Adam and Eve

Who are Adam and Eve? What does the Bible say about them? Do you want to know them better?

We have informed ourselves about the origin of the world according to the Bible in order to properly answer your questions. Here is what can be said in brief about this subject:

According to the book of Genesis in the Bible, Adam and Eve were the first human beings on Earth. Through their disobedience by eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were driven out of the wonder in which they lived.

You will know several other mysteries that revolve around Adam and Eve:

• The story of Adam and Eve;

• Adam and Eve in the primordial creation;

• Genesis and Original Sin: History, Myth and Symbols

Without further ado, let’s start the article!

Adam and Eve in the primordial creation

It will certainly be clear that Moses , on leaving the colleges of the Pharaohs, used for the people of Israel the secret art of myth learned from the Egyptian masters. What he was permitted to say or write was expressed by him in inspired language, accessible to the religious masses, but he delivered to these same masses the secret teaching in the typical expression of myth.

With this criterion he wrote Genesis (or Genesis), using many symbols among which are now popular, and little or not understood, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the serpent (the Aryan forces) and the forbidden fruit, the cherub armed with a flaming sword (the Guardian of the Threshold) ready at God's command to defend the Tree of Life. Other symbols are Adam and Eve , the Garden of Eden , rivers, animals, etc.

Catholics continue to pray and believe in the apple of discord , the fig or pomegranate, the serpent that spoke to Eve, and original sin, due to childhood disobedience in diet or sexual sin.

All this is childish, but of undeniable effectiveness. Without the myth of Genesis , we would have lost a profound archaeosophical teaching. The story taught and preserved by the exoteric Churches (according to people) as a true historical episode, has a reverse side, in that it possesses an intense occult teaching. This is what we will refer to, with particular reference to the primordial woman (Eve) and the earthly woman .

We say that we do not want to develop on this occasion the theme of the two trees of Genesis , because probably not all readers are Kabbalists very familiar with the texts of Kabbalah or the Secret Tradition of Israel, but we will take up the subject again with full explanations when the time comes. Now the research consists in establishing Eve 's contributory negligence concerning Adam 's disobedience to his Creator.

Genesis of Moses

The Genesis of Moses transfers us beyond time and space into an ultra-physical world, when the earth on which we live was not even an incandescent mass, and the solar system had no physical consistency, but was shaped in nothingness. In this metaphysical world, we imagine with Moses an Adam created and placed in a beautiful garden in the company of animals, birds, trees, but alone, without a companion like him.

A unique Adam , but one who contains within him the one who will be his wife: Eve . An androgynous Adam, that is to say masculine and feminine, active and seductive. Everything around him was already divided according to the pre-established models of archetypal creation, that is to say not yet materialized. Even the animal kingdom had been implemented in its variety, so it was necessary for androgynous Adam, alone and unique, to enter into duality by identifying himself according to the universal law of ideal creation.

After all, he himself wanted a companion similar to himself, and God the Father-Mother granted him one. He placed him in a state of lethargic sleep, and from the luminous and ethereal body of Adam he separated the female part. There were two Adams , one of whom took the name Eve . It was a mysterious birth of the female. But be careful, do not be tempted to imagine the first man and the first woman as we are: this creation was in the world of ideas.

The primordial creation, the splitting of the Adamic unity, presupposes a projection into another dimension. We said "dimension": what is it? Dimensions are the expression of power. Man, imprisoned in a three-dimensional form (height, width, depth) and a specific weight due to density, looks at and considers all things in the light of the three dimensions, since only the physical-vital quantity is valid for him. The dead, that is to say the disincarnated free of the material physical body and the energetic bodies (etheric, astral, mental), live only in the fourth dimension, that is to say in a purely spiritual, etheric (non-etheric), and therefore potential state, which makes possible this penetration of bodies not permitted by physical laws. The dimensions are different: ten, that is to say as many as the Sefirot of Kabbalah. Eden, or the earthly Paradise, and the heavenly Eden, or the new Jerusalem, are found in one of these dimensions.

Adam and Eve in the Bible

In the split, Adam suffered an alienation of that part of himself which we have called feminine, attractive, the passive element by which Adam individualized himself. Adam's will had two qualities: one masculine or expansive, and the other feminine or seductive. From one, they became two volitional intellectual principles. Adam, seeing himself reflected in Eve, became embarrassed. If he had remained androgynous (man and woman in unity), it would have been impossible for him to acquire free will and to accomplish further development through his own auxiliary force. In the Hebrew language, used to write the Bible, the individualized masculine part of Adam is called Aish, and the feminine part Aishah. Therefore, although we have so far named Eve, this name must be understood with another meaning (Hewah = elementary existence), that is, that which constitutes the origin of all that constitutes this existence.

Genesis and original sin: history, myth and symbols.

One of the most heated controversies within modern Catholicism, beyond the well-known questions about sexual morality , is the debate over the meaning of original sin. If you search the Internet, you will find scholars, some of them excellent, who take two opposing camps: The traditional position, according to which God created a first pair of human beings (Adam and Eve), who committed their first sin and lost original grace both for themselves and for others. Among the most prominent defenders of this position is Father Bellon of the column "A priest responds" (www.amicidomenicani.it); The modernist position, according to which man has always been in sin: Adam represents humanity "beyond time", from the origins to today, still infected by the cancer of original sin. Conceived by Karl Rahner and Teilhard de Chardin, this position has often been attacked and is partly contrary to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in which it is clearly stated that original sin was a real primordial event at the beginning of man and that it was perpetrated by our "progenitors".

Moreover, the Council of Trent issued dogmatic definitions in this sense and Pius XII dared to write that he did not see how polygenism (= humanity would have come from several people without any family ties between them) could be compatible with the Catholic faith in original sin .

As I have already tried to do in other cases, I want to defend an intermediate position, starting from the following question: is it possible to exclude Adam and Eve and, at the same time, to confirm the traditional theory of original sin? The question must be posed in two senses: the first is to know whether it is legitimate to deny Adam and Eve as historical figures or whether it is on the contrary obligatory to believe in them by dogma; the second is to know whether it is theologically possible to admit original sin even in the case of polygenism and if so, in what way, without denying the historicity of this primordial tragedy.

Let us first try to answer the first question. In his answers on the Internet, Father Bellon affirms that the Church requires belief in Adam and Eve as historical subjects, otherwise the whole dogma of original sin would collapse and, with it, the whole economy of salvation. However, the question is much more elastic than we believe; as proof, the International Theological Commission expresses itself thus in the text Communion and Service: the human person created in the image of God: "Each individual human being, as well as the human community as a whole, is created in the image of God. In its original unity - of which Adam is the symbol - humanity is made in the image of the divine Trinity. Willed by God, it proceeds through the vicissitudes of human history towards a perfect communion, also willed by God, but which is not yet realized. In this sense, human beings participate in the solidarity of a unity which, at the same time, already exists and remains to be realized."

• And a little further:

"Catholic theology affirms that the appearance of the first members of the human species (individuals or populations) represents an event that does not lend itself to a purely natural explanation and that can rightly be attributed to divine intervention. Acting indirectly through causal chains operating from the very beginning of cosmic history, God created the premises of what John Paul II called "an ontological leap [...], the moment of transition to the spiritual." Yes, Adam and Eve could themselves be the "symbol" of an original humanity , at a time when, for the first time, the mind and body made an "ontological leap" for our species. This is the now universally accepted concept of "corporate personality." The above text speaks of the appearance of modern man 150,000 years ago, but, to honor the truth, this ontological leap should be placed further back, between 50,000 and 40,000 B.C., when "the progenitors" left the Horn of Africa to disperse throughout the world.

It is also the moment when a new mutation appears that distinguishes each human being from the previous ones and predisposes him to be "fully human": the appearance of a new allele of the ASPM gene, which plays a decisive role in language and in the ability to articulate sounds. Today, the human species almost entirely possesses this allele of the ASPM gene and part of it has a variant that arose even later (about 12,000 years before Christ). In present-day humanity, there is no longer any trace of the allele prior to 40,000 years before Christ. We are all children of the same mutation that, however, did not occur in a single individual but in a community, which Adam and Eve represent in a symbolic-algorific sense. It was the moment when God changed us, giving us an immortal soul and the possibility of knowing Him ; Being able to understand God in their minds, men developed a language capable of explaining his mysteries through dialogue between like-minded people. Perhaps it was at this point that something abnormal happened.

Humanity has not been able to manage this gift, has wanted to go further and has fallen into error. Human society has been contaminated by a false vision of God, made above all of idolatry and sin , violating the most essential taboos. This is what the Church calls social sin: when a sin is formally approved by an entire civilization and no one opposes it, to the point that it becomes so ingrained that one can no longer distinguish good from evil. Human growth has therefore failed: God would have raised us to perfection and made us forever invincible in the face of death and sin, but with our fall (whose distant cause is Satan), we had to start from scratch and wait for the coming of Christ.

This view, consistent with the emergence of modern man in Africa, maintains the historicity of Scripture and, at the same time, recognizes that it is impossible to speak of a properly historical narrative. Polygenism makes sense if we admit a genetic unity and solidarity of humanity from the beginning, as indicated by the Out-of-Africa theory advocated by most scholars, without having to admit a "first man" or a "first couple" by a strict monogenism. However, it remains to deny true polygenism, that is, that which admits that the different human races evolved autonomously from hominids, as if they were different species born in different parts of the planet. This version is incompatible both with the historicity of the Bible and with current scientific evidence.

Adam and Eve also represented in museums.

We find more and more representations of the two icons. Museums highlighting modern art and ancient art, highlight paintings representing the snake, the apple and the man with the woman without clothes . The creators of these works follow a precise code which is to represent in almost all works of art, the man, the woman and the dark snake. Some artists will sometimes considerably modify the basic work by adding elements such as animals or others.

*Here is a work of art: a magnificent golden Adam and Eve ring. This jewel highlights the love between the man, Adam, and the woman, Eve:

Both women and men visiting these museums are mostly always attracted by the image of Adam and Eve . For Christians who follow the biblical writings, this is a very important image for them. The creations always represent the man and the woman without clothes. A national art museum will often present you with somewhat modified paintings of Adam and Eve.

The story of Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve are considered by Catholics to be the progenitors of all humanity . Their legend has been told to us since our childhood, and it is both beautiful and terrible, because it tells of the immense love of God, who chose to create these two special creatures to offer them the gift of the wonderful world that had just been born from his hands, but it also tells of original sin and how the first man and the first woman disappointed their Father , deserving to be expelled from his Paradise.

But the story of Adam and Eve hides within itself much deeper meanings, which certainly deserve to be examined more closely. Just think of the fact that accepting their existence means recognizing that all humanity descends from the same couple , and therefore that we are all one big family. A concept that is not indifferent, especially in an age where love, brotherhood and mercy are constantly questioned.

It is therefore useful to pause for a moment on this ancient and fascinating legend, on the meanings it contains, and which have underpinned Catholic doctrine since its origins. Concepts such as original sin and the apple of sin have conditioned and regulated the lives of countless men and women over the millennia, and even today we live the legacy of this guilt, this mark of infamy that has marked all humanity, and that only the sacrifice of Jesus could call into question.

The creation of Adam and Eve.

The origin of Adam and Eve is told in the Bible , and more precisely in the book of Genesis . This book describes the days of creation, when God wanted to give birth to the world we know and everything that populates it. In the space of five days, he created the sky, the earth, the light, the stars, all the fish, birds and animals.

• On the sixth day he decided to create Man.

And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over every beast of the field, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth; subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that creeps on the earth'" (Genesis 1:26-28).

• However, there is a second version of this same episode in the Bible:

So the man gave names to all the livestock, to all the birds of the air, and to all the wild animals; but he found no helper like himself. Then the Lord God brought a stupor upon the man, and he slept; and he took out one of his ribs and closed up flesh instead. And the Lord God made the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman , and brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:20-22)

These two versions are defined, respectively, as the Priestly Source and the Yahwehian Source, and are linked to the documentary hypothesis, formulated by the German biblical scholar Julius Wellhausen, according to which the first five books of the Bible, the so-called Pentateuch (Torah for the Jews), that is, Genesis , Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, were not written by Moses alone, but by four probable authors, the initials of whose names constitute the acronym JEDP.

As can be seen, the two accounts of the creation of the first man and woman present substantial differences. In the first, God created Adam and Eve at the same time, both in his image, and made them masters of the earthly Paradise. In the second, however, Adam was created first, and God assigned to him alone dominion over the things and animals he had created. Woman came later. Of course, this is not the place to delve into these two points of view in depth, but the implications that these two different interpretations have had in the history of the Church and of humanity, especially with regard to the relationship between men and women , are evident.

The story of Adam and Eve for children.

Beyond academic interpretations and studies by eminent biblical scholars, how could we tell the story of Adam and Eve in a simple way? For example, if we had to tell it to children, how could we proceed? What must emerge in the eyes of the youngest children is the great love of God, who created a wonderful world to give to men and women . It will be fundamental for children to understand that, since everything around them is the fruit of this love, it is their duty to respect and protect it, to enjoy it and never take it for granted, as too often happens.

It will then certainly be helpful to impress upon them the gravity of Adam and Eve 's disobedience, who ate the apple when God had commanded them not to do so, yet left them free to eat all the other beautiful and tasty fruits that abounded in the Garden of Eden . To emphasize this point, it may be helpful to draw a comparison with the disobedience of children themselves, who escape the duties and recommendations of their parents. Duties and recommendations pronounced always and only for their own good. Here again, it will be important to suggest to them the concept of free will: God left Adam and Eve the choice to do what they wanted, even the choice to love Him or not. He did not force them to do anything, everything He did for them was a wonderful gift, and yet they let Him down through their ingratitude. The story might go something like this:

God is so good that one day he decided to create a wonderful green space. He filled it with all kinds of plants, flowers and animals, and above it he placed the sky, with the sun, the moon and the stars. When he was finished, he created the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve, and he wanted to give them this earthly Paradise . They would be free to go wherever they wanted, in this world where there would be no pain, no sickness, no death, and to eat all the fruit that grew on the trees, except the apples from the tree that was in the middle of the garden.

Despite God's recommendations, Eve was tempted by an evil serpent , who told her that the fruit of this great tree would allow her to understand the difference between good and evil. Eve took a fruit from the forbidden tree, ate it, and offered it to Adam.

God immediately discovered their disobedience , and suffered greatly. He had done everything for them, he had created a paradise and given it without asking for anything in return. As punishment, he sent them far away from the earthly paradise and condemned them and all their descendants to pain and death.

Adam and Eve: The Story of the Apple and Original Sin.

The story of the apple , the forbidden fruit that supposedly made Adam and Eve equal to God, giving them the knowledge of good and evil, is not just a legend for children. In fact, it is the basis of the Catholic religion. In fact, the consequence of original sin was the fall of man, the breaking of the tacit alliance between him and God, the effects of which have been felt by all humanity for millennia. It is from this single act of disobedience that all the evils of humanity originate. Before that, man was perfect, immune to disease and injury, immortal, happy.

This act stems from man's desire to be able to decide for himself what is good or bad, instead of relying on the infinite wisdom and infinite love of God. The story of original sin , from the temptation by the serpent, to Eve's act of taking the apple from the tree and offering it to Adam (a tree that should not be confused with the tree of life . You will find more information in the article dedicated to the meaning of the tree of life), is imbued with references to countless earlier sacred stories.

It is interesting to see how the words of the tempting serpent are sufficient to instill in the first woman the seed of doubt, the conviction that God's command not to eat the fruit of the tree was unjust. Above all, it is the promise of the serpent, who tells Eve that by eating the forbidden apple, she and Adam will acquire the knowledge of good and evil, becoming in practice like God, who is so irresistible.

Adam and Eve banished from paradise.

However, after picking and tasting the apple, the first and only thing they become aware of is their own nakedness.

Shame is the first negative feeling experienced by the first man and woman , a moment after their fall.

Immediately discovering the disobedience, God summons the three culprits, who try to exonerate themselves by accusing each other.

God's punishment strikes them all, first the serpent, who is cursed, then the woman , condemned to the pains of childbirth and to be subject to man, and finally man, condemned to having to draw from work and sweat the fruits of the earth that until then had been prodigal and generous with him. Finally, and this is certainly the worst evil that results from this thoughtless act, God condemns the man and the woman, and with them all their descendants, to physical death, while they were previously immortal. It will take thousands of years, and the advent of Jesus Christ, for this terrible rupture to know the hope of reconciliation. In Jesus, the children of Adam know the possibility of redemption, the mirage of eternal life at the end of time, and only for those who know how to deserve it.

Who were the children of Adam and Eve?

Once expelled from Eden, Adam and Eve had several children , according to tradition from 14 to 140 years. The only three mentioned in the Bible, however, are Cain, Abel and Seth. Cain married Abel's twin sister, Calmana, Abel married Cain's twin sister, Deborah. Later, when Abel died, Cain, his murderer, married his sister Awan, by whom he fathered a son, Enoch. Seth married his sister Azura, who gave birth to Enos, whose offspring would give birth to Noah and his sons. Cain's descendants, on the other hand, became nomadic herders and learned the art of blacksmithing, but were distinguished by violence and the practice of polygamy.

Analogies with ancient myths.

The creation of Adam from the earth is similar to the stories of the creation of man among other ancient peoples of the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East: in Mesopotamia, the gods created man from clay and the blood of a god; in Egypt, they fashioned him as one would a vase or a brick; and even in Greece, the demigod Prometheus created him from water and earth. The loss of immortality by Adam and Eve recalls the myths of Gilgamesh and Adapa, two legendary kings of ancient Mesopotamia who, by mistake, missed the chance to become immortal.

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By reading this article, you have discovered the legend of Adam and Eve. In a few words, we can say that: According to Christian ideologies, after the creation of the earth, God created Adam and Eve . They lived in the Garden of Eden . After they committed the original sin, they were expelled from this garden. So they lived with punishments resulting from their disobedience and were faced with the various problems of life.