I have linked up with my virtual friend Philip Gulley in yet another way at https://www.philipgulley.com/ The name of this site is called “PlainSpeech”. That is a Quaker thought that basically means “Mean what you say, and say what you mean”. Because I have Aspie traits, that has been a central part of my life like forever.😎 It has often gotten me in trouble because I come across to many people as way too blunt. I have been fascinated with Quakerism for more than a decade now, and plan to move deeper into it after this latest round of COVID finally passes. Philip Gulley’s book “If God is Love” was central to forming my spiritual life, as it now exists. I quit calling myself a “Christian” and instead I am now “follower of the teachings of Jesus”. That is the central theme of my life now.

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Finally, getting to the point of this post, I have always been troubled by the second creation story in the Bible. It is about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. I kinda like the idea of being naked. Wouldn’t that be nice. No more clothing status symbols. None of the other creatures on earth wear clothes, why do we? But, the idea of spending an eternity doing nothing but innocently praising God seems kind of senseless to me and quite narcissistic. What really gets me though is the idea of not having knowledge of what is good or evil. I don’t see that as a particularly good thing.

Every time I read the Genesis text, I can’t help but think that Adam and Eve were not disobedient sinners but instead bravely acquired the knowledge that is central to life, as Mr. Gulley said in a recent post at PlainSpeech. They were instead our liberators, who made us fully human.

Of course, we know that God didn’t really say those things to Adam and Eve or that they even existed. We know that this is likely a rhetorical story passed down, pretty much the same as all the Native American stories about God being an eagle that soars over his domain.

To have someone besides me question this Eden story was refreshing. I am not the only one to see the irony of this mythical story. Adam and Eve actually did us a favor… I can’t imagine living forever anyway.