Who Said That?
Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 09:29PM 
"One of the lessons I learned from the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden
of Eden is that our first ancestors chose to be human rather than to live
forever. They chose a sense of morality, a `knowledge of good and evil,' rather
than immortality. They spurned the Tree of Life, which would have given them
eternal life, in favor of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which gave
them a conscience. As compensation, God gave humans, who now shared with Him the
ability to know good from evil, the gift of His own divine power to create new
life. We cheat death, not by living forever, but by bearing, raising, and
educating children to keep our souls, our values, and even our names alive. One
generation, scarred and often embittered by experience, gives way to another,
born in innocence and hope. Like the good shepherd He is, God shows His love for
us by enabling us to create new life."
Leave your guess in the comments section below. Please no google searches or cheating. The whole point is to guess, not look up the answer!
Kim Riddlebarger
This quote is taken from Rabbi Harold Kushner's book, The Lord Is My Shepherd, (p. 23). Theological liberals sound pretty much alike, whether they be Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Jewish.
Reader Comments (26)
Yeah, I know it's wrong, but this recasting of the Fall is the kind of thing you'd encounter in some SF stories.
I have heard that sentence- "We cheat death, not by living forever, but by bearing, raising, and educating children to keep our souls, our values and even our names alive"- many times. I heard Larry David once say on the show Curb Your Enthusiasm that having too many kids was narcissistic- who would want to keep your name alive was the underlying sarcasm. I guess there is some truth to that due to our radical fall from grace.
I will hold my guess to later in the week after I hear some more clues from others guesses. Maybe somebody actually knows who it is like the two who knew last week.
Obviously this person is not Bill Cosby...
"After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve. And the first thing God said to them was: "Don't" "Don't what?" Adam asked.
"Don't eat the forbidden fruit," said God.
"Forbidden fruit? Really? Where is it?" Adam and Eve asked jumping up and down excitedly." "It's over there," said God, wondering why he hadn't stopped after making the elephants.
A few minutes later God saw the kids having an apple break and he was very angry. "Didn't I tell you not to eat that fruit?" The First Parent asked.
"Uh huh," Adam replied.
"Then why did you do it?" God asked exasperatedly.
"I dunno, " Adam answered.
God's punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own.
The person implies the historicity of Adam and Eve by stating that they are our first ancestors (although he/she calls it a story which may imply fiction). The former is an orthodox concept. We also do get "scarred and embittered by our experience" of life. Children are innocent and hopeful before they too get scarred and embittered by life experiences.
Knowing the trickiness of some of these quotes it might be from someone within the Reformed or Lutheran ranks but I may be way off.
No idea, but the author/speaker certainly has an interesting choice of words.