Garden of Eden The Garden of Eden (Hebrew גַּן עֵדֶן, Gan ʿEḏen) is the biblical "garden of God", described most notably in the Book of Genesis chapters 2 and 3, and also in the Book of Ezekiel.[2] The "garden of God", not called Eden, is mentioned in Genesis 14, and the "trees of the garden" are mentioned in Ezekiel 31. The Book of Zechariah and the Book of Psalms also refer to trees and water in relation to the temple without explicitly mentioning Eden.[3] Traditionally, the favoured derivation of the name "Eden" was from the Akkadian edinnu, derived from a Sumerian word meaning "plain" or "steppe". Eden is now believed to be more closely related to an Aramaic root word meaning "fruitful, well-watered Biblical narratives[edit] Eden in Genesis[edit] The second part of the Genesis creation narrative, in Genesis 2:4–3:24, opens with "the LORD God"(v.7) creating the first man (Adam), whom he placed in a garden that he planted "eastward in Eden". Eden in Ezekiel[edit] Proposed locations[edit] Tabriz[edit]
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil In Genesis[edit] Motif[edit] Composition[edit] In the phrase, tree of knowledge of good and evil, the tree imparts knowledge of tov wa-ra, "good and bad". Religious views[edit] Judaism[edit] In Jewish tradition, the Tree of Knowledge and the eating of its fruit represents the beginning of the mixture of good and evil together. In Kabbalah, the sin of the Tree of Knowledge (called Cheit Eitz HaDa'at) brought about the great task of beirurim, sifting through the mixture of good and evil in the world to extract and liberate the sparks of holiness trapped therein.[8] Since evil has no independent existence, it depends on holiness to draw down the Divine life-force, on whose "leftovers" it then feeds and derives existence.[9] Once evil is separated from holiness through beirurim, its source of life is cut off, causing the evil to disappear. Christianity[edit] Islam[edit] God in Quran (Al-A'raf 27) states: "[O] Children of Adam! Other cultures[edit] Ethnomycology[edit] See also[edit] References[edit]
Serpent (Bible) In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Genesis refers to the serpent who was partly responsible for the Fall of Man (Gen 3:1-20). Serpent is also used to describe sea monsters. Examples of these identifications are in the Book of Isaiah where a reference is made to a serpent-like Leviathan (Isaiah 27:1), and in the Book of Amos where a serpent resides at the bottom of the sea (Amos 9:3). Serpent figuratively describes biblical places such as Egypt (Jer 46:22), and the city of Dan (Gen 49:17). The prophet Jeremiah also compares the King of Babylon to a serpent (Jer 51:34). The Hebrew word nahash is used to identify the serpent that appears in Genesis 3:1, in the Garden of Eden. God placed Adam in the Garden to tend it and warned Adam not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, "for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Debate about the serpent in Eden is whether it should be viewed figuratively or as a literal animal. 20th century scholars such as W.
Temptation More informally, temptation may be used to mean "the state of being attracted and enticed" without anything to do with moral, ethical, or ideological valuation; for example, one may say that a piece of food looks "tempting" even though eating it would result in no negative consequences. Religious usage[edit] Temptation has implications deeply rooted in Judaism and the The Old Testament, starting with the story of Eve and the original sin. Many non-Western cultures had no precise equivalent until coming into contact with Europeans.[citation needed] For example, Jesuit missionaries in Brazil, translating the Lord's Prayer into Old Tupi, had to use the Portuguese word tentação, since Tupi had no word expressing "temptation" in that sense (see Old Tupi language#Sample text). Non-religious usage[edit] Temptation is usually used in a loose sense to describe actions which indicate a lack of self control. See also[edit] References[edit]
Afterlife Ancient Egyptian papyrus depicting the journey into the afterlife. Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru discovered at the Mogao Caves. [edit] In metaphysical models, theists generally believe some sort of afterlife awaits people when they die. Members of some generally non-theistic religions such as Buddhism, tend to believe in an afterlife, but without reference to a God. The Sadducees were an ancient Jewish sect that generally believed that there was a God but no afterlife. Many religions, whether they believe in the soul's existence in another world like Christianity, Islam and many pagan belief systems, or in reincarnation like many forms of Hinduism and Buddhism, believe that one's status in the afterlife is a reward or punishment for their conduct during life. Reincarnation[edit] Reincarnation refers to an afterlife concept found among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Rosicrucians, Theosophists, Spiritists, and Wiccans. Heaven and hell[edit] Limbo[edit] Purgatory[edit] Ancient religions[edit]
Second death The second death is an eschatological concept in Judaism and Christianity related to punishment after a first, natural, death. Judaism[edit] Although the term is not found in the Hebrew Bible, Sysling in his study (1996) of Teḥiyyat ha-metim (Hebrew; "resurrection of the dead") in the Palestinian Targums identifies a consistent usage of the term "second death" in texts of the Second Temple period and early Rabbinical writings. Targum Deuteronomy[edit] In Targum Neofiti (Neof.) and the fragments (FTP and FTV) the "second death" is the death the wicked die.[2] Targum Isaiah[edit] Targum Isaiah has three occurrences. Targum Jeremiah[edit] Targum Jeremiah 51:17 has the Aramaic "they shall die the second death and not live in the world to come" which appears to depart from the other Targum uses in not being explicit that the second death is after resurrection, but may instead be an exclusion from resurrection. Targum Psalms[edit] Rabbinic interpretations[edit] Christianity[edit] Different views[edit]
Old Earth creationism Old Earth creationism is an umbrella term for a number of types of creationism, including gap creationism, progressive creationism, and evolutionary creationism.[1] Old Earth creationism is typically more compatible with mainstream scientific thought on the issues of physics, chemistry, geology and the age of the Earth, in comparison to young Earth creationism.[2] Types of old Earth creationism[edit] Gap creationism[edit] Gap creationism states that life was immediately and recently created on a pre-existing old Earth. One variant rests on a rendering of Genesis 1:1-2 as: "In the beginning ... the earth was formless and void." This is taken by Gap creationists to imply that the earth already existed, but had passed into decay during an earlier age of existence, and was now being "shaped anew". Progressive creationism[edit] Theistic evolution[edit] Hindu creationism[edit] Approaches to Genesis 1[edit] The Framework interpretation[edit] Day-age creationism[edit] Cosmic Time[edit] Criticism[edit]
Creation of man from clay Fashioning a man out of clay According to Genesis 2:7 "And the 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."According to the Qur'an[23:12–15], God created man from clay.According to greek mythology (see Hesiod's poem Theogeny), Prometheus created man from clay, while Athena breathed life into them.According to Chinese mythology (see Chu Ci and Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era), Nüwa molded figures from the yellow earth, giving them life and the ability to bear children.According to Egyptian mythology the god Khnum creates human children from clay before placing them into their mother's womb. انا خلقنا الانسان من صلصال من حمإ مسنون reference from sour at alhijer holy Quran
Intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is the pseudoscientific view[1][2] that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."[3] Educators, philosophers, and the scientific community have demonstrated that ID is a religious argument, a form of creationism which lacks empirical support and offers no tenable hypotheses.[4][5][6] Proponents argue that it is "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins" that challenges the methodological naturalism inherent in modern science,[7][8] while conceding that they have yet to produce a scientific theory.[9] The leading proponents of ID are associated with the Discovery Institute, a politically conservative think tank based in the United States.[n 1] Although they state that ID is not creationism and deliberately avoid assigning a personality to the designer, many of these proponents express belief that the designer is the Christian deity.[n 2]
Creator deity Polytheism[edit] Platonic demiurge[edit] Monolatrism[edit] Monism[edit] Monism has its origin in Hellenistic philosophy as a concept of all things deriving from a single substance or being. "Pantheists are ‘monists’...they believe that there is only one Being, and that all other forms of reality are either modes (or appearances) of it or identical with it." Although, like Baruch Spinoza, some pantheists may also be monists, and monism may even be essential to some versions of pantheism (like Spinoza's), not all pantheists are monists. In Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the abstract notion of "the Absolute" from which the universe takes its origin and at an ultimate level, all assertions of a distinction between Brahman, other gods and creation are meaningless (monism). Buddhism[edit] The Buddha rejected the existence of a creator deity,[7] denied endorsing many views on creation[8] and stated that questions on the origin of the world are not ultimately useful for ending suffering.[9][10]
Ancestral sin Ancestral sin (Greek: προπατορικὴ ἁμαρτία or προπατορικὸν ἁμάρτημα, more rarely προγονικὴ ἁμαρτία) is the object of a Christian doctrine taught by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Some identify it as "inclination towards sin, a heritage from the sin of our progenitors".[1] But most distinguish it from this tendency that remains even in baptized persons, since ancestral sin "is removed through baptism".[2] St. The Greek theologian John Karmiris writes that "the sin of the first man, together with all of its consequences and penalties, is transferred by means of natural heredity to the entire human race. The doctrine of ancestral sin focuses on human death as an inheritance from Adam. Roman Catholic Church[edit] See also[edit] References[edit]
Salvation Salvation (Latin salvatio; Greek sōtēria; Hebrew yeshu'ah) is being saved or protected from harm[1] or being saved or delivered from some dire situation.[2] In religion, salvation is stated as the saving of the soul from sin and its consequences.[3] The academic study of salvation is called soteriology. Meaning[edit] Abrahamic religions[edit] Judaism[edit] In contemporary Judaism, redemption (Hebrew ge'ulah), refers to God redeeming the people of Israel from their various exiles.[6] This includes the final redemption from the present exile.[7] Judaism holds that adherents do not need personal salvation as Christians believe. The Jewish concept of Messiah visualises the return of the prophet Elijah as the harbinger of one who will redeem the world from war and suffering, leading mankind to universal brotherhood under the fatherhood of one God. When examining Jewish intellectual sources throughout history, there is clearly a spectrum of opinions regarding death versus the Afterlife.