Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Creation Stories Response
Personally, I like the Navajo creation story a lot better than the story of Adam and Eve, but does that make it more likely to be true? Not really. Both stories have about equal chance of being true, but unfortunately, those odds don't look good. Neither story in my mind could ever be true, and my personal beliefs as far as creation go head more toward the theory of evolution and whatnot. Not to offend any Bible followers or Navajos out there, but lets look at these stories closer. First, let's start with Adam and Eve. Two people pop up out of nowhere: both able to speak, both somewhat old, and both very naked. They eat from the tree of knowledge, and boom, they can decipher the difference between wrong and right. That is one powerful fruit. But what bugs me about the story specifically is that they have no real origin. They have no mother or father, but they are there. Therefore, simple biology makes this very unlikely. People just can't pop out of nowhere, but then again, I don't really know what G-d can do. I guess that's what makes it so religious, and controversial. Now the Navajo story. Very creative, and it would definitely make a good movie. Likely? No. Their story suggests that every world starts off as peaceful and perfect, but then in comes lust, envy, and evil and then the people and creatures climb through a hole in the sky, and the process starts over again. This process was repeated over and over again until we reached our current world. So let's see. Do we have lust? Yeah. Envy? Definitely. Evil? Yeah, I'd certainly say so. So, uh, where's our hole in the sky? I don't know. I don't think the cycle can just end right here with our world. We have completely unbalanced hozho and harmony in this world we have created and have lived in for thousands of years, but we don't get to start over? That's no fair. In conclusion, the two stories, although very important to the religions in which they come from and very different, have about the same small, tiny, itty bitty chance of being true.
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While i completely agree with your stand point on the reality of the Navajo story, i have to wonder who is to say that the Navajo cycle has ended? No specific time frame was given in the Navajo story as to how long human must dwell in one world before he moves on to the next. While i think this story to be completely unrealistic, others could believe that we are simply waiting to find our hole in the sky.
ReplyDeleteSam, be careful not to get too caught up in the details. After all, the question was about truth, not realism. Remember the words of the Rabbi in the PBS video? I'm paraphrasing here, but what he said was basically: "Just because something isn't factual, doesn't mean it's not true." He suggested it was immaterial whether Moses led 10,000 or 0 people out of Egypt. The story was true because it accurately depicted challeges all humans face when trying to hold on to their freedom.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the stories I'm asking you about, consider them this way: one story says evil has been part of our nature since nearly the beginning (and explains how it all started), the other says evil and disorder comes and goes w/ different generations (certain generations literally climb out of the hole they're stuck in, but then evil creeps back into life). Which is more true? Sure the details of the story might seem a little "out there," but they're still trying to get at something fundamental that we can all have an opinion on. Your answer will reveal something about your fundamental beliefs in human nature.