Another comment from Jeff<\/a> on the same post asked about the consequences for other Christian doctrines of accepting evolution. I have been wanting for a while to start working on a book on the \u201cBut what about\u2026?\u201d passages. Evolution is not, for many Christians<\/a>, simply about the creation stories<\/a>, but those stories in turn are intertwined with various other parts of the Bible.<\/p>\n If I can find the time to write the book, it will not simply focus on the ways in which the creation stories are symbolic and analyse human existence in general, rather than the specific experience of two human ancestors and them alone, although it will start with that. Not only is the story in Genesis 2-3 about a character named Human or Man (not \u2018Adam\u2019 as though that were his name) and his wife, but many things that are said make sense only if taken symbolically. For instance, if the point of husband and wife becoming<\/em> one flesh was really a literal creation from the man\u2019s rib, then this story would make all husbands and wives utterly unlike Adam and Eve, and thus undermine its own point.<\/p>\n
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<\/em>) that Paul\u2019s idea of the \u2018flesh\u2019 or \u2018sinful nature\u2019 derives from this part of his Rabbinic heritage. The rabbis were quite clear that these instincts are only \u2018evil\u2019 inasmuch as they lead us into evil behavior when we give them free reign. They are, however, also necessary to our survival. What makes human beings unique is precisely our ability to reflect on our behavior, to question what we do on instinct, and in these ways to choose to disobey our \u2018selfish genes\u2019 in favor of other sorts of altruistic behavior.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-5545490638217980212?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")
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