Progressive Wednesday

Clergyman Charlie: On Adam and Eve

August 12th, 2007 by Charles Lamb

People sometimes ask “Who did Adam’s sons marry?” Often a minister replies, “Ha, ha, that’s a good one!” as he shakes their hand and ushers them out the door. I think some clergy are a little afraid to shock people by telling them what they know about that story. Would you be shocked if I say that the story of Adam and Eve is not historical, but it is true? It is myth, not fact.

But understand a myth is a non historical story that teaches an absolute truth. If you read the story carefully, there are more problems that who the first children married. After Cain killed his brother Abel, he was expelled from the community. Cain said that if he was a fugitive, whoever met him might kill him. But God said he would protect him.

Who was out there to kill him? Good question if the story was “true.”

But if you realize that this ancient story, handed down over campfires for generations before it was written down, was meant to convey profound truths. People before the scientific era didn’t think as we do, wanting everything measured, tested, proven. They could enjoy a story without our questions. Maybe that’s better. At least it is the way to read these Biblical stories.

The word “Adam” in Hebrew means “man.” Adam’s story is the story of you and me. We depart from God’s way for us and that brings’ destruction and dismay. Our children give in to jealousy and violence, and these impulses lead to disaster, broken relationships, heartbreak. Isn’t that true? We know it is.

By the way, the fact that God protects a murderer from death may be an early comment against capital punishment.

Meditate on the stories in the first chapters of Genesis. Let them speak to you. They are full of truth we need to hear. And if we do that, the question of who Adam’s sons married becomes irrelevant. There wasn’t an Adam: there is just you.