One Bad Apple

This is the second of three posts concerning Hebrew Creation myths. In the previous post, I showed how the creation myth in Genesis 1 is pagan in origin and clearly polytheistic. It gets more complicated with the second Hebrew creation myth in Genesis 2:4b – 3:24.

For brevity, I won’t repeat the entire second Genesis myth because it’s quite long. However, while I suspect most know the myth’s essentials, I recommend you refresh yourself. A good source is the Bible Gateway, which has multiple translations. 

Whereas Genesis 1 is mainly intact with minor modifications, scholars have determined that Genesis 2, like most Hebrew texts, is an edited narrative resulting from various sources and multiple revisions. Scholars label one identified source for Genesis 2 as “J” for Jawist and another “P” for Priestly. We can even see the remnants of a pre-Abrahamic polytheistic thread found near the end of the myth when God states, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.”

The most common portrayal of the forbidden fruit through the years has been the apple.

A central purpose of this myth is to explain human suffering in an imperfect world. The Greeks also have a myth for the same purpose. According to Greek mythology, in the beginning, humanity was completely male. In the myth of Pandora’s Box, Zeus becomes angry with men and plots a scheme to make them suffer. Zeus’s first step in his plan was to create a woman for the men. His next step was to give her a box and tell her not to open it. When curiosity got the best of her, she opened it, and out flew all of the sufferings of humanity. 

In both myths, Divinity creates an item that tempts humanity and brings suffering to humankind. In the Hebrew myth, it was a fruit tree; in the Greek myth, it was a box. Interestingly, in both cases, there’s a patriarchal element; the woman is portrayed as incapable of following directions and plays a central role in causing suffering.  

There is an important thing to understand about the myth of Pandora’s Box. Pandora’s Box was only one example of the crap Zeus was often portrayed as doing. If He wasn’t portrayed as raping someone, he was torturing them. Therefore, in the Pandora’s Box myth, human suffering is understood as being the fault of the gods, not ours.

The Hebrew myth itself really isn't different from the Greek myth. What's different is the Abrahamic interpretation. Remember, in Abrahamic radical monotheism, the One God is not only perfect but is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful. The blame must, therefore, be placed on humans rather than the God of Abraham.

The Abrahamic spin on Genesis 2 blames the victim. God sets humanity up by placing the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden. Then, when the first humans fail, which God knew would happen, rather than placing the blame back on God for setting up the first couple, the story places the blame unfairly upon humanity.

We have been gaslighted by Abrahamic theology for thousands of years. It’s time we say no more by rejecting monotheism and its toxic message.

Seven Days

“In just seven days, I can make you a man.” – Rocky Horror Picture Show.

This is the first of three posts concerning Hebrew Creation myths. One might think it’s odd that, as a Pagan, I would write about this topic. But stay with me. I’ll make sense when I’m done.

There are three Creation myths given in the Bible. There is the Creation myth found in Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a, in which Elohim creates the world in seven days. Then there’s the second Creation myth involving Adam and Eve found in Genesis 2:4b – 3:24. Finally, there is the little-known third Creation myth found in Psalm 74:13 – 17 and Job 41, closely resembling other ancient Near Eastern creation myths.

In this post, I focus on the first Creation myth involving Elohim. For brevity, I won’t repeat the entire myth here. In summary, Elohim creates the Cosmos and all within it in six days and rests on the seventh. If you wish to read the entire myth, a good source is the Bible Gateway, which has multiple translations.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this myth is that there are clear indicators that it dates from the pre-Abrahamic Hebrew past. There are two indicators in the myth.

The first indicator is in the opening line, typically translated as “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The Hebrew word translated as “God” is “Elohim.” Elohim is plural and not singular. It was the name used by Canaanites for their pantheon of gods, in the same way that the word “senate” denotes a collective body of senators. A literal translation would read, “In the beginning, the gods created the heavens and the earth.” 

There is a second indicator of a pagan origin to this myth. Later in verse 26, it reads, “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…” Please note the two words “us” and “our” in this passage. Once again, we have multiplicity in reference to the divine.

Apologetics over the ages have tried to rationalize these details. Some have claimed that God is talking to the angels. But this would mean that God didn’t create everything. Others have said it’s a “royal ‘we’” as we. However, this practice is unique to British royalty and only dates to the 1100s. Some Christian apologetics have tried to explain it, saying the different personalities of the Trinity were conversing among themselves. However, this portrays God as someone with a psychiatric disorder talking to himself rather than the Supreme Being.

The attempt at rationalization can even be found among some scholars. On the Britannica website, the writers state, “Elohim is monotheistic in connotation, though its grammatical structure seems polytheistic. The Israelites probably borrowed the Canaanite plural noun Elohim and made it singular in meaning in their cultic practices and theological reflections.” Notice that they admit that it’s polytheistic in grammatical structure and that the word is Canaanite in origin. They rationalize its monotheistic usage through its connotation and say that the Israelites “probably borrowed” the word from the Canaanites and changed its meaning.

Most contemporary scholars agree that the ancient Hebrews were originally polytheists who became monotheists over time. The early Israelites were originally Canaanite pagans.

The evidence is clear. Genesis 1 is not monotheistic. It’s a beautiful and very Pagan myth.