The Garden of Eden Story Isn’t About the Fall of Humankind
It’s an origin story, and nothing more
This story was submitted anonymously.
One of the most important epiphanies I had about the Bible had to do with the garden of Eden.
I was taught that it was the beginning of a great cosmic war between God and Satan, which ended with God sending Jesus millennia later to finally cleanse us of Adam’s sin. I realized that this idea is Christian gloss which has absolutely nothing to do with Genesis in its original context.
The story of the garden isn’t even about original sin. Read it for yourself and you’ll see.
Genesis is first and foremost meant to be etiological. Just like the name says, it’s a story of origins, and nothing more.
The other day I saw someone compare it to the story of Hades, Demeter and Persephone in Greek Myth, and I think that’s a great comparison.
When the ancients heard the story of Hades and Persephone, they weren’t meant to beat their breasts and say “if only Hades hadn’t kidnapped Persephone we wouldn’t have to deal with these awful winters! What an original sin! If only the gods would set this right!” They were meant to say “oh, so that’s why we have winter and summer. Okay.”
