The 3:16 Project: Genesis
To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Straight in with a really challenging verse. God is meting out the punishment to Eve of her disobedience in allowing herself to be tempted by satan into eating the forbidden fruit, and the punishment is pain and subjugation. My church officially believes in the literalness of the creation story, but I don't know of many actual members who do. Most Christians I know believe the Bible has a lot to say about the "why" and "who" but not about the "how", and that the Genesis accounts actually do tie in with current scientific thinking on the "how". I tend to believe that anything in the scriptures is there for a reason, because of what it can teach us, and the account of Adam and Eve is no exception. They are a metaphor for all of humanity - it's tenden...