Re: [asa] Does ASA believe in Adam and Eve?

I know, you want to split Genesis 1 from the rest, with Mesopotamian myth
(Mm) giving G1, but G2+ reporting Mesopotamian history that gave rise to
Mm. I understand that both Adapu/Adamu and Adam were created. But who
were the offspring of Adapu? All the Mesopotamian genealogies that I have
encountered have generation from others. There is no explanation of how
his rejection/loss of eternal life affected others who were not related
to him. So it still strikes me that Mm --> G1+'s apologetical structure.
This fully accounts for the similarity of names, doubled in G3+. The fact
that the Hebrews could not imagine truly primitive life gives G its
chalcolithic background. Human life w/o morals and religion seems to me
impossible, and Glenn produced evidences for religion long before you
allow Adam to introduce God-consciousness. And the transfer to Australia
and the Americas seems no more than some wild handwaving.

I doubt that anything I might argue will convince you, for you have too
much invested. But I definitely cannot swallow hard enough to even
entertain your notion, let alone digest and incorporate it.
Dave

On Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:41:31 -0400 "Dick Fischer"
<dickfischer@verizon.net> writes:
Hi Dave:

The main thesis of de la Peyrere’s book, of course, is that a correct
reading of Romans 5:12-14 demanded that there had to be men before Adam
and thus the name of his book. I think his exegesis has merit, but I can
throw a lot more into the pot to substantiate that idea than he could.
His point is one more log on the fire for me, whereas for him that’s
about all he had. Though I believe he interpreted from his heart not
trying to force Scripture to say what he already thought Certainly his
book brought him no acclaim, only consequences.

You also wrote:

Now farmer=baker, with fisherman recreational. Called to paradise (or
wherever) to answer for his damage to the Southwind rather than placed in
the Garden before falling is so clearly parallel. Now would you like to
show that he is the ancestor of the kings who match the patriarchs?

Well, both Adam and Adapa were “created.” Does that count for anything?
Archibald Sayce said “Adapa” should have been translated “Adamu,” and
Adamu was a popular name among Akkadians. When Akkadian language becomes
Hebrew, the “u” is dropped whereby Adamu becomes simply “Adam.” Thus
from simply a linguistic point of view, Adapa may be Adam.

Breaking the wing of the south wind shows me he had power. Being called
to heaven before the father god to account for bad behavior means he had
importance - yet he was not a god or king. He is the only man I can find
in Akkadian lore who was neither god nor king. Yet he was so significant
legends about him were recorded in four languages and tablets found as
far south as Egypt. He is called Atrahasis – exceeding wise. He is
described as “blameless, “clean of hands,” anointer,” “observer of laws.”
 Adam was cut off from the tree of life thus losing out on eternal life
and Adapa refuses food and water that would have given him eternal life.
There is even an element of the results of the fall:

what ill he has brought upon mankind,
                        [And] the disease that he brought upon the bodies
of men ...

Personally, I think they are the same guy. But a legend likely contains
a bit of puffery not found in Genesis.

Genesis 5 tells me Adam is ancestral to all the patriarchs. But Genesis
is about a specific bloodline whether they were kings or not, whereas the
Sumerian king list is a line of successive kings regardless of who begot
who. The only sure match is Ziusudra equals Noah. Even Josephus in
quoting Berossus changes Xisuthros (Greek for Ziusudra) to “Noah.” Now
Lamech was father to Noah and Sukurlam was father to Ziusudra. Sukurlam
describes Ziusudra as “son of Ubartutu” which as you know can also mean
“grandson.” Likely Ubartutu is Methuselah as all three pre-flood kings
ruled in the same city – Shuruppak.

Dick Fischer
Dick Fischer, Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
www.genesisproclaimed.org

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Sun Apr 1 19:09:25 2007