Q&A Forum - June 2005

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A. Thank you for the thought-provoking and very sincere question. I deeply respect your faith and your desire to live a life that is pleasing to God. I also desire to live a life that is pleasing to God. I have long meditated upon and studied the Biblical account of creation and here are my thoughts about Adam and Eve. (Note – for those who are not interested in my spiritual beliefs or my personal interpretation of the Bible, please skip this entry.)

Depending on your interpretation of scriptures, the story of Adam and Eve could be about a literal tree and a literal piece of fruit or it could be a parable to represent spiritual truths. Jesus always talked to his disciples in parables because people can relate to stories. A parable is a story with a meaning and it takes thought, study, meditation and revelation to understand the meaning of a parable.

I believe in a literal Adam and Eve (there had to be first man and a first woman whether you believe in evolution or creationism). I believe they were spiritually made in the image of God (children have the characteristics of their parents) and I believe that God kept improving on creation by developing toward more intelligent and superior beings. The Biblical account of creation details how God went from fish to birds to land creatures to mammals to man to woman, with woman being the last recorded creation. (It should be noted that evolution traces man’s origins similarly from fish to mammal to primitive man to modern man).