# Paradise in the Book of Genesis, the origin of man **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 6, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879 "2012-03-06T01:34:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Simple\_Mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/1 "2012-03-06T01:34:34Z")
How come that we generally believe the Book of Genesis in the Bible is meant, that God created “our” world in a week? Isn’t it far more likely that its meant that He created “Paradise” in a week and that “our” world happen to come around the way scientists explain it. Like, leave the Paradise after the wrong doing of Adam and Eve, means leaving the “World” God had created for them (Paradise) and been send to “our” World. So the statement of the Christian Church that we are all created by God is not valid. There would be less hate in the world if we would all see it this way… ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/2 "2012-03-06T02:01:43Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > There would be less hate in the world if we would all see it this way… Many Christian churches have no problem with the sciences. It’s hardly a secret that the Bible (and the Jewish Holy Texts on which it was based) becomes more literal and historical as the texts within it approaches the time when it was codified . ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/3 "2012-03-06T02:20:33Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > How come that we generally believe the Book of Genesis in the Bible is meant, that God created “our” world in a week? “We” don’t generally believe this to be true. Many Christians don’t believe the “timeline” of Genesis 1 to be literally true. Conservative / fundamentalist Christians, OTOH, often believe in [Biblical inerrancy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_inerrancy), and these are the folks who believe that, when Genesis 1 says that God created the world in 6 days, it really was 6 days. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/4 "2012-03-06T02:27:03Z")
The difficulty I see with this hypothesis is the fourth day in which God creates the Sun and the Moon and the stars (interestingly three days after there was already light). It seems hard to think of those as “our world” or the Christian portion thereof. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/5 "2012-03-06T02:46:28Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > There would be less hate in the world if we would all see it this way… If only the world were this simple. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/6 "2012-03-06T03:01:32Z")
Since there is no factual answer to this question, let’s move this over to GD. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/7 "2012-03-06T04:59:42Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > How come that we generally believe the Book of Genesis in the Bible is meant, that God created “our” world in a week? “We” don’t believe it. It’s a minority position even amongst Christians. The rest of your OP is an interpretation of it that has even less support, currently. Most of the rest of the world’s religions reject the Bible, outright. You’d first have to get them to accept Genesis, at all, before you could get them to adopt your interpretation of it. > [@](#): > > There would be less hate in the world if we would all see it this way… I see no way that this would lead to less hate. That portion of the Bible isn’t a major source of hate, now. Why would people (who believe in Genesis at all) hate anyone less by adopting that view? How would it change anything if non-Christians adopted that view, instead of their own entirely different creation myths? I’m not seeing any hate reduction potential, here. ---
**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:** [March 6, 2012, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/8 "2012-03-06T08:05:42Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > How come that we generally believe the Book of Genesis in the Bible is meant, that God created “our” world in a week? What the others said about whether _we generally believe this or that_. > [@](#): > > Isn’t it far more likely that its meant that He created “Paradise” in a week and that “our” world happen to come around the way scientists explain it. Well, it seems likely that things are the way they seem to be - in other words, that the evidence for how the Earth came about is evidence that _means something_. I suppose it could all be fake though, so not sure how to calculate probability there. But what (or rather where) is this “Paradise” place? > [@](#): > > Like, leave the Paradise after the wrong doing of Adam and Eve, means leaving the “World” God had created for them (Paradise) and been send to “our” World. Is this Paradise place a different planet or something? Where is it? > [@](#): > > So the statement of the Christian Church that we are all created by God is not valid. There would be less hate in the world if we would all see it this way… Wait. So there are people created by God and _other people not created by God?_ Care to expand on this? On the face of it, it doesn’t sound like a recipe for harmony - that is, at least in the past, assertions that _ **One Kind Of Sneech Is The Best On The Beaches** _ hasn’t always played out too well. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/9 "2012-03-06T14:17:47Z")
Can you quote the passage(s) in Genesis that support your thesis? ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/10 "2012-03-07T00:07:27Z")
Hi, thanks for the comments so far, I was afraid that this would be ridiculed. First I have to ask for a lot of tolerance, I am not an native English speaking person, and I only finished 2. year High school, please be patient. I am looking at all kinds of information, from the natural, spiritual, fantastic, ridiculous and any other kind, I am trying to get a complete (of course, a very fuzzy one) picture of our being and how everything interconnects. There are everywhere evidences of highly developed societies, technologically and intellectually in the past, some things I read was in the sense of, that there was a “thing” that guided us in our development. Last Sunday I had a long talk with a retired Norwegian Teacher, 84 years old and still very bright, the subject of the Book of Genesis came up and I listen to his account, he mentioned that some of the off-springs of Adam and Eve, went and found women’s to marry, the question came up where this women came from. Hence my thinking afterwards, it would make sense in a way, to see it as I stated in my OP. If we assume that HE created a “Paradise” world (never-mind in how many days) and then created “Beings” to live in this world, what was HIS reasoning to create this “Paradise” world, if, as I mentioned, there was already a world (Our), maybe he wanted this Beings to be pure and uncontaminated, they where not to eat the fruit of wisdom and knowledge. (we clearly missed the wisdom part but we pursue the quest for knowledge at all cost) Anyway they got kicked out of Paradise, if I would have been the Creator I would have made a second attempt and would make very sure that there are no Serpents around this time… Sorry, I have not found out how to do more than one “Quote” or how to get only one part of a sentence, also I have a very slow GPRS connection. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2012, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/11 "2012-03-07T08:20:19Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > Hi, thanks for the comments so far, I was afraid that this would be ridiculed. > First I have to ask for a lot of tolerance, I am not an native English speaking person, and I only finished 2. year High school, please be patient. Your Don’t worry about this - your written English is quite good (better, I think, than some people for whom English _is_ a first language). > [@](#): > > I am looking at all kinds of information, from the natural, spiritual, fantastic, ridiculous and any other kind, I am trying to get a complete (of course, a very fuzzy one) picture of our being and how everything interconnects. > There are everywhere evidences of highly developed societies, technologically and intellectually in the past, some things I read was in the sense of, that there was a “thing” that guided us in our development. > Last Sunday I had a long talk with a retired Norwegian Teacher, 84 years old and still very bright, > the subject of the Book of Genesis came up and I listen to his account, he mentioned that some of the off-springs of Adam and Eve, went and found women’s to marry, the question came up where this women came from. > Hence my thinking afterwards, it would make sense in a way, to see it as I stated in my OP. > If we assume that HE created a “Paradise” world (never-mind in how many days) and then created “Beings” to live in this world, what was HIS reasoning to create this “Paradise” world, if, as I mentioned, there was already a world (Our), maybe he wanted this Beings to be pure and uncontaminated, they where not to eat the fruit of wisdom and knowledge. (we clearly missed the wisdom part but we pursue the quest for knowledge at all cost) > Anyway they got kicked out of Paradise, if I would have been the Creator I would have made a second attempt and would make very sure that there are no Serpents around this time… Trouble is, all of this is wild, imaginative speculation. There’s nothing exactly wrong with with wild speculation (it is, after all, the basis for great literature, screenplay, etc), but if we’re trying to construct a useful description of the way the world works, we need a way of deciding whether this particular example of wild speculation is better or worse than any other particular example. Otherwise, we’re just writing stories. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2012, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/12 "2012-03-07T09:28:52Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Your Don’t worry… See what I mean about other people and their standard of written English? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/13 "2012-03-07T11:52:09Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Your Don’t worry about this - your written English is quite good (better, I think, than some people for whom English _is_ a first language). > > Trouble is, all of this is wild, imaginative speculation. > > There’s nothing exactly wrong with with wild speculation (it is, after all, the basis for great literature, screenplay, etc), but if we’re trying to construct a useful description of the way the world works, we need a way of deciding whether this particular example of wild speculation is better or worse than any other particular example. Otherwise, we’re just writing stories. Thanks for the compliment but I think my spell-checker is the one that deserves it. Yes, I know that this is all only speculation but the whole Bible is more or less unproven, to find facts, I think we are a bit late, most of it is dust now… I have read a bit in my live, not the classical literature but sometimes very detailed Historical accounts and I have the feeling that our development as a Caucasian race was not accidental, and having a possible explanation for the influence (from whatever source) on as got me exited. Like, in Indian history there are mentioned wars in the sky’s by gods, if in our case, there were also several gods (as is speculated), why then not also several worlds ( yes I know). Say, this OUR gods wanted to have a kind of special “Creation” with them self as sample, all goes well but they fail to follow the guidelines so the have to leave"Paradise", so now they were made special and are now living among the Humans and do interbreed with them. If you are a offspring from this Bloodline you of course (I assume) have special powers (not like Superman) and you will be elected as leader automatically because of your parents. If this has been upheld until this days, this would be most likely the most powerful union on earth. Something to think about I hope (but probably just nonsense). ---
**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:** [March 7, 2012, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/14 "2012-03-07T11:58:51Z")
It’s an interesting idea. How can we test whether or not it has any truth to it? ---
**Author:** ![Khendrask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@Khendrask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khendrask)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/15 "2012-03-07T12:10:56Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > There would be less hate in the world if we would all see it this way… How does that viewpoint lead to less hate in the world? There are still billions of people foolishly believing in various nonresistant deities and claiming their way is the only right way. The problem with Genesis, is attributing anything at all to a “God” entity. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/16 "2012-03-07T13:17:28Z")
Sorry for the errors in my last post, I had to write it online and I could not edit any more. GPRS, death slow but keeps the bad guys out… (no streaming media) Yes of course, PROOF, I believe that this need for proof is hindering us to think beyond what is creditable or acceptable by the scientific “Proofessors”. Einstein had mathematics as a medium to help him to come to conclusions, I have absolutely no clue about any of it but I have an imaginative mind and that tries to connect bit’s and pieces. Like this one, what’s the purpose of Gold or Diamonds, look at Gold, it has been admired all trough the ages, I have read many explanations on why it was so desired, I give most of them credit as long as they correlate to the past but what is going on right now is not to bee explained. The way Gold is handled this days is not reasonable any more, it is keep out of circulation, hidden away in mighty Vaults and the Americans Government does not do any audits of it’s Gold in storage (according to reliable sources), any more. What is going on? What do they want all this Gold for? And the Diamonds? Don’t tell me about the markets and explain it that way, there is something about it, maybe it is an important Fuel in the future or we need it for manufacturing something, or ? Your .2 cents… About the “hate” part, if the people that believe in the Christian mythology would come to the conclusion that they are not the “Children of God” they could then stop advertising their religion to others… ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/17 "2012-03-07T13:20:53Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > If you are a offspring from this Bloodline you of course (I assume) have special powers (not like Superman) and you will be elected as leader automatically because of your parents. > If this has been upheld until this days, this would be most likely the most powerful union on earth. These offspring are the subject of many myths. Basically you have a pure blood line that would be the ruling class, and the ‘common’ bloodline that is the servent (enslaved) class and that would be well and good. But you have hybrids also, mixed class which understand the suffering and oppression of the underclass yet have the powers of the upper class. These hybrids is what overthrows the ruling class and makes them use their great power to be servants to elevate the former oppressed. This is the story of Jesus (son of man/son of God hybrid), and also Harry Potter. It is Love leading to sex leading to hybrid children which leads to freedom and is a unstoppable force. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/18 "2012-03-07T13:44:49Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > These offspring are the subject of many myths. Basically you have a pure blood line that would be the ruling class, and the ‘common’ bloodline that is the servent (enslaved) class and that would be well and good. > > But you have hybrids also, mixed class which understand the suffering and oppression of the underclass yet have the powers of the upper class. These hybrids is what overthrows the ruling class and makes them use their great power to be servants to elevate the former oppressed. This is the story of Jesus (son of man/son of God hybrid), and also Harry Potter. > > It is Love leading to sex leading to hybrid children which leads to freedom and is a unstoppable force. First time I hear this one, do you relate to the Bloodlines I mentioned or the Caucasian? The Caucasian I would believe are the ones that conquered Europe and Northern Africa and I think that’s how the Catholic Church and the Realms spread out and controlled everything. Love leading to sex, sure, but we got PORN instead, did you mean PORN? Hybrid because of interbreeding with this Bloodlines or Genetically modified? ---
**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:** [March 7, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/19 "2012-03-07T13:53:38Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > About the “hate” part, if the people that believe in the Christian mythology would come to the conclusion that they are not the “Children of God” they could then stop advertising their religion to others… There’s the problem. Your proposal isn’t actually solution to the problems caused by religious intolerance, etc - it’s just _one more exclusivist religion_ for people to get uptight about, and fight over. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879/20 "2012-03-07T14:01:56Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > . . . > About the “hate” part, if the people that believe in the Christian mythology would come to the conclusion that they are not the “Children of God” they could then stop advertising their religion to others… And if they don’t, should we be justified in killing them so more reasonable people can move in? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paradise-in-the-book-of-genesis-the-origin-of-man/614879.md?page=2)