The Passion of Eve: Remembering the End - 3rd Edition

By Edward N Brown

The mystery of the Genesis story in relatable and easy-to-understand terms.

Eve reminisces on what happened at the time they were thrown out of Eden, how they survived, and how they learned to live once again.

While telling her son Seth the story, she also shares her thoughts on God and how having faith in Him

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crystal Sea Press
• Release date: Jul 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798988408932

Edward N Brown

Edward N Brown is a storyteller with a background in science, philosophy, ancient history, and theology. His technique is to blend the interesting nuggets of myth, saga, historical record, biography, romance, scientific fact, poetry, spirituality, and personal drama – all mixed together into an informative, but easy-reading, faith-based tale of wonder and awe. An educational background of three advanced degrees (PhD + two MS) has contributed to his insights on Christianity, Religion, Antiquity, Morality, and Human Nature. Classified as ancient religious history, his works represent a speculative fusion of style – facts and events in riveting story form – drama and delight that will inform, entertain, and inspire readers of all ages.

Book preview

Introduction

Maybe you’re curious about what science and religion have to say about the beginning of the universe, the beginning and development of life in all its forms, and in particular, the beginning of human beings. Or maybe you’re not – it’s just too complicated. You know that the debates concerning Creation vs. Evolution and Science vs. the Bible have been raging on for years. You understand that the arguments have moved from the academic intellectual arena into the educational, legal, and political arenas.

But now, all of a sudden, you realize there is a concern. What will your kids be taught in school? What will be the worldview of the next generation? There’s a strange feeling that science, evolution, and atheistic (or agnostic) thinking are winning out. Is that right? Is that good? Is that how you see the future? You’re justifiably distraught and confused. Will the next generation end up believing something completely at odds with what you personally believe – the worldview that you and your family have always shared and held close? Will your kids become distanced or estranged from you? Will your friends and colleagues shun you? Is it possible that they might be right and you’ve just been deluded all these years? Or are they just misguided – maybe having been brainwashed systematically by a ruthless societal power structure?

Most parents and most young people are looking for a comfort factor – a measure that says I want to find common ground so that I don’t lose loving personal relationships that have intrinsic value to my happiness. This is true regardless of worldview – because it is written in the human heart.

So, what should you do? Endlessly debate it? Argue? Join an agenda-based constituency? Give up? Cave in? Pretend that it doesn’t exist? Ignore it all and hope that it will go away? What is one to do? You’re not a lawyer, an activist, a statesman, a philosopher, a scholar, or a theologian. How can you possibly hope to hold your own in a meaningful debate or discussion? You could spend many years reading all the pertinent literature, editorials, and blogs, and still be a neophyte. What’s the answer?

The answer is to go back to the beginning. That is where the answers are (Jesus himself said to look to the beginning for answers – see Mark 10:2-9). Contrary to what many people think, the account of the Beginning in Genesis can be harmonized with physical beginnings that we have discovered through science. One way that can be done is by meticulous analysis (of which there are many good examples), which is great for thinkers and scholars. For the rest of us, however, there is another way – the story. A good well-written story, fully appreciated, can reveal important truths far more effectively to more people than intellectual rigor. The ‘take-away’ from a good story can be life-changing.

The Power of the Story

In some ways, the age-old act of listening to stories is a lot like examining the nature or operation of physical objects, looking at and perceiving images (moving or still), or contemplating and reflecting on abstract notions (such as mathematics or literature). The imagination is stimulated, the mental models are mesmerizing, and the excitement is captivating. You are immersed in an alternate reality, like a fantasy or dream.

But hey, experiencing a story is for real! You are not simply at the movies, watching TV, or immersed in interactive video. You are instead listening to someone relating a tale, regardless of the media involved. Not just any old yarn of dry boring events and rambling words. But an exciting story of adventure and intrigue! In this reality, you’re not safe and sound at home. Here, you’re on an away-mission! And on this mission, you’re on another plane of existence, where you must be prepared for the new, the strange, and the unexpected! It’s not for the timid or the meek. Those set in their ways, or oblivious to the world around them, can remain comfortable in their humdrum living-rooms.

But your mission objective is to create, discover, and partake in new concepts and ideas – to understand new things. To design, to encounter, and to investigate are the new action catch verbs. However, you must be prepared to suffer new emotions and new realizations, and to enter new realms of experience – for things will never again be quite the same. Prepare to think big and be challenged. Engage in flights of fancy, connect with spheres of magic, and dip into the orbits of the imagination. Expect a healthy dose of philosophy, history, theology, science, and human emotion. But also anticipate smaller doses of the mystic arts, such as spiritualism, the occult, angelology, and the paranormal. Along the way, the wild card is always faith and belief. Keep them close, for without them you will surely lose your way.

Yes, there are some special stories that hold special power over all of us. Ancient stories of faith and mysterious stories of hope – creation, covenant, good and evil, virtue and vice, life and death, resurrection and salvation – stories of how others before us dealt with these concepts, and coped with the dilemmas. These are the stories that affect our souls – stories that we hunger for – because there is a yearning deep within us to want to discover, to understand, and to experience.

For better or for worse, we are influenced by the stories we hear, see, read, and share. That is why the Christian liturgy, rich in scripture and stories of faith, has a deeply formative power. Over time, as we encounter the presence of God in the liturgy, we become what we receive. As darkness settles each night and we prepare to rest for a new day, again and again we turn to stories – in our thoughts and in our dreams – to remind us of who we are, what we are, and where we should be going. It’s in our nature to want to do what is good. But the dark forces of Satan are constantly seeking to thwart that desire.

Stories have the power to shape us in ways that turn us toward the Good and away from the Bad. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. It’s a simple act, but a good story can have positive life-changing consequences – both to the individual and to the world. Sharing a story, whether by radio, TV, book, computer, or word-of-mouth, helps us understand ourselves, our world, and our proper relationship with God – a powerful tool to spurn the Devil! This, then, is the Power of the Story.

The story of Adam and Eve, and the Beginning of our relationship with God, is so innately tied to our inner being, that it’s just in our nature to want to understand it. Whether myth or history, allegorical or literal, one fact remains – it’s a darn good story – a ‘tall-tale’ like no other! And besides, ‘origin’ stories usually sell good copy. So, what you read in this book is my contribution to the tale, and all the buzz surrounding the tale. I’ve tried to fill in the gaps that many people find disconcerting, usually not by just inventing things from my imagination (although sometimes that was done), but by researching the historical literature and then synthesizing a plausible story thread that, to me, is logically and historically sound; and which many of you may find personally satisfying –– or not!!

The Genesis Story

There is a great controversy today that rages around the authenticity of the Bible, and the scientific theories of how human life began on this planet. Viewpoints range from extremely divergent to differing only slightly in the details. The issue is philosophical, but the debates employ modern techniques of all kinds (often resulting in acrimony). To that end, it is suggested that both sides pause for a moment, and consider the Genesis story of Adam and Eve. Why? Because it embodies the basic essence of personal reality and existence – the struggle of human nature between Good and Bad. And this essence, if it truly is real, must be common to all sides.

The familiar version found in the Genesis story is not the ultimate source of this fundamental worldview. It is not an account that sprang perfectly inviolate from Heaven directly into the pages of the Old Testament. It is simply a version (a very good one, to be sure) of a belief, handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation of humankind – through the incoherent unrecorded ages – like an inextinguishable ray of light that ties the time when human life began, to the time when the human mind developed sentience, consciousness, and awareness – when the mind could finally express itself in language, and eventually record its expressions in writing which other human beings could see, read, and understand.

That the Adam and Eve story pervaded the thoughts of ancient writers is seen in the large number of versions that exist, or whose existence can be traced, through the writings of Greeks, Hebrews, Syrians, Egyptians, Abyssinians, Africans, and other ancient peoples. The versions differ in the details but the overall theme is the same. Anyone who examines so much apparently unrelated evidence will probably reach the same conclusion – there must be something to it!!

The book in your hand right now is a story; a story based on multiple versions of accounts handed down by word of mouth, from generation to generation, linking the time that the first human life was created to the time when somebody finally decided to write it down. It is a story that revolves around two primordial characters, Adam and Eve, and their experiences both in and outside of the Garden of Eden. The Biblical account has been with us for centuries. But worthy stories that interpret and expand the Genesis account are indispensable for clearing the mind and broadening our understanding. The most famous exemplary work in this regard, is the monumental epic by John Milton, Paradise Lost. But times have changed, culture has changed, and even religion has changed since then.

In the book you are now reading, the emphasis is not on event detail, as in Paradise Lost, but on Adam and Eve’s perception, consideration, and assessment of the events – particularly that of Eve – the rational thought processes that preceded her decisions, her reasoning that tried to explain why things were as they were, and the prophetic insights she had that tried to predict how things might be in the future – and all based on priceless ancient writings in addition to the Bible.

The result is a plausible story thread that is logically and literally sound, but naturally is somewhat interpretive. Here is what Eve may have been thinking – here is what she may have believed – and here is how she coped with the trials and tribulations surrounding her. Without family, peers, or anyone to relate to besides God and Adam − or anything that could work as a reference − Eve must live out a human life that has meaning. Sound familiar? There are lessons to be learned here – pearls of wisdom that can help us all cope with our lot in life.

Generally, it becomes easier for a person to achieve the internal balance of faith, good works, and wisdom that will lead to salvation and everlasting life, if he/she has a grasp of what happened at the ‘beginning’, how it happened, and why it happened. Christian beliefs are not totally incompatible with modern secular and naturalistic beliefs, and a clear understanding of our beginnings is fundamental to helping the curious, skeptical, or fallen-away person, to re-unite with Christian core values.

Prologue

The Story is one for the ages. With minor variations and adaptations, it has withstood the test of time. It is both enduring and profound, both historical and doctrinal. Almost every person on the planet is familiar with it to some extent, and its upshot has influenced billions of people over the millennia. In short, it has become part of the human psyche. But have you ever wondered what really happened? What is the true history? Of course, many years of retelling and translating have filtered it to the preserved versions we have today. For sure, it has been overanalyzed and over-interpreted by the brightest minds available for thousands of years. But is it accurate to the level of a video recording? Or is it just a generalized summary of what was thought to be history? Is it hypothetical poetry? Or is it just an adaptation of pagan myths? Is it a framework for various literary styles? Or is it an inspired philosophical and theological treatise into the basic truths of life and humanity, written in a metaphorical manner? Maybe a little of each? The reality is that no one truly knows – for it occurred long before writing and highly developed language; back when oral tradition was the only form of information transfer. To put it succinctly, it has become shrouded in the mists of time. One will believe what one wishes to believe.

Preface

Adam and Eve have committed a grave sin, and God has resolved to intervene and impose sentence. They have been expelled from the Garden proper, and their advanced soul and spirit have become degraded and less focused (although still at a higher level than before receiving the gifts from God). Dazed and confused, they are unable to fully comprehend their current situation in relation to the physical world – and to their future life.

When Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden, they go into a strange land – and are terrified at the bleakness of the rocks, mud, weeds, and bramble that they see all around them. They are completely overcome by despair; made miserable by the harshness of the sights they survey. They soon faint out of sheer overwhelming hopeless resignation to the situation, and fall to the ground motionless. But the merciful Almighty God sends His Angel of the Word to them,1 and He tells them that after five and a half weeks (5,500 years), He will come again in the flesh to provide a means for redemption and salvation.2 Hearing this, they are somewhat revived and encouraged.

They are told to take shelter in a nearby cave – but this cave is a dark and gloomy place. Over the entrance is a huge overhanging rock, which provides a transition into the shadowy realm of dreariness. When Adam and Eve enter the cave, they are sorely troubled by the darkness and afraid that wild animals will attack them, since they no longer have mutual harmonious relationships with them. Out of concern for their welfare, God orders the nearby wild animals to be friendly to them, except for the snake (serpent).

When God sees that Adam and Eve are still terrified by the darkness of the night, the Archangel Michael is sent into the Land of Havilah to bring back slabs of gold, and set them in the cave to lighten the darkness. The Archangel Gabriel is sent to fetch incense, and the Archangel Raphael is sent to bring myrrh from other faraway lands. By placing these symbolic materials in the cave, Adam and Eve are comforted, and because the cave now contains precious substances, it is called the ‘Cave of Treasures’.

Later, God permits wheat and figs to be brought in from the Land of Elda, and teaches Adam and Eve how to cook food on a fire, which is brought to them by the same angel who stood at the gate to the Garden holding a fiery sword in his hand. In thanks, Adam and Eve make an offering on the ground outside the cave, of whole grains of wheat baked in hot ashes (only later, after the death of Abel, is the flesh of an animal substituted for the wheat of the field). God accepts the offering and sends the Holy Ghost to them,3 in the form of fire, to consecrate and consume the oblation.

However, the grief of their overall condition continues to gnaw at them, until a sense of hopelessness overtakes their psyche. They then try to drown themselves in a nearby river, the River of Life, which flows out from the roots of the Tree of Life in the Garden. But an angel is sent to drag them out of the water, and the Angel of the Word then restores them to life and provides them with comfort. Later, after they have