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What if we think about the Garden of Eden story and Satan's plan as an allegory relating to the evolutionary change from Man being an instinctual creature to Man gaining sentience.

Perhaps we could think of it as the parable of increased cranial size.

Does this help put things in a better perspective?

Ever since I lost my faith in Mormonism, I thought of it as an allegory of moving from infancy to adulthood. Naked but not ashamed, then knowledge of good and evil, then expulsion into the cold & dreary world, etc.

moksha wrote:What if we think about the Garden of Eden story and Satan's plan as an allegory relating to the evolutionary change from Man being an instinctual creature to Man gaining sentience.

Perhaps we could think of it as the parable of increased cranial size.

Does this help put things in a better perspective?

I like the talking snake part the best. Does a talking snake lisp, like Sir Hiss in Disney's "Robin Hood"? Or does it just hiss as a vicious monster like the Serpent of Slytherin in "Harry Potter"? I always enjoyed James Earl Jones snake in "Conan, the Barbarian" from 1982. Or is the snake a God to be worshipped as Upper and Lower Egypt?

Either way. I want to see a snake talk.

bcuzbcuz wrote:I like the talking snake part the best. Does a talking snake lisp, like Sir Hiss in Disney's "Robin Hood"? Or does it just hiss as a vicious monster like the Serpent of Slytherin in "Harry Potter"? I always enjoyed James Earl Jones snake in "Conan, the Barbarian" from 1982. Or is the snake a God to be worshipped as Upper and Lower Egypt?

Either way. I want to see a snake talk.

just to clarify...the snake never talks....the snake is the result of the punishment....the talking/temptation is exclusive to the "enchanter". The form taken when talking with Eve is not mentioned, but apparently she was not shocked by it nor hesitant to engage in its conversation.

subgenius wrote:

bcuzbcuz wrote:I like the talking snake part the best. Does a talking snake lisp, like Sir Hiss in Disney's "Robin Hood"? Or does it just hiss as a vicious monster like the Serpent of Slytherin in "Harry Potter"? I always enjoyed James Earl Jones snake in "Conan, the Barbarian" from 1982. Or is the snake a God to be worshipped as Upper and Lower Egypt?

Either way. I want to see a snake talk.

just to clarify...the snake never talks....the snake is the result of the punishment....the talking/temptation is exclusive to the "enchanter". The form taken when talking with Eve is not mentioned, but apparently she was not shocked by it nor hesitant to engage in its conversation.

SG,

Do you believe the Garden of Eden story is an actual event? I am not trying to pin you down on when, where and how, mostly I am just curious if you think Mormonism considers it a specific event that took place sometime in the past. Within the Church I have encountered people who believe it to be allegorical and others who think it was actual.

Fence Sitter wrote:SG,

Do you believe the Garden of Eden story is an actual event? I am not trying to pin you down on when, where and how, mostly I am just curious if you think Mormonism considers it a specific event that took place sometime in the past. Within the Church I have encountered people who believe it to be allegorical and others who think it was actual.

You ask a good question.
Yet i may not have a good answer.
It is difficult to answer effectively - in as much as i consider Eden to be "factual" i also consider the allegory to be true. That is to say, some details may be allegorical but the event(s) is actual....so i suppose i may tend to have a rather medieval view of it being an allegory.
But again, the story, or the record, is not as revealing as we may desire - for example: surely we recognize that before the Fall the entire earth would have been paradise, would have arguably been "The Garden" - with this in mind there is no reason to conclude that the Garden of Eden had a boundary - yet we read that the Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates rivers were formed outside of Eden by a river which flowed "out" of Eden...are these allegorical rivers or actual rivers? Given the Hebrew tradition of giving patterns of heavenly things as opposed to just heavenly things comes to mind.
That being said
i suppose i have a medieval allegorical view of the Garden of Eden.
yourself?

subgenius wrote:yourself?

When I was a believer I always considered it an actual event at a specific place in Missouri sometime in the past. I never spent much time considering the difficulties of time frames, population patterns and so on that such an event would involve.

As I learn more about the religion, even though I no longer believe, I think it is meant to be allegorical except for an actual Adam and Eve.

It is a question I often ask members I encounter. Most lean toward an actual event.

Thanks for the response.

bcuzbcuz wrote:
Either way. I want to see a snake talk.

As the Little Prince says, you must first tame him. Then invite him over for cocktails.

moksha wrote:As the Little Prince says

I was certain You know that story...

But... I don't remember any cocktail. It may help, sometimes.
(My wife would say you, men, had always the casus bibendi).

There is no smilie to show the stressing of you, men, ...

bcuzbcuz wrote:Either way. I want to see a snake talk.

look in the mirror?