The Fall

[Mr Cheese]

The fall of Man...
What does it mean to you...?

Christians use this to justify:

Hatred toward women
Destruction of the earth (tied in with zionism and the coming of the anti christ)
The doctrine that all people are born "in filth" or similar sentiment
snake handling

Wiki says:

The Fall of Man, or simply "the Fall," in Christian doctrine refers to the transition of the first humans from a state of innocent obedience to God, to a state of guilty disobedience to God. In the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve live at first with God in a paradise, but are then deceived or tempted by the serpent to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which had been forbidden them by God. After doing so they become ashamed of their nakedness, and God consequently expelled them from paradise. The Fall is not mentioned by name in the Bible, but the story of disobedience and expulsion is recounted in both Testaments in different ways. The Fall can refer to the wider theological inferences for all humankind as a consequence of Eve and Adam's original sin. Examples include the teachings of Paul, Romans 5:12-19 and 1 Cor. 15:21-22.
Some Christians believe the Fall corrupted the entire natural world, including human nature, causing people to be born into original sin, a state from which they cannot attain eternal life without the gracious intervention of God. Protestants hold that Jesus' death was a "ransom" by which man was made forever free from the sin acquired at the Fall, and other denominations believe that this act made it possible for man to be free without necessarily ensuring it. In other religions, such as Judaism, Islam, and Gnosticism no term "The Fall" is recognized and varying interpretations of the Eden narrative are presented.



Other traditions

• In Gnosticism, the snake is thanked for bringing knowledge to Adam and Eve, and thereby freeing them from the Demiurge's control. The Demiurge banished Adam and Eve, because man was now a threat.

• Ancient Greek mythology held that humanity was immortal during the Golden Age, until Prometheus brought them fire to help them live through cold. The gods punished humans allowing Pandora to release the evil (death, sorrow, plague) into the world due to her curiosity. See Ages of Man for more.

• In classic Zoroastrianism, mankind is created to withstand the forces of decay and destruction through good thoughts, words and deeds. Failure to do so actively leads to misery for the individual and for his family. This is also the moral of many of the stories of the Shahnameh, the key text of Persian mythology.

Christianity itself has many views. Eastern Orthodoxy rejects the whole idea of born into sin. Protestants embrace the idea of being born "dirty"...

Has man fallen?
What does this really mean?

 

[Dunemeister]

I think the Wiki is more or less right about what the doctrine means. So it seems you've asked and answered your own question.

 

[EtuMalku]

The Fall represents mankind's and nature's fall into materialism. This Fall shields us from the spiritual world and opens an Abyss between Man and the Divine. The reason behind the Fall is often described as being hubris, man's search for knowledge.

The Serpent (Lucifer) explains that by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge that they surely will not die , as the Abrahamic God proposed, but rather their eyes shall be opened so that they can be like Gods and understand what good and evil is.

God threw mankind into great distraction and into a life of toil, so that humankind might be occupied with worldly affairs, and might not have the opportunity of being devoted to the Holy Spirit / Higher-Self / HGA

Lucifer, the Serpent, represents the divine force of creation that is able to carry out the idea of creation.
Lucifer sinks down to man's level and awakens the power of creation and the sexual energy (Kundalini) in man. Thus, man can reach the knowledge which was previously only accessible to a God.


-from the Gospels of Nag Hammadi: Testimonial of Truth
"the God whom most Christians worship, the God of the Hebrew Bible, is 'himself' one of the fallen angels, from whose tyranny Christ came to set human beings free.

TOT (3:4-5): It reveals truth only when one reads it in reverse, recognizing that God is actually the villain, and the Serpent (Lucifer) the holy one.
It is this God that commanded Adam not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, which could open his eyes to the Truth.
Adam & Eve, enlightened by the Luciferian Principle appeared in the form of the Serpent and deified them.

 

[slave2six]

Has man fallen?

Nope. In the words of Popeye, "I am what I am am and that's all what I am."

 

[TheKnight]

Has man fallen?
What does this really mean?

The fall of man, if you can call it that, is basically when Adam and Chava disobeyed God and were kicked out of the garden.

What changed? Did sin enter the world? No. "Sin" was already in the world.

The change was that we were confused. Whereas before it would have been:

Thought:"You know you want to eat that fruit"
Thought:"No I don't want to eat that fruit, God told me not to."

It became:

Thought:"I really want to eat that fruit"
Thought:"No you don't, God told you not to eat it."


That is the extent of the "fall" of man. A confusion of what/who we are.

 

[J Bryson]

We fell when we started to believe that we were worthy of damnation in the first place.