The Lesson of Adam and Eve

Sean Carroll of the Cosmic Variance blog at Discover Magazine claims that the “Fall” of Adam and Eve is “a terrible lesson on which to found a system of belief”

On the contrary, it is a wonderful “lesson on which to found a system of belief” because its flexibility of interpretation demonstrates to any with eyes to see the vacuity of the entire concept of a “system of belief”.

In fact, the religion Carroll claims to want want – and just about anything else anyone else might want as well – is a legitimate interpretation of judaeo-christian mythology. So long as we don’t confuse the search for truth with the claim to have found it, then the search for truth and defiance of authority are not in conflict with the idea of the “forbidden fruit” being “knowledge of good and evil”. The only justified claimant to such knowledge is identified as “God” (who probably does not exist), and to claim his authority, ie to “take his name in vain”, is not only presented as the fundamental source of human suffering, but is also explicitly forbidden in another of the Hebrew books and is also a recurring theme in the Aramic/Greek books where “Jesus” frequently rails against religious “authority” and proclaims “judge not lest ye be judged”.

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