January 12th, 2026

Today was our first discussion day and it was about the rise three chapters of Genesis. She wanted us to get into groups first to discuss the questions she wrote on the board, and then we would talk to her when she addressed the class again. I obviously didn’t join a group and she came up to me to ask me on my thoughts. I told her my interpretations on the difference in punishments given to both Eve and Adam (Eve is given painful childbirth while Adam has to toil over the land). I told her this was interesting regarding agriculture and how history just does not really connect to this division of labour confiding women worked the fields all the time.

I also pointed out how interesting it was that God refers to himself as “our” in one of the verses rather than “me/my.” He made male and female in “our” image. So it was a little odd, is God acknowledging himself as a concept, referring to himself and the angels, or is it a perspective written by whoever wrote that verse on paper? I also mentioned that I don’t believe God actually calls himself a man. Adam is also punished specifically for listening to his wife.

There was discussion from the other students, at some point she asked us what reading of Genesis is most persuasive, the egalitarian one or the hierarchical one? Unfortunately, the hierarchical one is most persuasive due to the historical division of labour and treatment of men and women. I did not say this out loud although the students voiced the same-ish opinion. She did ask me to speak my thoughts to the class as another student brought up the “our” thing so I explained “God as a concept” and how it may be due to author interpretation regarding what God actually said, because we know God didn’t write the book. Unless he did. I also brought up the idea of capital He/Him pronouns for God rather than the typical lowercase he/him. Which could mean nothing.

There was mention that Eve may have been the tougher target and thus she was the first to be fooled by the Devil. Adam just went with it, no convincing was necessary but Eve needed to be told, although to be fair it did not take much to get her to eat the fruit. I mean, all the Devil said was “You will not die by eating the fruit, you will gain knowledge of good and evil like God.” Then she went and ate the fruit. We looked at two translations and the convincing was short in both. The Bible is a strange thing, no offence to those who like it/follow it.