Blog 2- Analyzing Genesis

Kelsey Davidson

Blog 2

When analyzing the Bible and Genesis, it is important to see this piece of literature through a critical eye and not so much a canonical eye. Growing up in a Catholic home, many of the stories were engrained in me, as I wasn’t to question any of the stories but believe they are true and to live my life by the lessons taught. It is somewhat difficult for me to take on a different perspective and view the Bible as literature. Looking at it this way, I find myself questioning this story and developing a precarious response to it. I do not believe I am being sacrilegious nor going against my religion with this new way of thinking; I feel there is a way one can bide by their religion yet still analyzing this piece as literature and discussing it as such.

When speaking of the creation of mankind, Adam and Eve, I find myself now having to depict the language and rethink some of the stories I was told. The concept of heaven doesn’t really exist in Genesis; it was never spoken of. In my mind, I assumed when Abraham dies, he goes to heaven however, such a concept was never mentioned. I have also heard stories that Adam ate an apple from the tree of knowledge however, no specific fruit was mentioned either. It is times such as these where I find myself questioning these stories; not to say I am questioning my faith, I just feel as though it would do no harm to evaluate such a piece of literature and develop a personal opinion about it.

Reading the Bible in such a critical way has made me think about what the Bible is trying to convey to the readers. To me, Genesis sounded like a horror story, with no escape. I kept questioning God’s motives and wondering why he was doing the things he was doing. I have grown up knowing that God is human and divine, he is all good and knows no evil, yet he created evil. Then I realized that one of the main points of the Old Testament is to demonstrate the power God has and what he can do with it. With blending a combination of a critical analysis and a religious background, one might be able to get a better sense of this part of the Bible.

Week Two: The Bible

 Mark Sledziewski

There are several things to be said about the Bible if you read it critically. First of all is the comparison of what the bible actually says, and what people think it says. Growing up, I was raised Catholic, and went to church, and Sunday school, the whole nine yards. There are many things that I feel like I learned purely because my church leaders believed it. The forbidden fruit was most defiantly an apple. The snake was most defiantly Satan (or something of the like). And Eve was the first female created by God. But going back, and actually reading this, I find no mention of an apple, or even of Satan. They aren’t introduced at all in the Bible. I find this interesting that things that I grew up thinking are in the bible, aren’t actually there. And without critically reading it, I highly doubt I would’ve picked up on these facts.

Throughout all of my life, I’ve always heard how merciful and forgiving God was, and how he loved everything. But the Old Testament God is quite the opposite. So far, just in Genesis he’s wiped out the entire world, and smote two cities. And in the name of God, Abraham led an army, and gained many slaves, because of his devotion to God. It was interesting to me to see the difference in what my Sunday school taught me, and what I’m seeing on my own, so many years later.

There is much choosing when it comes to the Bible. The pope chooses what books go in, and what stay out for a lot of the part. But it is interesting to see how certain ideas don’t fit the Christian ways. When I was looking around a year or so ago, I came across the name Lilith. Apparently, Lilith was the very first woman, even before Eve. But, she was made from the same dust as Adam, and there for thought she was equal to him. She ran away from Adam, because she did not want to be submissive to him, and allow him to know her. She was then known as a demon, and was forgotten, and God made Eve, to be submissive for Adam. This reflects the underlying masculinity in the Bible, which was very much ingrained in our society, and still is to an extent.

Genesis; The Many Ways to Make God Angry

What is the importance of naming the damning flora the "Tree of Knowledge"?

         

       The whole beginning of the Bible scares me. I always imagined God (the classic robed bearded man) cruising over a pristine landscapes like the flyover's of a Discovery channel documentary, seemingly high as a kite as he creates rivers and creatures. But what is the most frightening is the theme that can be pulled out of the majority of Genesis, which is to not seek knowledge. Analyzing the piece as a work of literature, the author's intent is evidently to inform the reader that procuring knowledge, from eating the fruit, to building the tower of Babel and so forth, only ends in original sin or disaster. These consequences are dealt out by God, the omniscient being who has always known the difference between good and evil, so his actions should be always perceived as just. Being the most well known book in the history of human existence, it is strange that the main message is to inhibit growth as a people. I am not a fan of the phrase "the opiate for the masses", but I do think the Bible's use as a tool for control is a big part of the reason it is so popular. When it comes down to it, it seems the message is don't question the world, don't question God, and be grateful, he worked on the weekend to make you.

What is the perceived role of women in life through the lens of Genesis?

        I cannot imagine reading this work through the eyes of a fiery feminist. Not identifying as a feminist myself, I still found myself enraged at the silliness that was abound in the lines of the book. God punishes Eve decidedly more for eating the forbidden fruit, even though Adam could have just as easily been beguiled by the serpent. Another case is Lot's wife, who is seemed to be personally smited by God just for looking back at her burning home. Furthermore, Lot's daughters then make Lot drunk, and commit incest on him to bear more children. The fact that they had to impair Lot implies that the act was foul, but they were curiously unsmited by God, making me feel he may be cool with incest. In summary women in Genesis were gullible, yet conniving, and the were the sex that damned humanity to a lesser existence. Their role would consist of being skeptical in the face of God's truth (being stupid) and bearing the painful yet "deserved" pain of childbirth. Seems like women should be totally down with Genesis.

What is Genesis' purpose as the first book of the Bible?

       As I said before, Genesis scares me, but I think that was the point. While I know that I am reading a work of fiction, to those who heard the stories as historical fact the book must have been the most fear-inducing thing to hear, just shy of actually hearing the biblical flood roll in. While the narrative was blunt and choppy, a majority of the reading was captivating. Seeing the world come into fruition was exciting, it was almost like being taken on a ride with God. I think the purpose of the book was to pull in a possible believer with grandiose tales of creation, destruction, and everything in between. They are quick, and separate stories begin and conclude quickly, usually with a great life lesson at the end like a Saturday morning cartoon, the most common one being, do not piss off God.

        

       

         

Genesis Blog#2

Nicole Pfister

Blog #2

 In the Bible, the chapters on Genesis have several controversial topics through out them. One topic that is very controversial is the creation of life. The beginning chapters illustrate how God created life in just seven days.  Some people do not believe that God just magically created people in seven days. These people most likely believe that life was created through evolution. On the other hand, there are people who believe that God created life in seven days is true, because it is in the Bible and they don’t want to question it. The truth is that, no one on the earth today was alive when life first came about. So the fact that people argue so strongly about this issue I find to be ridiculous. People should have respect for other individual’s beliefs and opinions and not fight about it.

Another topic in the chapters of Genesis is punishing the human race. In just about every chapter someone does something to anger God and then he decides to destroy them or give them a serve punishment. The first story where God punishes someone is, the story of Adam and Eve. God tells Adam and Eve that they can eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden expect for the tree of knowledge. One day a snake tricks Eve into eating fruit from the tree. After taking a bite she gives it to Adam to eat. God finds out punishes them. His punishments included making childbirth painful, a mortal life, and being banished from the Garden of Eden.  I really don’t think that it was necessary for God to punish them so harshly. I understand that there should be negative consequences for them breaking the only rule, but punishments such as making childbirth more painful is a little extreme. Humans are bound to make mistakes and they mistakes are made everyday. If people were punished so severely as Adam and Eve were, they would be too scared to do anything.  

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.

Strange Power #2

Jessica Bourdage                                                                                                                          Week 2

Strange Power

Why is the bible so repetitive?  When reading the bible I couldn’t help but notice how much phrases are repeated. In class we talked about how translations can change the meaning of the work. The bible happens to be one of the most translated pieces and has many different authors. Perhaps this is why things happen to repeat themselves. Or perhaps it adds emphasis to the work. In the first part of Genesis, God creates things and for each day the author repeats “there was evening and there was a morning” to show the passing of time. In many different sections it seems to just list a whole bunch of names of people who were the sons of this person. It goes on until you have a whole family tree. In part 5 of Genesis, it just lists the generations of Adam. It lists how long they lived and their sons and says “he died.” I feel that the repetition and the info is unnecessary. Background is always good for any story but every small detail doesn’t have to be included. I felt that it was a bit too much info on all of these different people and their sons that wasn’t really relevant to the story. It might have been more effective to have simplified it in order to get from Seth to Noah.

How is the Lord portrayed? The Lord creates man and woman in his image. He talks to Abraham about making Abraham the father of a multitude of nations. The Lord seems to favor the people who are part of his covenant. It’s almost like an exclusive club. In order to be a part of his “club” you have to adhere to his rules. He says, “Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (pg. 13) The Lord also seems to be bias in the Exodus. He favors the Israelis over the Egyptians. He recruits Moses to help free his people yet the Lord also hardens the heart of the Pharaoh, making him refuse the Israelis from leaving. The Lord makes a statement with the Pharaoh and his men to show his power when he drowns them in the Red Sea. He also decides to kill all the first borns. The people sing “terror and dread fall upon them because of the greatness of thy arm.” (pg. 61) He does these acts to make people believe and show his power but does that justify killing people to make his point? Does he have the right to kill since he is the one who has created man? In the story of the flood, the Lord sees that the people he has created have become wicked and evil so he decides to create the flood. He wants to “blot out man” because he’s “sorry that he made them” (pg. 5) He succeeds in creating the flood whether it be wrong or right it’s in his power.

 Is the bible all positive? The stories in Genesis are not all delightful. Some deal with some strange events. Instead of letting the men of Sodom use the men that came to him, Lot instead tells them that he “has two daughters who have not known man; let me bring them out to you and do to them as you please.” (pg. 14) Lot was willing to protect the men than his own flesh and blood. This shows a bit of sexism like in other parts such as with Adam and Eve when the Lord says “In pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” (pg. 3)There is even more disturbing parts when Lot and his family flees to a cave. His eldest daughter comes up with a plan to sleep with their father in order to produce offspring. She tells the younger, “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring through our father.” (pg. 15) In Genesis, fathers seem to be willing to do horrible things to their children for the Lord. The previous example of Lot giving up his daughters instead of the men shows this. Another example is when Abraham brings his son, Isaac, up a mountain and plans to use him as a sacrifice before God stops him and instead produces a ram for the sacrifice.

Blog 2 (Genesis)

Mike Gole

Humn 220

Professor Akman

January 29, 2013

Blog Entry 2

Why is the Bible such an important work in Western Humanities?

I would be shocked to find a many people in America who are unfamiliar with the Bible. Regardless of how much of it they have read, the vast majority of Americans have at least heard of the Bible, and many are likely familiar with some of its stories.  This makes the Bible a logical place to start when teaching Western humanities. Regardless of whether or not one believes the Bible to be a holy text, one cannot deny the impact that the Bible has had on Western civilizations. In an area dominated by Christianity, the Bible is undoubtedly one of the most influential books in the entire history of what we consider to be “western civilizations.” As such, I believe it is important for even non-believers to read the Bible as a piece of literature with significant historical importance.

What meaning does the Bible hold to those who do not consider it a Holy text?

As stated above, there are few “non-believers” who would argue that the Bible has not had a massive impact on world history, specifically the history of western civilizations. Therefore, I believe that, to gain a better understanding of many of the events that have transpired in history, one should familiarize oneself with the Bible, regardless of whether or not they believe. Especially when one goes on to study poetry, Shakespeare, or various other fields, an understanding of the Bible will be key to understanding allusions frequently made in these works.

If God was attempting to keep mankind ignorant, was this truly for the best?

In class, someone asked why God forbid Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.  I found this to be an interesting question, and one that, as someone who was raised in a fairly strong Christian environment, I would honestly rather ignore than answer.  However, when looked at objectively, it becomes clear that there are several possibilities behind God’s rationale. The first consideration is that God seems to be very big on having control. Again, as someone mentioned in class, he turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt for disobeying him in what seemed to be a very trivial way. Perhaps, in a way similar to this, God was attempting to exert his dominance over man by keeping them from eating from the Tree of Knowledge. The other possibility to consider is that God may have been trying to save mankind from having to deal with the burden of knowledge, and the burden of fully understanding the nature of good and evil.( 

The Bible as Literature

Whether or not you are Christian, you have most likely heard at least one story from the Bible. The Bible is one of the best selling and most referenced texts of all time and is important in studying the humanities. I had never read the Bible before and reading Genesis was an interesting experience. If we read the Bible as literature from a critical perspective, we can uncover symbolism as well as analyze the characters the genres in the text.

            One topic of interest from Genesis is the tree of good and evil. In class we discussed whether or not God assumed that humans would ever eat fruit from the tree. If God didn’t want any humans to eat from this tree, what was the purpose of him putting it there in the first place? If Adam and Eve had never eaten the forbidden fruit, then it appears their lives would be very easy. Adam and Eve may not have been intended to eat the fruit but perhaps God had anticipated that someone would eventually eat from the tree of knowledge. I personally think it is the latter option. God seems to lose some control over humanity as the offspring of Adam and Eve grow up. First, there is the Cain and Able story and then God chooses to “make an end of all flesh” (p.5) because the Earth was too corrupt and violent. If this corruptness and violence were in fact caused by the original sin of eating the forbidden fruit, then it seems that God was not prepared for the consequences.

            Another interesting discussion from class was about the different genres in the Bible. Genesis clearly contains elements of many varieties of contemporary styles such as horror stories and dramas. The drama between Abraham, Sarah and Hagar is sure to come up in many modern movies, shows and probably quite frequently in reality as well. I think that drawing modern day parallels is a useful tool in reading the Bible as literature. If the Bible is read from a literary standpoint as opposed to a religious perspective, then we can critically analyze all the characters, including God. Even God exhibits characteristics seen in dramas and horror stories. Vengeance, wrath, jealously are a few examples. In Genesis, God nearly wipes out the entire planet yet then tells Noah to repopulate the Earth. God is still the supreme power of all but the character of God is not always in complete control. In this way, reading the Bible from a critical literary view opens the door for a lot of new questions and angles for analysis. 

Blog 2 Genesis

Danelle Turney

01/29/13

Genesis 1-26


"In the beginning..." when reading this for the first time, it is striking that the stories are written in such a simplistic manner. A lot of the lines repeat, and it almost reminded me of a refrain in a poem. For example, when explaining the days and steps of creation, it would end with "...and it was so" (genesis 1). The repeating of such lines may have been to put what was occuring during creation into perspective. God was creating all that is known by man today in regards to nature and was doing it in such an easy, matter-of-fact manner, that the repeated "...and it was so" line is intended to portray that what God wants to occur, will occur with minimal effort from Him. Also, the way in which the paragraphs are set up is interesting too. It appears to be that the authors will set up the story within the first few sections and then pinpoint one particular instance next. When talking about Adam and Eve, they are first brought up when "...God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them..." (Genesis 2). Then it went on to describe His first conversations with Adam and how Eve came to be.
Some of the people mentioned almost seem to be there simply for acknowledgment's sake. Genesis will list six or seven people to pick out the honorable mentions and the rest will be forgotten. I am not completely sure what the point of these listings are except maybe to keep track of the lineage of the first people on Earth. It also seems that maybe this was how particular nations came to be. A man would have so many sons in a particular place, and then that was where their people dwelled for the rest of time.
One of the things that confused me the most was when Adam and Eve had two sons Abel and Cain, and once Abel was out of the picture, Cain went about his business as a wanderer and found himself a wife somewhere. Where did this woman come from if Cain and Abel are the only two children Adam and Eve had? The only thing I can think of is that God created more than just Adam and Eve at first, but like later on in Genesis, Adam was a chosen one out of many.

Blog #2: Genesis

I was raised as a Christian. I went to religion classes, got my communion and my confirmation. However, I never really felt like a true Christian. I was never able to believe the stories I read and was told the way that my family and friends could, without seeing proof. Believing, without seeing any evidence, has always been a difficult thing for me to do.

         Genesis speaks of the origins of this world. This includes the creation of Earth, life, and man. The birth of man’s knowledge, as well as his understanding of how the world is going to work, all came from the original “sin”. This sin was simply disobeying God, who seemed to be man just like those who disobeyed him, yet he had all the power. He immediately banished those who disobeyed him, and cursed them and their descendants for all eternity.
         In my opinion, this seems very drastic. The Bible seems to claim that God forgives all sins, so long as we are remorseful. As opposed to showing forgiveness and compassion, God banishes his creations, his first children. That just seems hard to believe, at least for me. The story of Adam and Eve is just a small part of the whole picture that I have trouble seeing. A huge addition to this concept is the story of Noah and the flood. Why would God, the one who forgives, destroy everything and everyone simply because they aren’t what he wants them to be? The Bible claims that God willingly murdered millions of creatures, human and not, just because he didn’t like them. This does not seem realistic at all, and it definitely is not forgiving and accepting, as God is supposed to be.

         In class, we discussed the different ways to approach reading the Bible, and how we can read it critically. In order to critically read the Bible, it needs to be approached with an unbiased, unspoiled mind. Having a belief, whether it is the Bible being true or not, makes it very difficult to read the Bible critically. Being as I have trouble accepting the Bible as true, and in fact see it as a very interesting work of fiction (with plenty of good lessons, of course, but fiction none-the-less), I know that reading this work of literature in the way this class requires is going to be very hard to do. 

Definitions of religion

Humanities with a Global Approach

Robert Lawton

Week 2 – The Bible

As this class is Humanities with a Global Approach I am looking to view the Bible from a different perspective. I believe, perhaps too proudly, that I have a very unique perspective. As a pseudo-American who was adopted in my early teens by a Laos family, who themselves had come over as political refugees at the charity of a local church I was not raised with traditional American outlooks on society and religion. I attended church periodically with various foster families, but never received a consistent Christian indoctrination. Instead, from that time when I was taken in as a refugee of sorts myself I began attending temple. I identified as Buddhist from that point on, and forsook the church proper. As we grew up my siblings began to shift away from the traditional temple. Some became more avidly Christian, and others took on the new American religion of agnosticism. I was disappointed in this, as I felt it a step back for them. I was proudly Buddhist. However, when I was asked what that meant I could say very little about it. I did not speak enough Laos to understand much of what was said in temple. Religious language in any language is different from the secular, especially the string of curse words I primarily employed in speaking Laos. I decided I needed to explore what being ‘Buddhist’ actually was, and why I did not want to be Christian.

This decision led me to explore both religions from a standpoint of having a little bit of knowledge in each. I had seen Christmas movies, and I had seen Little Buddha. As I immersed myself in the Western Dharma culture I heard people say 2 things, very different things, about Buddhism. Some held it was a religion, while others said it was only a philosophy. Everyone agreed Christianity was a religion, but could not agree on the Dharma (Buddhism to non-Buddhists). The question becomes, “What is religion?” In my opinion, the early books of the bible clearly define, or at least provide the characteristics of a religion. Some are shared, others are not. Fundamentally there are some extreme differences.

In the beginning… there is creation of Christianity, in Christianity. This does not exist in Buddhism, where the need for a creation story does not exist. Many religions around the world though have this as a fundamental of their beliefs. While it is entirely possible to believe in God and not creationism, the fact that the metaphor of God’s power is still in (and accepted) the Bible is core to the idea of a religion – there must be something else out there, beyond the power of man that is making stuff happen. Whether we can understand it or not, explain it or let it remain a mystery a religion would seem to need a creation. The Bible starting with a creation theory seems to say that from the beginning of the world (from your faith) God is there, God is present, and God is in control. This is the antithesis of Dharma, which maintains that it is not necessary to know where things came from, but only to think about where it is going.

Genesis continues with the creation of Man, and to a lesser extent woman. They partake of the forbidden fruit and damn is all for eternity, unless God saves us of course. And to do that we once again have to surrender ourselves to his power. Again, this concept only marginally exists within Buddhism. In the Dharma as taught by Buddha there is suffering, but there is a cause to suffering, an end to suffering, and of course a method to end suffering. While this is a different approach than Christianity, this is where the religiosity of Buddhism steps in. There is a way to rise above our mortal shackles (Samsara) and break from the cycle of suffering and non-suffering to achieve a state beyond. Technically this is the Three Bodies of the Buddha, which coincidentally is not too dissimilar to the Trinity.

The Bible has a list of genealogy, a way to verify the authenticity so to speak of the words within. This shows how old and important it is. These people lived hundreds of years by the grace of God, even though by that time they were well incorporated with original sin. The Dharma, especially the Tibetan tradition is also very fond of tracing lineages. Ostensibly it is a way to know the authenticity of a text or teaching, but the key to the Dharmic approach is that we are always taught by the texts to question our teachings. As Buddha says “Study my words like a goldsmith for flaws and only use what is deemed pure.” Much of this has been forgotten by current Dharma practitioners as Buddha has become an religion of following and not questioning.

The question becomes, is religion about following or is it about learning and growing? Is it about community and shared heritage? Is religion material or spiritual? Christianity has it’s prophets and saints, and so does Buddhism. Christianity has a holy book (one book to rule them all) and Buddhism has its own texts. While there is no creation theory, there is much else in common. In the end the basic systems of beliefs differ to greatly for them to be called the same, but I believe they can both be safely called relgion.

Genesis

            I have never read the bible before because I do not view myself as a religious person. I have not read the bible purely out of disinterest and disagreement with organized religion as a whole. Of course throughout high school the Bible was referenced in a historical context, but nothing more. Having never read the bible before, I was unsure what to expect out of it. I like to think of myself as a person who relies heavily on logic, and the notion that everything has an explanation. Science is my thing.

            While reading Genesis in the bible I noticed that there are a lot of things that I don't agree with. The idea that women were created from men and are less than men does not sit well with me. How could men be around if women are the ones who give birth to them? This lead to the patriarchal society we live in today.  Another thing that I did not particularly like about Genesis was that God created the earth. There are scientific explanations for how the earth came to be and how life evolved here. Genesis tells about how God came to the people he created and would tell them things such as what not to do, what is right, and what is wrong. I feel that in this instance, God is a symbol of morals. I believe this is a positive thing that the bible can contribute to everyday life since morals are what drive people to care for one another.

            After reading Genesis, I thought about today's world and how the events portrayed are far less possible. People do not openly talk about their faith because of fear of offending other people. Also people who push their religious beliefs on others are not thought highly of. Today, people do not always look to God to answer their problems the way that Abraham did in Genesis. Many, but not all, people today are more concerned with their lives and investigate what they can do to better it themselves rather than leave their goals and aspirations in the hands of God.  People are more proactive.

            Another thing that I thought interesting while reading Genesis was that these events could not happen today because of modern medicine and current views of mental health. If someone today said that God was talking to them then people would question their sanity. In today's world, doing things because God spoke out loud to you to is a sign that there is something wrong with you mentally that needs to be addressed. Genesis tells about how God told to build an arc and make sure that all of the animals were aboard it because there was going to be a flood. If a man was to tell you today that he was building an arc because he was told by God that there was going to be a flood you would certainly question this man's sanity.

            On a different note however, I was interested in the part of Genesis in which Abraham had a child with his wife's Egyptian maid and then later had another son with his wife. I was intrigued by this because I learned about this in my History of Civilization class. The two sons were the founders of two different religions. The bible is a Christian text, yet in it one can learn about the birth of the Jewish and Islamic religions. 

            After reading Genesis, I further believed that the bible could be used as an important text in a western humanities class because to understand humanities it is important to understand the religious beliefs of different people. Without the basic understanding of religious views, it may be difficult to understand how different cultures function. Many cultures base their ways of life and laws on the religions they follow.