
Their
punishment is the beginning of the struggles of mankind. Irony is present because
this myth was written thousands of years after this supposedly happened. My atheist-based
analysis of these chapters is that this is really just a mental way of coping
with the problems and struggles we face. Instead of taking responsibility for
our own actions and feelings, we base it on a religious myth, which in my
opinion is the ultimate problem of mankind, religion. Human beings always want to understand
that there is a justifiable reason for the pain we are faced with. Human kind’s
first problems of desire, the inability to resist no matter the consequence,
and the inability to obtain the knowledge needed to free ourselves from our
problems still exist today. Another small point of irony is that the title genesis has the word genes in it, creating a scientific out look on the myth.
