Why did they cover their nakedness?

This is a more appropriate thread for this discussion.From Message 305 in the "Prisoner of Sin" Thread. My response in Message 311: Once Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, according to the story they had the knowledge of good and evil. The idea is that the fruit imparted that wisdom. (I know you don't agree with magic fruit). Since this story was probably written roughly 3,000 years ago the moral customs of the author's culture would have been reflected. For example, if it had been written in the equator region, nakedness probably wouldn't have been an issue. Of course we also have to look at what the Hebrews meant by nakedness. Sometimes that was a euphemism for sexual organs. These types of writings aren't meant to address everything. They have a certain lesson or point to make. IOW, why God allowed them to run around naked when he knew that being naked was unaccpetable is irrelevant to the story.Overanalyzing might be a good exercise for imagination, but doesn't necessarily improve on the point of the story.It's also not a wise way to build doctrine.

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"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz

God allowed them to run around naked, not because it was bad, but because it was good in his eyes.In turning away from Gods knowledge, they adopted their own form of knowlegde. A knowledge that was different to Gods knowledge. Hence why the decided nakedness was bad.Now this could have something to do with Gods knowledge being within the mind and heart of A&E in their perfect condition. But upon their rebelling, they lost that internal Godly knowledge and had to rely on their own.No magic fruit im afraid.

So, going around naked is good in God's mind?That seems interesting since it is the more religious in the country who seem to be most against the human body being shown in public.

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God allowed them to run around naked, not because it was bad, but because it was good in his eyes.

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In turning away from Gods knowledge, they adopted their own form of knowlegde. A knowledge that was different to Gods knowledge. Hence why the decided nakedness was bad.

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Now this could have something to do with Gods knowledge being within the mind and heart of A&E in their perfect condition. But upon their rebelling, they lost that internal Godly knowledge and had to rely on their own.

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No magic fruit im afraid.

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The Adam and Eve story is a story of origins. Adam and Eve represent mankind and womankind. The story offers explanations for the origin of genders and their roles in society at the time, attraction of men and women to each other, marriage, and development of conscience and moral responsibility. The curses also have their job in the story.IOW, it explains the reasons for or causes of the difficulties of life for ancient Hebrews. How to Read the BibleYou only have the information contained within the story. Anything else unrelated to the audience of the time and you are just making up your own story.They covered their nakedness because it was probably unacceptable in the culture of the time for adults to run around naked in public.The story wasn't written for us today, it is a foundational myth of an ancient culture.

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"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz

and yet here we are in 2009 still wearing clothes

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and yet here we are in 2009 still wearing clothes

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and yet there are topless beaches in Australia.The wearing of clothes has nothing to do with the A&E story, the A&E story is one cultures way of explaining why their group wears clothes. The French explorers and the Aboriginal Australians 1772-1839Like I said earlier, cultures on or close to the equator are going to have different ideas concerning nudity. In cold weather, clothes were necessary for obvious reasons. Nudity in Ancient to Modern CulturesFrom the book "A History of the Jews" by Paul Johnson, page 101: As you can see the amount of allowed nudity is a cultural thing, so reality shows that the A&E story did not truly represent all mankind. It represented one culture.Also if you read any history, you will probably find that Christian missionaries are probably the most responsible for making natives wear clothes.

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"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz