JBeukema
Rookie
- Banned
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In Genesis, we are told that in the beginning, Man- or at least Adam, the archetypal man) walked in the full presence of God in the garden of Eden. Man basked in God's light and nature and knew him as a good friend. And yet, he was neither happy nor content. He longed for something he could not define. His soul yearned for companionship and comradeship with something...else. Recognizing that his creation had been made- for reasons unknown or by god's own flawed nature and craftsmanship- incomplete, and that God could never fill the whole in Adam's heart, God set out to find a companion for Man. He brought all the beats of Earth before him: the fish of the sea, the beasts of the farm, the birds of the sky, and all the archetypal beasts that we would know as man's numerous pets. as they were brought forth, they were named, and all proved unable to fill man's need for a companion. And so God saw fit to create a true companion unlike any other to fill the void in Man's heart. She was to be created from Man's won rib and to be ever close to his heart. As Adam slept, Eve was fashioned, and when he woke, she was brought before him. At least, woman- only woman- could make man whole. And so we are told that two come together and become one, completing Man and righting God's failure.
Genesis 2:18-24 - PassageLookup - New International Version, ©2010 - BibleGateway.com
Since then, Man has had in the depths of his collective memory the knowledge that without this companion, he is nothing. The history of woman's oppression and domination by man can, indeed, be understood as the behavior of a jealous and insecure boyfriend acting out of the fear that woman might leave him and condemn him to return to the state in which he was lost before she came to him.
What, then, might we expect to be promised in paradise? Might a man expect eternal union with his wife and family and the camaraderie of his friends? Of all Mankind, perhaps? No, we are promised that God shall take away the one thing we are told in God's word was ever able to make man whole. ('or when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage.', Matthew 22:30) We are told that we are to find _at least 144,000 male Jewish virgins, at least; it's unclear just how close to God the rest will me, compared to the special place belonging to the 144,000)- communion with God and that this time it is somehow to be different.
Are you to be expected to take back an ex who never made you happy because (s)he promises that somehow they are what you need and this time they will be anything and everything your heart truly longs for? Why are we expected to chase after communion with God and separation form our loved ones when God himself admits that it will once again make us incomplete and incapable of true happiness? And what sort of person must God be to demand it of us?
Genesis 2:18-24 - PassageLookup - New International Version, ©2010 - BibleGateway.com
Since then, Man has had in the depths of his collective memory the knowledge that without this companion, he is nothing. The history of woman's oppression and domination by man can, indeed, be understood as the behavior of a jealous and insecure boyfriend acting out of the fear that woman might leave him and condemn him to return to the state in which he was lost before she came to him.
What, then, might we expect to be promised in paradise? Might a man expect eternal union with his wife and family and the camaraderie of his friends? Of all Mankind, perhaps? No, we are promised that God shall take away the one thing we are told in God's word was ever able to make man whole. ('or when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage.', Matthew 22:30) We are told that we are to find _at least 144,000 male Jewish virgins, at least; it's unclear just how close to God the rest will me, compared to the special place belonging to the 144,000)- communion with God and that this time it is somehow to be different.
Are you to be expected to take back an ex who never made you happy because (s)he promises that somehow they are what you need and this time they will be anything and everything your heart truly longs for? Why are we expected to chase after communion with God and separation form our loved ones when God himself admits that it will once again make us incomplete and incapable of true happiness? And what sort of person must God be to demand it of us?
