gengwall

1. So God didn’t name things in Gen 1, he just classified them aswell? God therefore should not be understood as having authority over his creation in your opinion?

God didn’t name things “John” and “Jane”, so yes, he was classifying. Do you dispute that Adam gave taxanomical names to the animals?

2. “There is no cultural naming convention between husbands and wives, so such an appeal to culture is an appeal to something that is non-existent”

Why are you appealing to culture gengwell to support your argument, i thought it was irrelevant? You are contradicting yourself.

LOL – I am refuting your appeal to culture, which certainly is evident. Now please put the goal posts back where they belong.

3. “3. Adam’s classification of the animals was not an act of authority, it was an act of scientific discovery.”

Saids who? This is not in the scripture. But we do know that naming is authoritative in the hebrew culture. You are ignoring relevant information and supplementing it with speculation.

Culture is irrelevant as I have already stated. Classification of animals is not an authoritative action, it is a scientific action. The bible does tell me this by the nature of Adam’s activity. If Adam named the animals “John” and “Jane”, then I would agree that Adam was engaging in a naming activity and we could discuss whether or not that activity had an authoritative element. But Adam did not engage in such an activity.

4.” There is no evidence that Adam even had authority over the animals before Eve’s creation.”

Gen 2 is not supposed to be read in isolation of Gen 1, it is supposed to expand and help us understand Gen 1. And since the hebrew culture understands it authoritatively this is the best way to undestand it.

I agree with you that Genesis 2 expands Genesis 1. Genesis 1 is clear that the man and woman were given authority over creation at the same time. God didn’t first have a talk with Adam about dominion and then rehash the conversation with Eve. The first instance of authority granting to humans that we have any evidence of was when Adam and Eve were together. So culture again is irrelevant. The text is plain. Prior to Eve’s creation, at least according to all the evidence we have, there was no discussion of human dominion over creation.

<blockquote)5.” Even if Adam had authority over the animals prior to Eve, Eve aquired that authority in equal measure upon her creation. Eve can’t be subject to an authority she herself possess.”

This is false argument- A+B do not equal C. It shows that authority is not the same. Both are told in Gen 1 to rule the earth, but Gen 2 shows that Adam had the primary role for that. Also Gen 3 shows his punishment is associated with his primary role- the earth. Both have rule over it but differently. Authority is not equal. Women have the primary role of bearing children, which was also given to both as ‘rule’ in Gen 1. But i don’t hear any egals arguing that this is unfair or predjudice. Your argument is simply false.I believe yours is the false argument. You claim a=b (Adam and Eve were given equal authority in Genesis 1) but then ab (Adam had the primary authoritarian role.) And the Genesis 1 “be fruitful” is not related to the act of bearing children, which women do exclusively (not primarily which you claim). “Be fruitful and multiply” is also equally shared between men and women.

6. “If Adam’s classification of Eve is equivalent to his classification of the animals and it was an act of authority, then Eve does not possess the same level of authority over creation as Adam, negating Genesis 1 and lowering Eve to the status of an animal.”

Again false methodology. It shows that their authority is not given in the same way with the same roles. Gen 1 does not say you will rule (in the exact same way with the exact same authority). Again reading Gen 1 in isolation distorts what Gen 2 reveals about this ruling.

No differentiation of authority over creation is ever given in scripture. Your claim that women have less authority than men over creation is baseless. I know you want to believe that Genesis 2 is a division in authority, but the bible simply does not say that – it is supposition.