/lit/ - Literature

>>15075120
Genesis is not meant to be taken the same way as you take typical mundane stories of sense data (i.e. I saw a dog today, and by that I mean I literally processed in my mind the image of a dog). Regardless, Genesis is a true story. It is a story about metaphysical principles and the creation of the universe before even matter was emanated. You can think of Adam and Eve as real people, and they are real insofar as their stories play out in the lives of all of us humans, but you can also understand them as eternal metaphysical principles. Its simply an esoteric explanation of the universe.

The thing is, people don't understand why it is illustrated with humans and a garden and things like that. The reason to tell it in a mythical story is that the esoteric truths play out on all levels, be they cosmic or human, and so using the story of a garden and people isn't wrong. You have to use some kind of myth to illustrate the metaphysical truths behind it, because when laid bare they're simply ineffable concepts that precede all language and conscious thinking. Using a story in which the concepts are incarnated into relatable characters is a great way to express these truths.

At the end of the day, these myths were simply not constructed for the modern rationalist mind to engage with, so they seem pointless to us.

If I were an atheist who tried to convert people away from God, and then I turned Catholic, would I still go to hell as I had committed a mortal sin?