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NASB | Romans 5:12 ¶ Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-- |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 5:12 ¶ Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all people [no one being able to stop it or escape its power], because they all sinned. |
Subject: Adam and sin entering the world. |
Bible Note: Hi Hank. I certainly meant no offense with my comments. The Genesis narrative is symbolic for all men and women even if it is factually accurate! That's one of the great things about the Bible! There are so many different levels and layers of meaning. It is rich with depth. It really is my favorite book. I think part of the problem comes when we equate the the words "true" and "factual." Many things may be true without being historically factual. The ancient Jewish mindset did not perceive truth the same way that we as modern western thinkers do. They were storytellers, and with stories the main point is what is important, not all of the little details. Please stay with me a moment - It's like having an intense dream and trying to tell people about it. The way one tells a dream will not be EXACTLY they way it happened. And the telling will almost always change,sometimes by just a word or two, from telling to telling. But I still say, "This was my dream." To use a Biblical example, when Jesus sent his disciples to find an animal to use to ride into Jerusalem, how many did he tell his disciples to expect? The Gospel according to Mark tells us that he spoke of one colt -Mark 10:2- but the Gospel according to Matthew has Jesus telling them to expect a donkey AND a colt -Matthew 21:2-. How about another example? In Luke 8:27 -and Mark also- Jesus encounters a demon-posessed man and casts the demons into pigs,and yes, I believe Jesus was a miracle worker, yet Matthew 8:28 has two demon-posessed men that Jesus cleanses. Is one wrong? I don't think so, but over time stories develop and change a little. And if we see that the stories still contain truth while posessing different "facts," it's not too far a leap to say that there are other parts of the story that were not historically factual but still contain truth. Because of our western mindset we tend to think that if we see a story in print then it is historically true. The eastern mindset, of which Moses, David, and Jesus were part, understood that stories have a way of enriching our lives and faith without having to be 100 percent fact. This is not just my opinion and conjecture - my field of study is Biblical Studies and its relation to social sciences,specifically the mindset of the original audience. A story doesn't have to be literal to bring us to a deeper understanding of God. |