Interpreting Parts of Genesis

Colin Moore

HUMN 220

1/29/13

Interpreting Parts of Genesis

            The Bible is a book that I have always planned on reading at some point in my life. I am not a religious person in any sense and I have always thought that it would be interesting to read a book that was so influential yet I know very little about. I was not raised in a religious home, I have never attended church and I know very little about what is actually said in the Bible. The Bible began with God creating the heavens, the Earth, the animals, and everything else in 6 days while he rested on the seventh day, which relates to Sunday which is supposed to be a day for rest. So according to the Bible, God created everything, and most importantly he created man in his image. This was said in the Bible in the first chapter of Genesis in verse 26, “Then God said, “’Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’” (Genesis 1:26) I find this verse interesting for a couple of reasons. First of all, taken literally, this verse might mean that God made humans look like him, but this is not what I personally believe. I believe that this verse meant that God created humans in what he believed to be a perfect image, unless God does not believe that he himself is perfect. While God made humans, “in his image,” he also determined that they would rule over all of the land, sea, and air, which is convenient, since humans pretty much rule over all the land. Another thing that interested me about this quote was that God said “Let us make man in OUR image….” Well the question that this raises is about whom god is referring to. I am fairly certain that he is referring to himself but it sounds like he is either talking to multiple people or he is talking to himself in the third person which would be kind of strange. When he says “our image” it leads me to think that he is talking to someone else. Why wouldn’t he just say “my image?” However, this may just be an accidental slip that was made when the bible was being translated into English. I suppose this is not the most important question yet it bothers me because it is a very unnatural thing to say.

            The Bible then went on to discuss the story of Adam and Eve. What interested me was about why Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. They were kicked out of the Garden of Eden because they ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Adam and Eve were told by God to not eat the fruit off of the tree of knowledge or else they would die. Eve was eventually convinced by the serpent to eat from the tree so she would gain knowledge. So she and Adam ate from the trees and gained knowledge. They gained knowledge such as being self-aware. This is shown when Adam and Eve decided to cover themselves up from their nakedness after they ate the fruit. This also shows that they most likely gained certain things like shame, since it seems like they were ashamed of their nakedness. I am somewhat curious as to why God would blatantly lie to Adam and Eve about the tree. They did not die when they ate the fruit and instead they gained some form of knowledge. Maybe the serpent was actually trying to help Adam and Eve gain knowledge so they did not live some life where they would be oblivious to the world. Although I’m not very religious I do not believe that a god would lie to people that trusted him/her/it. Lying is an unmoral act and it seems like a just god would be a god who is perfectly moral. I am trying to approach the Bible with a critical mind and I am not just trying to take everything that is said in the Bible in a literal sense and some parts that I have read so far just do not make complete sense to make and need some explaining. However, I understand that the bible is not a perfect representation of what actually happened in the past, it is just full of insights and stories from the past.