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Those exposed to Christianity know the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Many Christian communities embrace the story as a fundamental historical truth. The story of Adam and Eve goes like this:
Those exposed to Christianity know the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Many Christian communities embrace the story as a fundamental historical truth. The story of Adam and Eve goes like this:
Adam and Eve, the first humans created by God, lived in the idyllic Garden of Eden, a paradise filled with lush vegetation, abundant fruits, and beautiful landscapes. They enjoyed a close relationship with God and lived in harmony with nature, tasked with caring for the garden and forbidden to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their innocence and unity represented the ideal state of humanity.
An important context is that while in this state of innocence and unity, the rest of creation was in a 'perfect' state, or what most Bible scholars refer to as a 'complete' state. The specific phrase is 'very good,' which comes from Genesis 1:31 and follows the six days of creation detailed in the preceding verses, culminating in the creation of humanity. Though theologians and scholars interpret this passage differently, the most mainstream interpretation is that creation was in a state of perfection.
However, as the story goes, Adam and Eve's curiosity led to temptation by the serpent (often interpreted literally to refer to Satan, who spoke as a serpent), resulting in their disobedience when they consumed the forbidden fruit.
Fun Fact: The Bible is explicit in that Adam and Eve consumed a 'forbidden fruit,' though most commonly, Christians refer to the fruit as an apple. The word 'apple' is never used in the account. The notion that the fruit was an apple comes from Christian art and literature dating back to the 4th century CE. In Jerome's translation of the Bible (The Latin Vulgate), he translated the Hebrew word 'peri,' which means fruit, as 'malum,' which has a double meaning of apple and evil.
This act of defiance led to their expulsion from Eden. Unique to Christianity is the idea that not only did this act of defiance lead to expulsion from the garden, but it also broke God's completed work in creation.
The idea of original sin suggests that when Adam and Eve took a bite from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they brought sin into the world. This act of defiance led to a distance between humanity and God, caused death to enter into the human experience and made all humans going forward inherently sinful. We call it "original" because it's considered the source of all the sins committed in human history. As a result, everyone is born with this tendency to sin, which is why we all need a little help from divine grace to find our way to salvation.
For thousands of years, Christianity took this story literally and contributed all that is broken and wrong in the world to this one act, at some place in time, all the way back in the Garden of Eden. Many people accepted this story as a historical account.…until Charles Darwin appeared on the scene.
Darwin Broke Christian History
A poignant detail that often gets overlooked by some Christian Creationists is the remarkable goodness that humanity has experienced thanks to Darwin's theory of evolution. This theory has led to profound benefits in various fields, particularly medicine, where it plays a crucial role in studying genetics and disease, ultimately aiding in developing vaccines and treatments that save lives. It also deepens our appreciation for biodiversity by shedding light on the relationships between species and their habitats. It also enhances agriculture through selective breeding and genetic modification, thus helping to secure food for many.
Moreover, evolutionary psychology offers valuable insights into human behavior and the development of societies, encouraging us to foster scientific literacy and critical thinking. The theory promotes collaboration across disciplines, uniting fields such as genetics, ecology, and anthropology. Ultimately, it enriches public understanding and appreciation of the natural world and the extraordinary processes that shape life on Earth.
The reason Creationists have a hard time recognizing the benefits of evolution is because it also turned the historical assumption about Adam and Eve into a myth at best. Despite fewer and fewer voices advocating for anti-evolution ideas (Answers in Genesis, anyone?), the reality is that those voices are quickly moving into fringe fundamentalist corners.
Evolution has unequivocally shown that human life occurred over approximately five billion years. Moreover, without first parents, Adam and Eve did not exist to plunge humanity into a death spiral when they were cast out of God's perfect and complete creation.
The Christian Death Rattle to Save the Bible from Science
When I first became a Christian, I was introduced to apologetics and taught that 'defending my faith' was crucial for my growth as a mature follower of Jesus. No battle was more significant than the one between Christianity and science.
Looking back, this 'rallying of the troops' to defend the literal interpretation of the Bible, which I was introduced to as 'Christianity' was nothing more than a desperate scramble to hold on to a premodern, monolithic story of salvation used to argue for the supremacy of Christianity.
While in the more fundamentalist circles, like the one I found myself in, they doubled down and sought to teardown evolutionary ideology and replace it with a biblical one. For other Christians and denominations not committed to an inerrant and infallible view of the Bible, there was a quick pivot to reinterpret the Adam and Eve story as symbolic.
However, at the heart of both movements was still the ontological belief that humanity was by nature alienated from God and inherently sinful. What most people did not realize until the last few decades was how Darwin had already irreparably fractured the premodern mentality that people are born alienated from God and sinful.
Darwin Undermined a Perfect and Complete Creation
At the crux of Adam and Eve's defiance leading to separation from God, death, and sin into the world is the implication that the world was perfect, good, and complete.
Bishop John Shelby Spong explains:
"To ascribe goodness to creation implies that the work of creation is complete. Darwin, however, made us aware that the creation is even now not finished. Galaxies are still being formed. Human life is also still evolving." (Why Christianity Must Change or Die, p. 97)
Once you recognize the truth that the cosmos is still a work in progress, the whole literal and mythological framework creation, original sin, and even the substitutionary atonement of Jesus is built on comes crumbling down. Bishop Spong goes on to say:
"What is sin? It is not and never can be alienation from the perfection for which God in the act of creation had intended for us, for there is no such thing as a perfect creation. Thus there was no fall into sin." (ibid, 97)
This truth this lesson teaches is one Christianity desperately needs to learn from our Jewish and Muslim kin. Viewing the completion of creation as solely a result of humanity's arrival in history reveals an incredibly self-absorbed and egotistical perspective. Our self-centeredness around the Adam and Eve story within the Garden of Eden framework attests to the reality that we are bearers of the 'selfish gene' that English Biologist Richard Dawkins often refers to.
A New Theological Landscape
A reality that all churches, regardless of denomination or affiliation, need to recognize is that millions of people are continuing to walk away from Christianity due to theological and religious frameworks built on no longer believed presuppositions. As an American millennial, I live in a society where truth is more complicated and challenging.
Through shock politics, we've seen the normalization of misinformation and the rise of catchy phrases like "fake news" and "no cap" (no cap = I'm not lying). We are the first generation to have seen the moral compass of our political, economic, community, and religious institutions crumble before our eyes. This age of misinformation has led to a deep skepticism of any leader or institution peddling unsubstantiated rhetoric.
As faith and science converge, evolutionary theory invites us to explore new dimensions of traditional Christian beliefs, especially the story of Adam and Eve. This journey encourages a re-evaluation of sin, perfection, and humanity's purpose in the cosmos. As many seek new paths outside Christianity, churches are called to reflect on theological frameworks that may no longer resonate. Embracing the dynamic nature of creation can inspire a more nuanced spirituality, harmonizing our understanding of the universe and our place within it.
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Thanks for stopping by and reading this article! If my work has served you or you want to contribute to creating authentic faith connections, consider becoming an Authentic Faith Advocate.
Thanks for stopping by and reading this article! If my work has served you or you want to contribute to creating authentic faith connections, consider becoming an Authentic Faith Advocate.