The Garden of Eden

I have started reading the book 'God's Big Picture' by Vaughan Roberts as part of my quiet time. I decided I needed to read more Christian books and this one seemed a good place to start as it gives an overview of the Bible and has a Bible Study part to it which can also be used in groups. Anyway it has given me a lot to think about, some questions it has answered or through discussions with various people has helped me answer but others it has not.

As the book gives an overview of the Bible it obviously starts with Genesis and the Garden of Eden and the bit that has had me puzzled the most is the fall of Adam and Eve. Vaughan Roberts asks the question what are we supposed to make of Genesis 3, was it factual or is it all a myth? This question arises in particular reference to the snake that tempts Eve.

'Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

Genesis 3:1

The snake talks to Eve, since when could snakes talk? I don't know about anybody else and perhaps I am just really slow but I had never thought about that before. Anyway Roberts brings this issue up with the question 'Are we meant to take that literally?' and that's my question. Snakes don't talk so was it really a snake that talked to Eve or is it some sort of symbolism? This then makes me question the Garden of Eden as a whole. Was it a garden or is it all just one big metaphor?

Where Is Home?

Just a short blog which is really just a question. I was asked this question earlier this week by someone at uni and didn't really know what the answer is so I thought I'd see if anyone would comment and give me an answer.

I was asked whether my room in my house at uni felt like home. My initial reaction was no because it clearly isn't that is not my home address, it is just somewhere I happen to live for the academic year but then I got to thinking. In a way it is kind of like home because it has my stuff in it from my room at home and it has my photos of everyone in it but then I am not with the people in the photos, the people I love and care immensely for so is home the place where these people are?

I still don't know the answer so I will pose the question here:

Where is home?

Washing the Car!

Sunday 31 December 2006 was a very memorable day for me or at least according to my little sister. I, Claire Nicola Tomkinson, aged 20 years old an approximately 4 months learnt how to wash a car.

Now I know this is possibly quite shameful that I didn't know how to do it before but when you have a sister like mine who insists on being the man of the house why did I need to know before then?

Anyway the day was not the best for it but considering I have had the car since the summer and had never washed it I thought it was about time I discovered what colour the car was supposed to be (evidently it appears to be white!!!!). The main problem was I didn't know how and as a poor penniless student I couldn't afford to take it to the car wash (although I have never been in one of those either)so I enlist the help of Sarah after much laughing on her part because I didn't know what to do. I got changed into what I considered appropriate car washing clothes but apparently there's special clothes u were supposed 2 wear an when i rolled my jeans up so they didn't get wet Sarah laughed even harder, it was just common sense 2 roll them up!

So the task begins and as it turns out Sarah ended up washing the majority of the car as she just got to exasperated waiting for me to figure out what she meant... hello a little patience needed here, never done it before....but eventually the car was done after a lot of buckets of water and some car shampoo and it is now possible to tell that my car is in fact white.

Is it wrong that I don't even feel remotely ashamed that I didn't know how to wash a car?

Why Does Mary Wear Blue?

I have just been to see the film the Nativity and it brought a question to my mind. Why do we always put Mary in blue when we recreate the Nativity? Even in the film Mary changes into blue before she gives birth. Is there some relevance to blue or did people many years ago decide blue was a pretty colour and we just haven't changed it? I may of course be being really stupid and there may be a really obvious Biblical reference to it that I just don't know but if anybody has an answer I would be grateful to hear it.

Apparently We Only Save Certain Animals

I have just watched the TV programme Extinct on ITV. I have never watched it before and as I don't know if any of you have either I'll tell you what the show is like. The programme has been running all week and as I am to understand it, it focuses on two out of a possible seven endangered animals that are soon to become extinct each day. As well as finding out about these animals throughout the programme the seven animals run across the bottom of the screen with telephone numbers. Now as I have never seen the show before I thought 'oh that's nice they are taking a poll to see what the nation's favourite animal is' but no. I discover towards the end of the show that you are in fact ringing to decide what animal you want to save. I was astounded how can u decide what animal you want to become extinct. What right do we have to decide what animal out of the seven gets half of the money raised by the phone calls? Why does one animal deserve the money more than another? This is living proof that today's society has gone mad with the need to have phone polls on every televison show possible.