The idea of all humans originating from one single human pair was a brilliant insight not found in all cultures.
To which I replied:
The idea of all humans coming from a single human pair is firstly scientifically wrong, and secondly found in most mythologies. I'm at a loss as to recall one that doesn't have a first couple from Odin making Ask and Embla out of driftwood to the Navajo myth of the insect people traveling to the fifth world and making the first man and woman or the Apache myth of creator making Girl Without Parents and Small Boy out of dirt from his hands rubbing together into clumps.
I really am at a loss here. Is there any mythology that doesn't start with a first couple? Does anybody know of a creation story that doesn't explain the first couple but the first group of humans larger than two or something that would qualify as not a first two humans story?
1 comment:
I imagine this is a Christian you're talking to. They LOVE to say stuff like "How could that have known to put such a GREAT idea in their book? Huh? Huh?"
I actually had one guy say something along the lines of "How could ignorant sheep herders have KNOWN that there would have to be one all-powerful self-creating God? To which I simply facepalmed and ended the exchange.
Personally, I would point out that in order to get from 2 people to us, there would have to have been an ungodly amount of inbreeding and....well, genetic variation.
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