Interesting topic! I never really looked at Eve as having any blame.....she was deceived by the serpent. It was Adam who deliberately disobeyed God's instructions when he KNOWINGLY ate the fruit.
I found some interesting things to add:
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Adam and Eve were the first humans, according to the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian religions
I find this really interesting because when these three major religions agree on something.....it is INTERESTING!
I however always found the stories of the bible to be rooted in something "historical" but not literal. I think they are stories to teach us things, and may have elements of "truth" but are vastly creative fables to help explain the unexplainable (at least from the limited perspective of those that recorded the testament. )
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Most of our preconceived ideas about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden come from John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost," published in 1667. He took the Genesis account and greatly expanded it using his creative flair. Milton used his imagination to create "behind the scenes" conversations with God, Satan, and various angels. His additions to the Genesis account have become imbedded in our culture and have caused many people to mistakenly think Milton's account is found in the Bible.
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Adam and Eve: The First People to Disobey God
Adam and Eve were the first people to do something wrong. As it is told in Genesis 2:16-17 , God told Adam that he was free to eat from every tree in the garden, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God said that he would die if he ate the fruit. We don't know what kind of fruit this tree had. Milton introduced the idea that it was an apple. Later, Eve was deceived by Satan speaking through a serpent and ate the fruit. She then took the fruit to Adam and he ate it knowing he was doing the wrong thing. Because they disobeyed what God had explicitly told them and chose to believe Satan, they began to experience spiritual death, and soon physical death. God expelled them from the garden. Adam and Eve sinned by placing their desires above what God had told them and through this act sin entered the world. No longer would it be easy to harvest fruit. Thorns and weeds would make planting and harvesting hard labor. Men would have to work to eat. Women would give birth in pain. Animals became dangerous and carnivorous.
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"Oh boy, dinnertime! The perfect break between work and drunk."
---Homer Simpson
Interesting side note about animals becoming carnivorous at that point. I was talking to someone a little while ago and that exact topic came up. When the animals were first created, they were all docile, and they all ate plants. Only later did they become dangerous. I hadn't thought about the *when* of that, but I suppose it would all have been part of the Fall.
FWIW - I don't really think God got all angry and cursed man (and woman) kind. I think the more accurate way to put it would be that Adam and Eve, through their choice to put themselves above God, in doing so also chose to step outside of His umbrella of protection. Even today, I have times when things are good and I know that I'm doing what I should, and then there are times when I've made decisions that weren't so great, and in the process opened myself to possible consequences that I wouldn't have wanted and that I know God would want me not to have to go through. Some people would call that semantics, I suppose.
Interesting side note about animals becoming carnivorous at that point. I was talking to someone a little while ago and that exact topic came up. When the animals were first created, they were all docile, and they all ate plants. Only later did they become dangerous. I hadn't thought about the *when* of that, but I suppose it would all have been part of the Fall.
FWIW - I don't really think God got all angry and cursed man (and woman) kind. I think the more accurate way to put it would be that Adam and Eve, through their choice to put themselves above God, in doing so also chose to step outside of His umbrella of protection. Even today, I have times when things are good and I know that I'm doing what I should, and then there are times when I've made decisions that weren't so great, and in the process opened myself to possible consequences that I wouldn't have wanted and that I know God would want me not to have to go through. Some people would call that semantics, I suppose.
My interpretation is almost identical to yours. Even as a "fable"....I don't see it as an angry God, more of a disappointed one and that Adam and Eve would need to deal with consequences of their own actions. Just as a parent is disappointed and upset that a child must deal with their consequences in life, God felt similar. Not cursing the humans, but sort of having no other choice.
Now, back to my thinking they are stories to learn from and explanations of the unexplainable.....it does lend itself to drama and a good lessons for life about tempation, cunning, shame, authority, right and wrong, diversity of creatures, similarities of creatures, and "parenting". More, I'm sure, but I'm tired.
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"Oh boy, dinnertime! The perfect break between work and drunk."
---Homer Simpson
I think it was because Adam was obviously an idiot for listening to some random voice in the sky (where does that get you now??) and so he couldn't be blamed since he didn't know any better. Poor thing also used to run into walls. He needed Eve pretty badly.
And MAN. When they had to wear clothes, sheesh!! The whole naked thing was invented because Adam couldn't figure out shoe laces (clothes were another part of Eve's punishment. She had to tie them for him).
Fortunately, Adam was seriously hot. Like, smokin hot.
The Bible was written by men.. why else do you think it is so womanizing men are just too "proud" to say they are to blame for anything.. so they have to blame it on a snake and the woman .. now if they said a parrot .. It would be a little more believable.
bring on more.. I have theories on everything
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Originally Posted by samezsilli
Yeah.. the thing about the bible.. is that it was written by people's account of what happened.. and Not *god's*....
and lord knows *people* can't be trusted to tell the truth about anything...
My sister and I have talked and this has come up many times. It was translated by men, so really it could have been suited to their liking. We'll never know. Which is why we view the bible as a book of collective authors and not some divine writing that is without fault or error. Take it with a grain of salt.
There are more ancient religions that contain the same stories. The creation, inmaculate conception (being impregnated by a god), etc. I'd go on, but I know it pisses off some Christians.
He needed Eve pretty badly. 
men are just too "proud" to say they are to blame for anything.. so they have to blame it on a snake and the woman 
.. now if they said a parrot .. It would be a little more believable. 
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