In our class discussion today, it was interesting to interpret Genesis 1 through 3 by replacing the forbidden fruit with a big red button that says, “Don’t Push.” I think that was an excellent way to place the creation stories in Genesis in a modern context. Adam and Eve were explicitly told not to touch the fruit, but they chose to do so anyway. Those who raised their admitting they would press the big red button (me included) show the same decision to question authority as Adam and Eve.
The video of Dexter Callender’s explanation on Genesis 6 through 11 and Gilgamesh was somewhat enlightening that there were two different accounts of a great flood. Both perspectives read very similarly in respect to each story sending out birds to scout the earth for dry land. Doves and ravens were sent out in both accounts which is an odd coincidence itself, but was interesting to me was that Dexter Callender proposed that Noah was granted eternal life by God to complete the Ark and harbor all living creatures during the flood. It never had occurred to me to question why Noah lived to be 950, but it’s a nice explanation to how Noah lived to such an old age in this fable.