Were Adam and Eve merely fictional persons?

[Butterflies61]

The Genesis account in the Bible tells us Adam was the first human creature and Eve, the first woman was his wife.

[Ankou]

not as such. my understanding is that adam and eve were representative of all of ancestral mankind, not just two individuals.

[rsvp]

Depends whether or not you believe the bible is fact or fiction.

[Mosaic]

Objectively the answer has to be, they were not a real Mr and Mrs A Eve, no.1 Paradise Gardens, central Iraq.
Given that many of the events and message sof the old and new testament are agglomerations of earlier myths and metaphors for human relationships / relationships with god, then it's easier to see them as idealised symbols f an innocent time before everything went wrong, and an attempt to explain why things went wrong.
And blame women......

[tiggerblue10]

Possibly if he was Homo Habilis.

[cazzz1975]

I also think the fearing of an all seeing all knowing god was created to police society better, they even had a set of rules (the ten commandments)

I think adam and eve were created to explain to people where they come from or how humanity evolved.?

[jake-the-peg]

Well of course they were - you only have to read it to see that it's a metaphor - one of the great ones it must be said but you'd have to be barking to think that it's true in the light of modern knowledge.

For a start how did the book come to be written?

Traditionally it's said that Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible - very unlikely, especially as his death is described at then end of that - presumably then the story is a divine revalation.

I don't think so - do you?

[Ankou]

well yes falsely blaming women (a continuing source of seduction) for the original sin allowed men to punish them and treat them as second class and paved way for centuries of mysogyny. women were expected to be repentant and mournful and walk around with their heads down. tertullian and st jerome were in partricular a right evil bar stewards when it came to women.

and not forgetting the dreadful witch hunts - the malleus maleficarum is a fine example of how terribly women were viewed in later centuries, and either because of a stupid chapter in a book (genesis), or generally man's ill-natured view of women.

[paulrf]

I thought it was generally known that Lilith was the first woman not Eve.

[chelle7272]

Depends which version of the bible you believe i suppose

[Ankou]

nah lilith was just a name for an evil spirit, you know, like a banshee. the sort of woman that would copulate with men in their sleep causing them to have wet dreams, or caused sudden infant death syndrome. the sorta things that happened in the night when there was no explanation. she also made things go bump.

[sandyRoe]

They're mentioned in the Bible. How can you think they were merely fictional?

[starone]

Perhaps he was the missing link between monkeys and men.

[Old_Geezer]

Folk had to imagine the human race started with someone, and gave them names. After that the details would have been filled in by vivid imagination masquerading as divine inspiration. Probably was as good an uninformed guess as any.

[funnygirl]

It is a load of codswallop!

Anyone who believes this must be desperate!

[toalisi]

Of course it's true!

Adam came from dust & Eve from his rib.

Couldn't be more believable than that.

[Ankou]

makes sense.

adam was bored so he gave a woman a bone.

[keyplus90]

As for Adam and Eve they are not fictional. But I do not believe in the original sin bit. I do not have to believe in Bible to believe in that but still there are so many verses even in the Bible negating original sin.

[Ankou]

cool. always knew i could be forgiven one day.

[jake-the-peg]

Ah yes there's the rub

Literalists like fundamentalist Christians and many Muslims have to believe in the literal truth of their book

If they admit the slightest variation they acknowledge that any of it might be wrong and their whole house of cards comes crashing down around their heads.

So they will perform the most amazing double-think to square that circle - which is why you end up with museums of creationism with dinosaurs and cavemen running around together!

What does Muslim theology make of early humanoids like Neaderthaals then Keyplus?

[chakka35]

It's a strange quirk of human nature that there are some people who would believe anything provided it has been written down by someone else, even when that someone else is completely unknown.

When you think of how many millions believe the Jesus story as told by four unknown people about whom we know nothing it's hardly surprising that the equally anonymous but much simpler tale of Adam and Eve is accepted by the gullible.