the garden of eden

had an interesting 'westminster confession of faith' class today. here're some snippets of it:

context: we were discussing the covenant of works, which adam and eve were under, before the fall. while trying to read through genesis 2:8 - 3:24, we got interrupted so many times...

carol: where is the garden of eden now? is it in iraq? is it a physical place on this earth?
eld boon: yeah, people think it's in iraq cos of the reference to the rivers mentioned?
jonnie: so where in the middle east is there gold?
carol (acts smart): oil is also known as black gold...
ji en: nah, you've to find Havilah (c.f. gen 2:11) it's like a treasure map!
jonnie: Gihon must have dried up since ethiopia is so _____.

random not-so-funny comment
eld boon: so you can see from here (gen 3: 7) that adam and eve were the first fashion designers....... and they were trying to cover up their nakedness, but the fashion designers of the world are trying to reveal more of that...

on gen 3:16-19 - the curse.
eld boon: so, what does it mean to multiply 'thy conception'? does that mean the modern women, some of whom are in the room now, are breaking the curse by not having children?
carol: ......
rachel: why is it breaking the curse?
ji en: be fruitful and multiply!
eld boon: imagine conceiving your whole life..
rachel: like those people who have 12 kids..
carol: but they used to live 900 years... so they had lots of time.

eld boon: 'thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee'.
carol: does that mean that if eve had not eaten the fruit, there might actually be gender equality?
cherie: and if adam ate the fruit first, the men might be the ones conceiving instead...

eld boon: for the men, in sorrow shall thou eat of the fruit of the ground all the days of thy life... so they'll work hard to earn a living, and the women can just stay at home and be tai-tais...
carol (enthusiastically): yup!
[darn i should have made him repeat that a 2nd time so that i could have recorded it]
rachel (trying wayy too hard to sound noble): i want to have kids and work all my life
[nice try, i'll ask you again in a few years...]

on pork
eld boon: thou shalt eat the herb of the field, so adam and eve were vegetarians.
jonnie: so when did they start eating meat?
eld boon: after the flood...
(that was something the rest of us didn't know... but the reference is in gen 9)
jonnie: and when did they start eating pork?
eld boon: after peter's dream...
(and so began the extended digression about pork)
jonnie: but in gen 9: 3 it says that "every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you", so that includes pork...
eld boon: good point, homework for you, find out for us.......
(and the task gets pushed around until it reaches ji en)
ji en: nah, i've an immediate solution, check the hebrew text, i'm sure it says "every moving thing except the pig", so let's just leave it as that...
cherie (mutters): hai yah why do we care, since we can eat pork now?
eld boon: i think it's gotta do with the abrahamic covenant... with abraham, isaac and jacob, who was israel
carol: so you can't be a jew unless you were born after jacob.
(jonnie, still dissatisfied, refers to leviticus and reads out the whole list of things that the jews cannot touch)
eld boon: so there was no kosher until after that... and the key idea of having a list of animals which they cannot eat was because of?
sharon: blood.
(hahahahaha, all animals have blood lor....)
jonnie: separation.

(ok case closed)

on being herbivores and more digression
eld boon: anyway, so all the animals were herbivores. but after the fall, they started to kill each other, like the horrible hyenas i saw at the night safari yest... (cos of the 50% discount thingy)
carol (mutters, a little too loudly): how come he has a 50% discount?
rachel (anyhow whacking): he must be a friend of the zoo
(upon which we all crack up)
eld boon (senses the commotion): yes?
rachel: carol wants to know why you have a 50% discount, because she wants to go to the night safari?
eld boon: i'm a friend of the zoo!
(WHAT?!? HAHAHA he's a friend of the zoo)
(after which jonnie trys to sell carol 50% discounts to the night safari in hushed whispers.... hahaha)

more about the garden of eden (gen 3:22-24)
ji en: so why did God stop them from eating from the tree of life by expelling them from the garden after the fall?
eld boon: cos it will give them eternal life... and what state were they in?
ji en: sin
eld boon: so if they eat the fruit, they will...
sharon (brilliantly): have no hope of salvation
carol: how you know?
cherie: she was just completing the sentence...
eld boon (rather sarcastically): what if they tricked the cherubims and sneaked back into the garden?
jonnie: they are only guarding the east entrance....

(and that was the last brilliant answer in a really funny class)

one day i'm gonna find the lost garden of eden....