The story of Adam and Eve, is a parable. It is seeing they will not see, hearing they will not understand. The serpent. the most crafty is talking about humanity. Since when do serpents speak, unless they are Man.
Look in all of creation, what âcreatureâ did God make more subtil, or prudent, but man himself.
Exactly, Adam is the Serpent.
Why are they serpents? Because they make laws and commands that were not Godâs and claim them to be God and force others follow. That is the devil.
I believe it is both. Satan, after all, is his own carnal nature.
But Iâd have to expand upon that in another thread perhaps, my concept of trueself/falseselfness.
So what are you saying, that Adam and Eve were not living beings and did not give birth to Cain and Able? It sounds like you have been reading some of Neville Goddards books, not that I am saying I dont believe in his teachings.
I donât know, I will have to do some thinking on this. God makes us disobedient? and then we get the blame, that just doesnât add up, even an earthly father wouldnât do that. I know you are quoting scripture,and I believe scripture has inspiration, I guess I would no longer be a believer at all if I didnt, but is everything we read in the bible true? Thanks for sharing your thought , very interesting!
I donât know who that is. I only do study on the Scriptures.
Neville was a Christian and theologian. He believed that most of the stories in the OT were parables. Quite fasinating actually.
found this thread of thought interesting, but unsure how to multi quote lol
Michael Thompson, you asked about some sinful desires being natural and promoting the survival of the species over millions of years. this is a very interesting thought.
i have wondered how everything fits together, and this may offer a clue. i have felt that God grows us up in myriad waysâŚsomethings we know are not acceptable now were commonplace years ago, such as slavery, sexism, racism, etc.
going back far enough, in order to maintain social order in a hostile world, some things naturally became institutionalised, such as perhaps patriarchal roles for men, as the hunger/gatherer/defenders, and women became the homemakers. slaves were necessary and the role sometimes was for justice or a sign of conquering another. all useful things in a hostile and dangerous world. racism, which is an extreme form of fearing the outsiders (xenophobia) was naturalâŚyou would have your nice little community, then someone different would show upâŚdistrust was natural!
however, we as a world (to varying degrees) have grown out of this. despite the evils practiced by the church (which was, naturally, a part of the evil world from which it came, and thus was acting ânaturallyâ for the time), it was a very influential force in the world, and as a result the world has grown up even more. now, i think many may believe that religion forms a sort of training wheels that we now also have grown out ofâŚand i can see that point, though this still requires there to have been a parent present to teach us, so even if we are growing up in Godâs eyes (stroppy teenager phase now?), He is still there, and even when you have matured, you still hopefully have a loving relationship with your parents, ideally.
where iâm going with this is that in our infanthood, as humans, we naturally acted in certain ways analogous to a selfish, needy baby that smacks other kids if they touch our toys. gradually, God has grown us up, and as a result, childish behaviour that was tolerated back then are not tolerated now. children, letâs be honest, can be AWFUL. discipline and experience are needed to cause the child to behave in a better way. maybe thatâs why certain things become sin when they didnât used to be?
when i became a man, i put away childish things.
erm, i just realised this is massively off topic, so i will close saying that i donât believe in a literal devil. i personally find the arguments FOR his existence strained. there are difficult passages, but i feel that most are explainable in other waysâŚ
so is he out of a job? well i think that he is human nature personifiedâŚall our evil summed up. i think God can still bring good out of evil, and will continue to teach us through this medium until the end. He didnât spawn evil, we did, but He can use it.
This about sums it up, eccept for the last part about evil in my opinion.
Great post âcorpselightâ thanks, I donât believe it was totally off topic, since the devil has been fired, it is relevant to ask where sin and evil came from.
I think I lean towards, swordâs opinion on evil, since God created nature (we do believe that here, donât we?) and nature is full of evils, then God is responsible for it, no?
i donât believe God created evil, or intended evilâŚbut that might not hold up philosophicallyâŚas creating the potential for evil could be considered evil, all the death of the food chain during evolution could be considered evilâŚhard to say.
Lets settle this right now about who creates evil here. Isaiah 45:7I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and
create evil: I the LORD do all these [things]. The hebrew word âroâ רָע means evil.
And see my post earlier in the thread about why I think we have trouble believing this verse. In addition, God says that he created the destroyer specifically for that purpose.
I agree with those who see the serpent or âdevilâ as a personification of something more ânaturalâ (rather than as a supernatural entity), and who believe that God is ultimately responsible for the existence of evil in the world. My own view regarding the serpent is that it figuratively represents those desires which, when yielded to, result in sin: Only a few find it.
Im inclined to agree with this line of thinking in general. We are tempted when we are enticed and carried away by our own âlustsâ (desires). The serpent literally means the âshining oneâ (ooh, pretty!), or something that whispers/ hisses. This is a very good description of how our desires entice us to sin. Our desires say, âDid God really say?â âIs God really good? Then why would He deny you this (insert tempting thing here)âŚâ
I am curiouse as to learn how you believe the serpent is the shining one? Where does this come from?
I believe that it is a misnomer, associating Lucifer (Shining One) with the serpent. As they are not even related, nor the same. 
I might be misremembering, but I donât think the âshining oneâ necessarily refers to a being. I can see how that could be misconstrued as a reference to Lucifer though. Iâll have to go look it up again, lol.
Ah, youâre right. I was thinking of something else: Hereâs the definition from Strongâs:
H5172
× ×׊×
nâchash
naw-khashâ
A primitive root; properly to hiss, that is, whisper a (magic) spell; generally to prognosticate: - X certainly, divine, enchanter, (use) X enchantment, learn by experience, X indeed, diligently observe.
The transliteration of âserpentâ is actually an extension of the primary meaning of this word, which is to hiss or whisper.
to learn by experience, the serpent hangs from the tree of knowledge of GandE (tokogae), people wonder why we have so much pain, and problems in this world, that was brought about due to the tokogae, the tokogae is about experience, the serpent represents our carnal nature, our senses
Heb 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
Very good! 
I am sure we can find comparison between the First Adam and the Second Adam, Adam in Genesis, to Jesus.