Bible lessons are stories for reason

Dear editor: I refer to Jim Taylor’s article in which he refers to the story of the Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis as “fictional” (Okanagan Weekend, Nov. 17).

One has to remember that, until relatively recently, the vast majority of the world population was illiterate. Therefore, in order to teach people, it was customary to incorporate the principle being taught into a story. People remember stories. For most people, probably 80 per cent of what was taught to them in school by a teacher standing in front of the class has long ago been forgotten. However, we remember stories.

The Bible tells us that Jesus spoke in parables — he told stories which contained the messages he wanted to convey.

We do the same thing with our children. The fairy stories with which we repeatedly entertain our very young children embody principles which we want them to absorb.

As far as the Garden of Eden story is concerned, the story as told doesn’t stand up to intelligent inquiry. We are told that Adam and Eve were the only people in the world. They had no daughters but two sons, Cain and Abel, who went on to produce children of their own with other women. If there were no other people in the world, where did these women come from?

The story was, of course, invented to communicate the principle of sin. Brian Butler

Penticton