In this week’s look at the funny, the scary and just plain weird passages in humanity’s holy text, we revisit the Bible. This passage this week comes from listener Calladus from Fresno, California, from Genesis 2:18-20 New English Translation:
2:18 – The Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will
make a companion for him who corresponds to him.
2:19 – The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field
and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would
name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its
name.2:20 – So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living
creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him
was found.
So, Adam is lonely. He needs a counterpart. With benefits. So, God’s solution is…to make a bunch of animals?
The words is now populated with all sorts of critters, and they all get names. But Adam still doesn’t have a companion because he doesn’t want to marry the turtle or the mandrill or the horse. And this really begs the question: Is God really so dumb that he can’t figure out the need for a second human, or does he want to see some sort of donkey show here?
Either way, Adam isn’t having it and is holding out for a mate with opposable thumbs.
“Oh c’mon, Adam,” God must be thinking. “You’re not supposed to have any shame until you eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil!”
As Sam aptly puts it, this calls into question the bogus line of reasoning that the Religious Right employs in their war on gay rights, comparing a legal union of same-sex partners to beastiality. The earliest parts of the Bible don’t seem to have a problem with the latter.
If you have a passage of holy scripture that you find funny, scary or just plain weird, send it our way. Whether it’s from the Bible, the Qur’an, the Bhagavad Gita, the Book of Mormon, or even Dianetics, click on the big, red, shiny button at the top of the page and we may even read it on the show!
