Garden of Eden

The first three chapters of Genesis tell of how God created the earth in six days how God created the first man (“LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”). God took a rib out of the first man he ever created, Adam, to create Woman, Eve and they are both in the Garden of Eden. Eve becomes tempted in the garden to eat the fruit of the trees and eventually does, as does Adam. They both are punished for their actions.

Unlike this incredibly famous story, my origins are far less known, so I will share a little about it with you. I was born and raised here in Kentucky and am glad to have made so many friends over the past years. I am lucky enough to have family from India who have influenced my culture. It is really exciting for me to learn about Indian culture and my heritage while I continue to experience more of my state and absorb the culture around me every day.

Blog Number One - Garden of Eden

So  long story short, God created the heavens, the land, the seas, the animals, the sun and moon, and mankind in six periods. After he saw that everything he made was good, he rested. The purpose of mankind was to live forever and produce offspring. They only had one rule: do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and bad. As long as they obeyed this one rule they would thrive in the Garden of Eden. However, despite having many good trees in the garden to eat from, Eve took the fruit of the tree of knowledge when tempted by the devil who disguised himself as a serpent. He claimed that God had lied to Adam and Eve and they would not die if they ate from this particular tree. He told Eve that they would be able to have God's supreme knowledge. So she took the fruit, ate it, and gave some to Adam. They suddenly became ashamed of their naked state and ran to hide from God. God asked why they were trying to hide and they answered. They admitted to eating from the tree, each trying to blame the other, and God punished them by taking away their perfect state. He also banned them from the Garden, guarding the entrance to it with cherubs and a rotating flaming sword. From this point on, women were bound to have labor pains and men had to grow their own produce from thorns and thistles. Every descendant of Adam was also born in an imperfect state because of his disobedience. The Devil became the Father of the Lie.

There are other stories about how humans came to be. The Egyptians believed that a god came up from earth mounds from the Nile and created mankind. There is the theory of evolution that contradicts the belief of creation.

I am Japanese-American (technically full Japanese, but since I was born here in Lexington, Ky I'm an American). My parents were both born in Japan. One of my ancestors was possibly one of the last samurai (which I think is extremely awesome). My sister was born in Japan, and she was four when my parents moved to California where they had my two twin brothers. I really wish they would've stayed in California, but my dad got a job in Kentucky where I was born (hurrah). And that's basically my life story in a nutshell.

Garden of Eden Lauren Stigers

Genesis is the first book in the bible and considered the most important story of all to some. It explains how the earth was created and how mankind began. The Garden of Eden is the story of how the world and everything else began. God created the world and heaven in seven days, which became the numerical symbol of holiness, as opposed to the number 6 symbolizing Satan. God created the ocean, plants, trees, sunlight, animals, and then mankind. He made a man named Adam, and a woman named Eve, whom we all stem from. Adam and Eve were placed into the Garden of Eden by God, with the only guidance of not to eat from a particular tree. Adam and Eve ate from the tree, and later they were punished by God. They disobeyed their only instruction, and as a result, God banished them from the Garden of Eden and upbringing pains to their life in the future.

Because I have grown up in a Christian lifestyle, this story is very important to me. It meant a lot to me in figuring out my views on the after life. Being in the ocean makes me feel like my beliefs are true because how else could this amazing thing appear in such a little time. Also, if everything was created in just one week and has lasted all of this time, it only makes sense that life goes on forever, just like the ocean, nature, etc has gone on forever. The number 7 is of paramount importance because it is a symbol for Christianity stemmed from this story. Everything in the story makes up how the rest of the bible goes, and without Adam and Eve, is is proposed that the rest of us would not be there. People are always hesitant and wary to talk about religion and the afterlife, partly due to the non definite answer. I cannot first hand prove that all of this is true, but the story of the Garden of Eden helps provide possible explanations of how the world was created.

This image captures some of the amazing things done in these seven days, incorporating a possible view of the light in the Garden of Eden.

from: http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/27000000/garden-of-eden-art-picture-the-bible-27092885-840-630.jpg

Genesis Creations

1st Day- Let there be light.   

2nd Day- sea vs sky

3rd Day- plants

4th Day- sun, moon, stars

5th Day- fish, birds

6th Day- earth creatures, man/woman

PLOT TWIST

-nothing but streams from the earth, man from dust

-man into garden, animals into garden, but *sadface* no suitable mate

-enter eve, from adam's rib 

 Then eve went and ruined everything, by taking the apples from the snake and giving it to her husband. Thanks eve. 

I have heard this story so many times since I was a little kid, so I really have no novel response. My response is slightly jaded because of the over exposure and I apologize for that. But something inside me can't help but boil when I think about how people take this for fact when factual evidence suggests otherwise. 

Nevertheless here are some of my thoughts:

I want to respectful to all people's beliefs, but I'm going to be honest, if this is the truth, God has some explaining to do. Like, what is science? Or consistency? 

My other question is, what ever happened to talking animals? I feel slighted. Snakes are kinda creepy, but imagine how much cooler they would be if they talked. and talking cats? finally something would be as bitter as i am.

It makes me pretty irritated that the woman in the story is blamed for the debacle. I know, I know, her husband was with her! he shares blame! but the point remains that it was the woman who has the conversation with the snake and takes the apple. And now he gets to rule over her? Umm, how about no. 

My Origin: I was born in Texas, spent a few years in Ohio, I've lived in Kentucky since Kindergarten and every time I think about it I am beyond thankful that my parents moved to Lexington. I would not have fared well in little corn town Ohio. I'm not really sure what else there is to say about my origins. I watched I Dream of Jeanie as a child. Oh, and That's So Raven. I can't help but think those shows had a substantial impact on my development. 

***I feel the need to apologize for this blog post. I just had a cup of coffee and am not entirely confident in the content I have just written. Sorry about that 

apples are for chumps anyways *skates off on heelies*

I didn't title this 'Garden of Eden' or some variation thereof because everyone else seems to be doing that, and variety is rad.

(if the word vagina offends you run away now)

Alright, so. A brief summary: God created the heaven and the earth and all of its various accoutrements over the course of 6 days. Initially, all was fine and dandy. He created the first man, Adam, in his own image, and then, out of Adam's rib (??? how does this even work.) he created Eve, the first woman, and also Adam's wife. Therein lies a problematic designation of the woman as belonging to the man, but that's a whole other issue that I won't bother tackling here. Oh, and these two naked jaybirds pranced about in the Garden of Eden, along with the tree of knowledge and a serpent. God warned them not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge (curiously never designated as an apple - I've never read the Bible, so this came as a surprise to me) because "for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." In layman's terms, "lol u gon be fricked son". Too bad that aforementioned serpent was apparently a misogynistic slimeball and decided it'd be a good idea into tricking Eve into eating the forbidden fruit and therefore making a woman DA ORIGINAL SINNA. (man women just heck everything up am i right ladies) In doing so, she single-handedly ruined everything for everyone ever, especially owners of vaginas, because God threw a fit and decided to curse those without penises to suffer through the agony of childbirth. Also, wives are ruled by their husbands. This is highly sucky and problematic. And yeah, after that, Adam and Eve were exiled from the garden of Eden and kept out by a sweet flaming sword. 

tl;dr thx 4 that original sin eve, u da bes!! ! !! u go grl (:

My analysis is that the Bible makes me uncomfortable and childbirth is gross and frightening. Snakes are mean and it's pretty much consistently sucked to own a vagina ever since the creation of humanity. 

My own origins are something I detailed rather dramatically in my first draft of that Common App college essay assignment we had. Basically, I was born really, really early and was supposed to die as a baby. If not that, I would live and be mentally challenged and either blind or have really bad vision. But I'm okay, so that's cool. I also really like apple juice, so I guess that says something about vagina owners just having a penchant for apple related things. I'm not sure how else to draw a comparison between Genesis and myself, other than the fact that Eve ruined childbirth forever and my mom had a heck of a hard time while she was in labor with me. I was a c-section, though, so I guess she never really gave /birth/ to me. Oh, well.

(Please don't think I'm a snarky jerk Ms. Whitman I'm sorry if I seem rude or sarcastic but I like to have fun with these blog posts ahhh  h  h. .. .. . *heelies off quietly into the night*)

Garden of Eden

Within six days God created light, the sky, lands and seas (and plants and such), the sun, moon, and stars, the animals, and man and then declared the seventh day a day of rest. From the man’s rib, God created a female companion for him. His only instruction to them whilst living in the Garden of Eden was to not eat from a certain tree. However, the woman was tempted by a snake and she and the man both ate from the tree, learned that they were naked, and felt embarrassed. God punished them by banishing them from the Garden of Eden, shortening their lives, having them work for their food, having to experience sickness, and having to experience the pain of childbirth.

My origin story is much less eventful. My mother moved to the United States from China to study at Morehead University, where she met my father who is from Malaysia. I lived in Morehead the first two years of my life with my older half brother until they decided that it was a bit too small and moved to Lexington where I’ve lived since. I went to Rosa Parks from Kindergarten until 2^nd grade when I tested into the Quest program at Meadowthorpe for the rest of elementary school. Since then I’ve just stayed in the program and that’s really about it. 

Where did any of us come from?

We all know the Genesis story of creation with Adam and Eve and a tree for something. Then they screwed up and we all ended up dumped here in this terrible messed up world. With pain and misery waiting around every corner, no one knows if we will be met with sunshine or a torrential rainstorm. The story of Adam and Eve is a very peculiar one. Everyone loves to analyze and decode and share their new findings and tell about what significance it has. I'm sorry but that's not me. I know where I came from.
my Father was born in Coldwater, Michigan. He grew up skipping school and getting himself into trouble. When he was 17 he enlisted in the United States Navy and that changed his entire outlook on life. After becoming the Saltiest Sailor, he retired and stayed at home. My Mother was raised by the sweetest mormans you could ever meet. She was raised on a 1100 acre ranch in Nevada and taught to sing before she could talk. She vacationed to Hawaii and met my father and that's a different story entirely.
I am the product of them both. I live just outside of Lexington on a vineyard. I was raised outside the majority of the time and I can always find something to do by myself. There is no such thing as being bored. My story begins in Lexington, Ky and will end somewhere in Wyoming. My life is simple and honest. That is what I came from, and that is how I will live.