Fat Bible Bloke's Blog

But not the end; perhaps the beginning ... I like the hunky men; very physical! Cain committed the first murder so he had to be punished. You are placed under a curse and can no longer farm the soil: You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth. So Cain went away from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod. Isn't that a kiddes' phrase for sleeping - 'he's in the land of Nod.'? 'Nod' is an ancient Hebrew word for "Wandering." Cain and his people became nomads . But the bible suggests that God has a way of making good come from bad; and we are told that Cain " built a city and named it after his son Enoch. " And it is very likely that he "Wandered" and "built his city" in Mesopotamia ; the name means "between the rivers" - near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; just "up the road from" the Garden of Eden. But one man couldn't build a city, singe handed. Agr...

Bible Blogs are suspended for a few days too much going on! Back Thursday 15th November For I am certain that nothing can separate us from God's love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below, there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Cain Was Less Interested? Of course no-one agrees whether there really WAS a first man called Adam and a first woman called Eve; but many ancient civilisations have similar stories, so there is some ancient truth in the back of people's minds. The important thing about the story of the Garden on Eden is that it begins to explain why things go wrong - why there is bad in the world. Then Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she became pregnant. The Bible's hot on sex then? She bore a son and said, “By the Lord's help I have gotten a son.” So she named him Cain. Later she gave birth to another son, Abel. Abel became a shepherd, but Cain was a farmer. And the next little story shows the troubles in the Garden beginning to get worse. A picture of a man. Is he setting fire to an animal? And the second man has some corn. And the coloured picture with weird writing shows the men with animal and corn again? What's going on? The men are offering sac...

O.K. Let's finish the story The snake was the most cunning creature God had made. The snake tempted the woman to eat from the forbidden tree. "If you do eat," said the snake, "you will not die but will become like God." The snake was right; they didn't die, did they? In a life and death way, no, they didn't. But think what the temptation means . Adam and Eve were tempted to disobey God when there was no need. There was plenty for them to eat. Mostly when people today disobey or do wrong, they know what "wrong" is - and they don't need to do it anyway. NO COMMENT! ---------------------------------------- Eve took some of the fruit, ate it and gave some to her husband who also ate it. So they're in big trouble now. Because they have disobeyed; because they have experienced what " wrong " is. Suddenly the perfect life has become spoiled. Perfection is DEAD . So, although they haven't physically died, t...

"Adam and Eve It" : Believe it? (Cockney rhyming slang) O.K. so you're saying that Adam and Eve were real people; not just a story? I'm not taking sides at this stage. We do know that every single person alive today was descended from one woman so she can easily be called Eve. Presumably she had sexual relaions with some man whom we can all Adam. On the other hand many Christians are happy that Adam and Eve are an illustration of "man" and "woman" and their "fall" from the beauty and perfect that God intended. I suppose, yet again, we'd better see what the Bible actually says.  Yes we had; and I've used little snippets from that Lucas Cranach painting we looked at a few days ago, remember? It's still weird. Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground and formed a man[c] out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.  From the soil? I came from mum's belly...

Was it such a good idea? Yes, sorry. I was out late last night at a Halloween Party.  Was it such a good idea? We didn't drink - much. But we went trick-and-treating. And my costume was really cool. Do you really think that taking the devil, evil and all that as a joke is a good idea? It's not like that; it's a bit of fun. What's wrong with Halloween? It was once linked to the Celtic festival of "Samhain", which comes from the Old Irish for "summer's end". Samhain was seen as a time when the 'door' to the Otherworld opened enough for the souls of the dead, and other beings such as fairies, to come into our world. The souls of the dead were said to revisit their homes on Samhain. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them. Lewis Spence described it as a "feast of the dead". Christianity adapted the idea and used the "eve" as a picture of...

O.K. Eden might be real; but no-one was there to check on Adam and Eve! Quite right; but no-one was there to see the creation; but the Bible seems pretty close. But does it really matter? The Important thing is what the story actually means. It explains how things started going wrong; not perfect for ever. And did they have apples, then? The Bible doesn't say it's an apple; never has done. It says "fruit". Whoops, wrong yet again! Over the years, lots of people have tried to illustrate the story of "The Fall", as it is called. Look at that weird picture! "The Garden of Eden" - painted by Lucas Cranach; born 1472, died 1553. Lucas Cranach the Elder (Lucas Cranach der Ältere, 4 October 1472 – 16 October 1553), was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits, both of German princes and those of the leade...