Born: June 9, 1972
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February 11, 2005 at 3:24 pm
Daily dose of heresy #1 (Creation)
I’ve always been taught that the word “adam,” the name of the first man on earth, simply meant, “man.” Last Sunday at church, Shayne Wessel, mentioned that “adam” meant “earth.” This got me thinking and led me to some investigation.
Here’s what I found out about “adam” (in a nutshell)...
The etymology of “adam” ~
Hebrew
- ha-adamah: ground, earth
- ha-adam: man
- adamah: to be red
- adam: red earth, red (ruddy) man
- adamu: to make, to construct
What about “eve”?
The etymology of “eve” ~
Hebrew
- eve: to live
- eua (or zoe): life, life-giver
- hawwah: mother of all the living
That “idea” that I spoke of earlier…
God created this world with an abundance of living creatures on it. And these living creatures, presumably, all had male and female counterparts in order that they could reproduce. Why, then, would God create a man without a female counterpart?
What if Adam wasn’t “man” at all, but actually part of the earth? (Here’s where one might ask: “Didn’t God create the heavens and the earth before He created Adam?” ). What if the earth (as we know it) was just a place to store all of the things that God put on it (birds, fish, vegetation, etc.)? But then, after God completed the creation of the “earth” and all of its living creatures, he created “adam”: the “soul” of the eart. Some call this soul “Mother Nature,” but there are plenty of other terms for this concept.
In the days to come, while “adam” or “nature” (a power in God’s own image) was busy giving names to all of the creatures, God realized that “adam” needed a helper. In response God put adam to sleep and out of her soil ( or rib), He created humankind: Eve (eua, or zoe: life). Now, creation was complete — the earth (adam) had a caretaker (eve).
At this time, earth was — in its entirety — what we know as Eden. Humankind (eve) and earth (adam) coexisted in perfect unity — a cycle that God perfected. But, humankind was rebellious and didn’t think they needed God. They were tempted by the forces of sin (Satan: the serpent) and disregarded God’s commandment not to stray from him. The separation that occurred because of humankind’s disregard for their Creator was devastating. A rift was created in the unity between earth and humankind. Nature (as it was intended to be) was effectively knocked off balance. In turn, humankind was “thrown” out of Eden. The undoing of Eden had many adverse effects. One of those was the spreading of sin through the remnant of God’s people. Humankind already desired to be independent, but now, because of this cataclysm in nature, they began to lose faith in their Creator.
Throughout the millennia, adam attempted to regain some of the original unity (floods, fires, earthquakes, etc.). But it was to no avail. The separation from God’s original creation was far to great. Eve was stubborn and selfish and would not listen to adam.
Then, God sent a man to rectify the continuing imbalance: a “gardener” named, Jesus. Jesus brought with him a message (love and peace and righteousness) that was to instruct humankind how to regain their original duties as caretakers so that the unity of earth and man could be restored.
Of course, the majority of humankind would have no part of this. The result was the killing of the messenger.
The earth is still in imbalance. Adam continues to attempt the aligning process — nature continues to shift and turn in ways that have scientists baffled. But adam’s work will always fail without humankind’s help. Humankind continues in sin as well as the mistreatment of the earth.
The path back to health — to unity of earth and humankind — has been laid out for us through the Master Gardener. All we need to do is follow His instructions.
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Comments (7)
Great post!
Rick
At this time, earth was€in its entirety€what we know as Eden. Humankind (eve) and earth (adam) coexisted in perfect unity€a cycle that God perfected.
We see this later as well – Eve = “humankind” = bride = Church (feminine); Adam = “earth” = groom = Christ (masculine); could it be that even in the creation story we see the creative and redemptive work of Christ?
John seems to be doing a recapitulation of Genesis (see John 1) where the word becomes flesh…pretty cool. It is also worth saying that obviously we’re not advancing some kind of neo-paganism where God/Jesus is merely immanent in creation or God/Christ=earth/creation. What we are dong is using our imaginations and the text to recognize the presence of Christ is more places rather than less (Colossians 1).
Great post.Rick ~ Yeah, read the other “spiritual” entries on this Weblog and you’ll find more of the same, I hope!
Tim K ~ I love that example of the male/female relation… I was hoping that it would be evident in my synopsis without describing it, but you have done a beautiful job there! Thanks!
Jason ~ Thanks for commenting… In my description, though, Adam is the earth and Eve is the Gardener. While this changes the traditional ideal of the who Adam is, it doesn’t change who Jesus is.
Awaesome, guys (and girl)! I’d love to hear some more ideas!