By Sodium
Re-citing Question (18)
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" Given that snake do not say much these dayswhy do many Christians insist that a snake talked Eve into eating the forbidden from the forbidden fruit ? "
The following quotations have been selected from Miller's answer to the above question:
Quotation One:
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" The snake was more clever than all the wild animals he Lord God had made. He asked the woman, " " Did God really say, " You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden " ? " "(Genesis 3:1 ). "
Quotation Two:
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" Even the last book in the Bible calls the snake Satan: " That ancient snake, named Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world " "( Revelation 12: 9 ). "
Quotation Three:
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" " Many Bible experts, however, say they aren't so sure that the writer of the first book, Genesis, thought of the snake as anything other than a creepy, crawly critter. "
Quotation Four:
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" Whatever the critter was, it could outtalk a parrot. "
Quotation Five:
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" Some guessed it walked, too. that's just a presumptionbased on the punishment God gave it: You will crawl on your belly. You will be the lowest of animals as long as you live " " (Genesis 3:14). "
Quotation Six:
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" The snake in Genesis did pretty much the same as the snake in an ancient story frm Babylon, in which is now Iraq. In the epic of Gilamesh, the hero was about to get a plant that would protect him from death. A snake beat him to it--and ate it. The Bible story twists that plot."
Quotation Seven:
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" Others say they see a mingling of history and symbolism, all mended to explain humanity's broken relationship with God. "
Quotation Eight:
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" Still others insist that the writer ( of the Old Testament of the Bible ) was accurately reporting history, as inspired by God's spirit--and that a talking snake is a talking snake, and we can debate it until our tails rattle, but it's still a talking snake. "
Final Words:
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It seems to me that Quotation Six is most telling, about where the real roots of, at least, part of the Biblical stories came from. This trend seems to hold closer to the truth, as one takes into considerations the historical fact that about 28,000 of the ancient Hebrews, such as the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, had lived in captivity in Assyria (in what is known now as Iraq), after the Assyrian ruler by the name of Sennacherib conquered northern Israel, about six centuries ago ( 600 hundred years ago ) before the birth of Jesus Christ, and consequently approximately 600 years before the birth of Christianity.
Some of those captives had managed returning to Jerusalem, but most of them remained in Assyria.
Now, one may be able to make the obvious connections between the telling of quotation six, quoted above, and the story of the snake and Eve, as spelled out in the Old Testament of the Bible--meaning the possible roots of the story was Assyrian cultural beliefs. Of course, the hard core Christians and Jews will reject such possible connections and that is their prerogative to adhere to their beliefs--just as I have rights to adhere to the proposed connections between the Assyrian culture, on one hand, and the snake and Eve story in the old Testament of the Bible, on the other hand.
I have taken my time to write all the foregoing under the subtitle, " Final Words " because I simply could not believe that snakes could talk. No way. You can call me " Zindeeq " if you wish, but I will stick firmly to my human rationality and sensibility. .
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