Enda80

I have a question. The "Aryan" or Identity movements often go around teaching that other races are not descended from Adam and Eve. They present it as other races naturally evolved, while the "Aryans" came about by special creation of Adam and Eve.

However, I think that the geneologies in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament specifically present the Judahites and Shemites as descended from Adam and Eve. Also, the Noah story states that all people descend from Noah (since all other human beings and most other lifeforms died in the Deluge). Does anyone know of any relevant geneologies where Adam is cited as an ancestor?

(It seems odd that these group can claim to believe in the infallibilty of the Bible while stating that Shemites are not descended from Adam and Eve. Of course, the case could be that these Identity groups are using a variation on the Jesus Seminar idea and Koran idea; they believe that the hypothetical original manuscripts of the Bible were/are infallible, but that the Bible we have today is corrupt.)

Down

Either you believe in the Bible Stories or you don't. If former, you must accept that according to the Bible all races, including both Aryans and Semites, descended from Adam and Eve. If latter, the Bible Myths have nothing to do with human beings origin.

Monad

"Often"?? You mean there are still a few neo-nazi nutjobs that believe that sort of rubbish? I find it hard to believe this is a view that is widely promoted outside of a handful of white supremacist forums full of sad race fetishists.

I don't know what's worse; believing the bible could possibly be literally true or trying to use a book that supposedly has something to say about morality to justify such intrinsically evil ideologies.

Diogenes the Cynic

The Jesus Seminar doesn't believe there were any "infallible" manuscripts. Where did you get that idea?

Enda80

Oh, sorry, you are right, the Jesus Seminar does not believe in infallible manuscripts. However, Muslims believe that the hypothetical original manuscripts of the Bible were infallible. The fact that both Muslims and the Jesus Seminar believe that the Gospels do not always reflect what Jesus really said confused them in my mind.

Eldarion Lathria

I answer prosyletisers who gabble of original sin with, "I am not descended from Adam. I do not have original sin. I, like the aboriginal peoples of western and northern Europe, east Asia, Africa, and the Americas, am descended from Lucy. Lucy's people never lived in the garden of Eden. Lucy's people are not mentioned in the bible. When the flood didn't happen, they were not affected. In any case, Lucy's people had been mariners for millenia.

The peoples in the bible are descended from Adam. I am not.

Eldarion Lathria

Anat

Genesis 5 gives the geneology from Adam to Noah and sons. Genesis 11:10-27 goes from Shem to Abram.

Harry Bosch

Most myths are based on some kind of fact. For example, almost all ancient civilizations have some kind of flood myth. This is because ancient cities were always near a large body of water, and bodies of water flood (seemingly by an angry god) and people are killed. I don't know for sure, but there must be a certain amount of Biblical stories that are based on fact.

jonesg

Consider this,
Humans have character defects,
dishonesty, selfishness,resentment etc.

Those are the things which religion calls original sin.

We are born with our human imperfections,
not 'guilty of original sin' as religion claims.
I don't think baptism does squat for character defects either.

In personalities where these defects are in full bloom, that person is quite insane. They may be hate filled, self centered to the point of morbidly obese or pathological thieves and liars among a few other symptoms. Bi polar seems to be the illness du jour, for me it was just a fancy term for selfish jerk.

The only solution to that situation is God, psychology doesn't work on moral shortcomings. Thats why Jesus and the God idea persists, because it offers a real answer to those problems.
There is no God pill for these illnesses.

Diogenes the Cynic

If people are born with "imperfections" that's God's fault.

Why does God want to punish people for his own shoddy handiwork?

"Religion" doesn't call it "original sin," btw. The concept of original sin is unique to Christianity.