# Garden of Eden:  A new symbolic explanation

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garden-of-eden-a-new-symbolic-explanation/100788>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 29, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garden-of-eden-a-new-symbolic-explanation/100788 "2002-03-29T18:17:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garden-of-eden-a-new-symbolic-explanation/100788/41 "2002-04-02T00:10:56Z")

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I have nothing useful to add except to suggest that there seems to be strong evidence that the particular way that the Eden story was told was to combat the polytheistic origin stories of the Babylonians, with whom the Jews were in close contact.

However, any thread in which (a) I learn that **JayJay** hungers after Tom Brokaw’s glands and (b) **Duck Duck Goose** makes reference to “what they do with tiger penises” cannot be considered worthless!! 😉

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**Author:** ![Colinito67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@Colinito67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colinito67)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garden-of-eden-a-new-symbolic-explanation/100788/42 "2002-04-02T03:53:58Z")

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just for general info- i’m a boy. although  
colleen and colette are very nice names, I  
like Colin much better. No offense taken, though.

yeah, Maerth is definitely a fruitcake. I think that it  
was pretty obvious from the get go. Its a  
good book to read, though. And fun to talk about.

onward.

colin

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garden-of-eden-a-new-symbolic-explanation/100788/43 "2002-04-02T04:17:00Z")

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No offense intended–I was referring to myself. 😉

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garden-of-eden-a-new-symbolic-explanation/100788/44 "2002-04-02T11:19:03Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Colinito67 \*  
> **(He likens himself to Copernicus, Galileo, and Darwin- criticized in their own time but then proven to be true).**

Just noticed the above on re-reading; “I am an unsung genius; everybody else is in denial” is a delusion that crackpots and other assorted lunatics seem almost obliged to weave into their ensemble (it must be in the manual or something); for a real-life example of this, click [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=82431)

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