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Week 2: Famous last words

So we have come to the end of week two. To be honest this week I think I could have done a better job with my story telling. As I chose a classical biblical story of Adam and Eve and I sort of re-told the same story in short. Which is what I understood we had to do. However reading some of the student’s stories and how they put their own twist into it really made me think that I could have done more. Maybe I thought that I didn’t want to offend anyone in completely changing up the story of Adam and Eve. Or maybe I could have retold it but from the angels point of view or Eve or even Satan himself. Hmmm maybe that would have been an interesting stand point of the story. But all in all I’m glad it is over with. Maybe in the weeks to come I will go about choosing more exciting stories. Overall I think this class is getting more and more challenging but in a good way. I think as each week past the demand for creativity is increasing.

 

As for the rest of the school semester my other classes have really taken off. My math professor doesn’t know the meaning of a break as week after week we are bombarded with a quiz so at any given point can I afford to fall off the wagon. I have already had a chemistry exam which I think I did pretty well in (fingers crossed – this is true). This week at school has really been busy and I am so glad we have this long weekend. As for life, life is good. Every day we wake up is a blessing. Two down, thirteen to go.

 

                     (Peace and happiness to all)

 

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Weeks 2: Essay Blog post - Gods and Goddesses

From reading both books (Adam and Eve and Noah and the ark) both books very much involved the works of god. As I believe both books to portray the same god. In both books god is portrayed as the almighty, the most high and a very supreme character amongst all. His speech is very majestic in the orders and the commands he gives.

The reason I say this is because with Adam and Noah he gives them strict commands, in which they must follow. And in Adams case he falls out of the commands of God and thus is punished by expelling him and Eve from the gardens of Eden. Throughout the story Adam and Eve both keep falling out of god’s way but then we see gods forgiving character and continues to forgive them time after time. As done with Noah, he is constantly forgiven by god. So we see his forgiving and merciful nature.

However in the both books there is almost a mistrust of God by both Adam and Noah as both believe they or their people will be punished again. So they feel the need to have some form of reassurance from god. Hence God makes a convenient with them both. Here we see that he is a being of his word.  I wouldn’t say that it is evil of him to bring such punishment on the people but I think that the peoples actions and Adams and Eve’s action was used by God as an example for the generations there were to come. So you could say that his character is also portrayed as being a punisher- the consequence of good deeds being endless bliss but if you sin against god then you will be punished for you deeds.

He is also a god of unity as he does not want to share his thrown with anyone. As he warns both do not commit blasphemy nor associate partners with me. Here one can tell that he does not want to share his authority over all with none but himself. As he destroyed the Nimrod and his people as they began idol worshipping. I wouldn’t go as far as to say he is a jealous god, because I believe that God has no reason to be jealous of none as he has the dominion and power over all. But some of you may defer with me on this. All in all god is a good god as he doesn’t send plagues on the people of these stories unless they have strayed.

 

 

(Tower of Babel, by Joos de Momper)

 

Links: Noahs Ark

EveAdam and Eve

 

 

Week 2: Story Telling: Adam and Eve

 

               In the beginning there was nothing but God and the Angels. One day God sat on his throne in a ponder. In deep thought about what he wants to do with the universe. So he decided to create man. So he sent the angels to gather all the souls from the lands in which he would use to mold this new creation out of clay.

Amongst the angels was Satan who was also considered to be one of the righteous angels. Satan heard talks of the creation of Adam and decided to go see this for himself. So he hurried through the heavens until he reached the room where Adams mold laid. There he saw what looked like a man only there was no soul. Satan knocked on Adams mold and heard that it sounded hollow. Arrogance began to fill Satan’s heart “I am made of fire and this creature is nothing but clay” he muttered.

Days later God decided to breathe life into Adam and Adam had awoken. His eyes opened up to something new, innocence and light oozed from his eyes as he observed his surroundings. News of Adams birth spread throughout paradise, so god gathered the angels around his thrown to inform them of Adam coming to life. “Oh ah” the angels said in awe. “Behold this is Adam and he is to dwell amongst you” commanded god.

“Will you favor man over us, whom you know will shed blood and spread mischief and corruptions” replied the angels.

“I know that which you know not” replied god of the heavens and the earth. So he ordered them to all fall in prostration to Adam. Not in worship to him but out of respect. Therefore all the angels prostrated to Adam in full submission of the creator except Satan. Who possessed so much resentment in the creation of Adam, “Why have you disobeyed my command” asked god.

“Because I am superior over this man. You made me out of fiery smoke whilst he is only made from dust. How dare I prostrate to such a thing” boasted Satan. And so he was excused. During Adams first few days of living he was given the honor and the privilege to name all the creatures and beasts of the earth; big or small. Thus, god gave him dominion over them all in that he was never to be harmed by them.

For days and days Adam wondered the kingdoms of the heavens. Educating himself in the wonders of god. He began to feel a sense of loneliness. His heart ached, and felt there was a void. He was missing love and someone to share this with. So he set to go to gods throne. “O lord of the heavens and the earth, I am ever so grateful for blowing life into me, but I feel so alone here. There is only one of me and many of the angels could you grant for me someone to complete me” asked Adam.

“I shall create for you a wife so you may find peace and tranquility in each other” replied god. So god put Adam to sleep and created Adam from his lower ribs. Time had passed, and Adam had finally woken up to a creature that looked similar to him. She had eyes just like him and a body just like he did. But he noticed she wasn’t to be exactly like him she appeared softer, more slander and petite then he was. Her eyes were like piercing pearls staring through his soul. They starred at each other mesmerized by each other, as eve had waited for him to wake. “Eve….” muttered Adam “you shall be called eve”. And so he named her Eve. From spending their days together the two had fallen in love. So god placed them in the gardens of Eden. Here they were to dwell for eternity. However they was not to eat from the tree of good and bad knowledge. Until one day the serpent made his way into the gardens and whispered evil thoughts in to Eve persuading her to eat from it “ you want to reach endless immortality and power like god, then you must eat from this tree as did he” whispered the serpent. Poisoned by corrupt thoughts Eve ate from the tree and was confronted with the angel of death. Out of fear of parting with Adam, Eve decided to feed him from the same fruit so Adam would never know what it is like to love another other than her.

The news of their sin spread throughout the heavens leading to their expulsion from the gardens and onto the earth where they were to forever dwell and produces sons and daughters until the day of judgment.

 

 

                                                       (stained glass in Sarthe, France)


Authors Notes: I choose this story because the creation of man intrigues me. The way in which our beginning came about is a very controversial topic in both science and religion. I believe we do come from Adam and Eve and that throughout time we did evolve into the way we are today in comparison to those before us we are somewhat more intellectually advanced. Although we may have shrank in size as mentioned in the origin of this story. I don’t thing I have done this story justice in the word limit I was given as I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Bibliography:

The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909): Volume 1.

The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909): Volume 1.

Link to original story

Week 2: Reading Diary - Book of Adam and Eve

These are my favorite stories from the Book of Adam and Eve: I think the language used in both books is rather simple yet complicated in the way it is worded.

The creation: The creation of the four rivers this sparked an interest in me as I imagined them to possibly be what we know as the pacific, Atlantic and the Indian ocean today. I thought it was rather selfless of God being the creator of all to allow Adam to name everything. Another thing that I thought of was the equity and thought god put into the creation of Eve from a chaste and median part of Adam. In return Adam so her as an equal “ this is now bone of my bones..”, as we should be protective of our loved ones as clothes to our own bones as described by Adam in this book.

 

The Fall: The dialect between the serpant and Eve meant that creatures and humans at the time were able to communicate.  When Eve fed Adam the fruit from the tree it is as if their innocence was stripped away from them as they came to see each other in a light which they had not seen before and they now know there is a good and evil. It is also interesting that the way serpants (snakes) move now is slithering on their bellies and according to this text they may have possessed limbs which they used to move (as we are introduced to in the fall of man chapter).In this section of the book we are also shown that death has come to existence “ for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (i.e buried in the ground and decay). It makes you wonder that had this not happened then there possibly may not be a death as it is a guarantee to us all. It is amazing that (if you are a believer of Adam and Eve or the bible) that the action of two people really impacted the world forever.

The ideal man: The size of Adam and how throughout generations men reduced in size in comparison to the father of man. Could you imagine if we were giants like them I highly doubt there would be enough space on this earth to sustain us. But then again they were probably fewer in population.  It is also pretty astonishing that Adam was shown the fate of all mankind, all that was to come and how each generation of man would stray and in return how they would be punished. I would say that Adam as pretty close to god as he shared the secrets of the universe with him.

 

The story of Lilith and The story of Eve : The reason I put these two stories together is because first and for most I never was aware of Adam having a wife before Eve. But also because these two women couldn't be more opposite one another.

 

The punishment: To think that before they ate for the tree that was forbidden from them they didn’t feel sadness or any negative emotion for that matter, but upon sinning against God they were now to feel what we feel today as human – emotions. His height was also taken away from him as he was made to shrink (reminds me of honey I shrunk the kids). Throughout these stories we see how just, loving and forgiving god is even if man disobeys him. Also the change in Adams character is quite shocking as he was someone that was oozed piety but instead he returns god favors with slanderous talks amongst the people of the heavens. I think this is an example of how ungrateful we as humans will always be. It is also ironic that from the beginning of time that man will always lust over or desire what we don’t have or are forbidden to have. Sort of like, as children when our parents tell us we can’t have something it makes us want it evens more.All that was created was to suffer as a result of the sin. What interests me is how this story brings together the moon as we see it today dependent on the sun of the light, as we all know the scientific explanation but the bible says the moon lacks light as it laughed when everything else whipped and as a result this would be its punishment.

 

Entering the cave of treasures: Here we see that God used Adam as an example to mankind, that he will teach us of his and Eve’s mistake in order that we may be guided into obeying the creator. We also see a sense of mistrust from Adam towards God, as they now believe god changed the appearance of the tree which led to them eating from it.  And they perceive the cave a punishment a prison as this is not the lavish life and surrounding they were created in to.

The darkness & The sunrise and the serpent: I have connected these two stories as they finally experience their first solar evolution. They finally experience their first night of darkness as the sun has set. But they do not know of the meaning of this so they think it’s another punishment from god. We have really come a long way in terms of understanding the world around us. Could you imagine being placed on a strange land that does things you have never seen before? Which is why Adam probably thought the sun was god and that it was sent to burn him.

(Les très riches heures du duc de Berry)

 

 

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