(April 3, 2013 at 10:30 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: In Hebrew, the very first letter of Genesis is 'Bet', the second letter, as opposed to 'Aleph', the first letter. This has been interpreted to allude to a back-story. What the back-story actual tells can only be guessed at from later events recorded in the canonical Scriptures. I cannot remember exactly, but I think the creation of angels might be found in the Book of Enoch. That said, New Church doctrine states that angels come from the human race. My favorite Swedenborg quote is, "Anyone can see that God did not talk to a snake." The idea is that God literally talking to a snake is so ridiculous that it should prompt us to get below the surface of the text. For atheists, of course, that's a non-starter.
What do you mean by "interpreted to allude to a backstory"? Do you mean Genesis is a backstory and perhaps there exists a backstory that has been lost?
Oddly enough, the Hebrew word in Genesis when they were commanded to be fruitful and multiply actually means "replenish".
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