Do you really believe Eve is to blaime for all of womens suffering?

Question

Honestly, how is child birth a form of suffering? The pain, yes but the act no. Giving life is the most precious gift god has given anyone. Why is eve perceived as "evil" and the root of all our sins when every living thing (Mammals) in this world comes from a female womb. Doesn't this alone offer some kinda revelations to the way women are looked at in the bible?

Answer 1

The stories in the bible are meant to be taken out of context in my opinion. The story of Genesis goes something like this. Adam and Eve were man and woman... Both knew no evil. They enjoyed the light from each others souls. Each of thier thoughts helped the other to grow and prosper. One day a "serpent", or a cheat, someone that didn't believe in the way god saw things. Came forward and while adam was away playing the serpent convinced Eve that she should do the exact thing that both adam and God told her not to do. She was run by her emotions and the facts of her life had meaning that she couldn't understand. She was convinced/baited into eating things of which she had no knowledge. When adam came back he saw that she was changed. He was curious and his lack of wisdom in his judgements caused him to eat of the knowledge of good and evil. They both gained knowledge but at the cost of living in paradise. The suffering that arised was not from Satan but what Satan knew would happen. They would see each other for what each other were. And that would escalate into more and more questions. When the fact is that they both had all the answers that they needed. It was people's greed and curiousity that allowed this to happen. Naivety can sometimes seem evil to someone that doesn't understand things on a bigger scale. If such a paradise existed in the meaning of the garden of eden then knowledge and understanding were the things that brought it crumbling down. Knowledge is power, power corrupts, so knowledge is the root of all evil. Eve was just a scapegoat. She was blamed for her naivety to believe in someone other than god himself. As for child birth, we are all sinners, it is suffering that we must go through to continue to survive. If we saw an end to child birth then we would see an and to humanity. Please also take into note that women have, since the days of homo-erectus, been the bearers of children and the protecters of the home. The men of that age were the hunters and gatherers. We have come a long, long way from that nomadic life. But the pain of child birth still remains something to be winced at. Women were never known to be what they are today. Intelligent contributing members to society. Why even 50 years ago they couldn't even vote. Women still have no rights around the world today. Men blame them for being weak back then and still blame them for it today. Women will never get thier share of the fair slive of the pie until they become the dominant ones. But men train thier boys to be dominant and thier girls to be subservient. Women train thier boys to be caring and thier girls to fight strong. So it's a matter of who's lessons are being learned and who's are being dismissed. I know I looked to my father for the real answers and my mother for the emotion ones. Because even as a child I knew thier strengths and weaknesses. If I had asked my mother for her strength and my father for his emotions then I would be gay or a complete idiot. Yes that does sound condescening but I know that to be the truth of the matter.
Well to sum it up, I would have to say that women have always suffered the wrath of men. We just have to wait for the natural order of things to fall into place before women will be able to become the dominant species. Think about the amazon culture. (the fairy tale version) And some of us see the reality of what could be. I would reccomend reading Genesis and taking in the subtler nuances. Take all the stories from the bible and apply them to your own life. You may find that alot more of the stories make sense. But you may also find that the very knowledge you seek will hold you back from finding your eden. We all suffer the pains of knowing the truth. Those of us that don't, already live in eden and, merely wonder why everyone else left. I hope this answers some of your questions and helps to ease the sight of the suffering you witness. Bathe in the light of yourself and work what you have been given. Lest you lose that which you already have for yourself. Good luck and may peace go with you.

Answer 2

It is so sad that people embrace the words of religion with no regard to commonsense ... and let words written in some obscure language like Aramaic, and translated over 5000 times by scholars, till its finally in KJ or other versions of the Bible, are accepted verbatim. Get a grip folks, if you went and told someone in Chicago "James stole an apple from the store" by the time it reached New York by word of mouth, James would have robbed the store and stolen an apple and been chased by the cops into the backroom and shot. Let alone translating some obscure language to a new world language like English. The original writings are long since lost, we have nothing but the dead sea scrolls to refer back to and even those no one chooses to believe because - guess what- they don't say exactly what the Bible says and the Church is afraid to acknowledge their validity as such since it would change everything. And they would lose control.
Child birth is exactly what it is, natures way to bring a new person int the world, the fact that it causes pain has nothing to do with the Bible, evil, or anything else. A woman is to be admired for the strength she has and the patience to endure the 9 months or more of discomfort. Again this has nothing to do with religion but natures way of development. If we believe in God, nature is His way of replenishing the Earth.

Answer 3

For 1 million 990,000 years of known human existence, women ruled the roost and all decendents were traced through the woman, not the man. Then agriculture came along about 10,000 years ago. Now, the former tribal situation where the kids knew the mother but not the father could not work because once the work started on the little farms, I'd want to feed my wife and my kids, and not someone else's kids. So we'd need a way of knowing who my kids are, and so marriage, one man-one woman or one man and many women, came into existence. Along with it came a patriarchal (man-centered) religion (with a male god) as a way of controlling the people. And also, as part of the religious story, you had to find a way of saying that women were the evil ones and had to be controlled (and no longer allowed to have sex with any man they chose) and lots of stories putting down women and elevating man.

Adam and Eve is just a myth created to tell the story of a man-centered religion. Eve gets the shaft. Eve has to endure thousands of years of second-hand status. The Bible is just a story written and edited by men to tell the story of a man-centered religion and social system. Women will remain in this subjugated position so long as this atrocious religion remains in play.

Answer 4

I know! I find it appalling that Eve is still taught as a valid character in the bible. She's only there because in those times women were thought of as lesser people and they used this as the reason they should stay that way. It boils my blood that she's still there, promoting that we women are sinful and the cause of all life's troubles. But then it also boils my blood that the book of Leviticus is still part of the bible. My dad is a Church of Ireland priest and he says that the reason the bible's not edited is that it's important as a historical document. I disagree strongly. Just because you edit something for modern times doesn't mean you lose the original. It is completely unnecessary to teach people all about the book of Numbers either for example!! Sigh..rant over..for now:)

Answer 5

I agree that it shows a skewed perception for the writer's of the bible to refer to labor as a punishment for the sins of Eve. It's silly, really, since ALL mammals experience labor and they didn't even have anything to do with the whole "eating of the fruit" thing.

I just figured the "fruit of knowledge of good and evil" was a euphemism for carnal knowledge (sex), and that it was their way of saying if you have sex, then pregnancy is the price you pay for it.

No question that the bible is not the female friendly way. But that was their culture... and fortunately, most people in our culture don't apply those norms just because they believe the overall message.

Answer 6

Actually, you should look at the Genesis story for how scripture views women. In Genesis 1 scripture says:

26 Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."
27 God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."
29 God also said: "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;
30 and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food." And so it happened.
31 God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed--the sixth day.

God created man in his image, man and women he created them. They are not created man superior to woman, they are both created in his image. At the time, that thought would have been revolutionary. Further, they are both told to "be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."

Scripture discussed outside the context it was written in is meaningless, just as it is meaningless to cite scripture to support a belief.

Eve is not perceived as evil at any point and the eviction was not until Adam followed her example. They story of the eviction and curses can be seen and should be seen as the idea that the world is now imperfect because we permitted it to become broken. Man is now the master of woman, but that isn't by divine will since they were both given dominion. He states that enmity will now exist because we are broken creatures. It is an explanation of why women are subordinate not a command that they be subordinate.

Answer 7

If it wasn't for their disobedience,mankind today could still be enjoying perfection and everlasting life,on a beautiful clean earth.Jehovah God never intended man to suffer,age and die.
At Gen.3:16 Jehovah tells Eve"I shall greatly increase the pain of of your pregnancy;in birth pangs you will bring forth children."Had she remained obedient,God's blessing would have continued upon her and childbearing would have been an unmixed joy.
1Tim.2:14 tells us "Also,Adam was not deceived,but the woman was thoroughly deceived,and came to be in transgression."So the Bible is clear that Satan picked on Eve,knowing she was the newer creation and would have been a easier target.However,that doesn't dismiss the fact that Eve knew of God's command not to eat from that tree.And Adam being the head of the family,and the first created should have put a stop to it,but he submitted to his wife's request.They are both to blame,and as 1Tim. points out,Adam knew exactly what he was doing was wrong.
Our loving heavenly Father has made a way out for us,in that he allowed his only begotten Son to die as a ransom sacrifice to buy back what Adam had lost for mankind,ie everlasting life.(John 3:16,17:3)

Answer 8

God didn't punish women by causing them to have babies, but he did cause child birth to be more painful. My understanding is that women have the smallest birth canal of any mammal. All humanity was cursed because of Adam and Eve, not just women. If you read Genesis closely Eve gave the fruit to her husband almost immediately after she ate it. He was right there when she ate so he was just as guilty as she was. He could have slapped it out of her hand if he wanted to, but he was probably wondering if she was gonna die. Oh, she didn't die, well I guess it's ok to eat after all. Note too that both Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden.

Answer 9

I dont see child birth as a consequence...possibly the pain that comes with it! And Adam and Eve are the first who sinned....and because of both of their actions....we have suffering... and disease, and all that jazz! But not just because of Eve alone, but Adam too!

Answer 10

Yep, sexy Gemini (me too!) Her actions created so many paradoxes but so did her husband's inaction. Every time the acetiminophen works too slowly to get rid of cramps or I suffer another 2nd trimester backache, I can't help but to think of Eve...but at the same time, guess what I crave the most: fruit!! Especially apples. God is so good, but when we (or those around us whom we love and count on) lack order in our will and our lifestyles, we cause our own suffering. Cool question, Chicka.