This week's Christian Science Bible Lesson, titled "Adam and Fallen Man," features a Biblical allegory with three major characters: Adam, Eve, and a very prominent talking serpent (19 references).

Creation myths have sprung up in every civilization. The Genesis account of fallen humans had been compared to Greek tragedy. Pride, fear, and material desire prompt humankind to act against God. The result is sin, guilt, and punishment. Science and Health refers to the Adam account as an "allegory" (p. 533, citation 6), "delusion" (p. 307, cit. 7), "pure delusion" (p. 567, cit. 20), and "metaphor" (p. 529, cit. 5). An allegory is a story where actions and symbolic characters depict generalizations about human experience. In other words, there is no authenticity to the story. So we can conclude that the fall of man was not a historical happening. It was and is a myth.

Paul addresses the same issue in First Corinthians 15:22, which is quoted in Science and Health: "'As in Adam [error] all die, even so in Christ [Truth] shall all be made alive'" (p. 545, cit. 3). The Christ destroys the belief of a fallen human.

Luke speaks in poetic language of this same type of redemption. He writes that God has "raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David," a reference to Christ Jesus (Luke 1:69, cit. 13). Horn here is a metaphor for power, strength, and victory. Horns are both ornamental and weapons for the animals that possess them. The New English Bible translates this verse, "... has raised up a deliverer of victorious power." Goodspeed paraphrases and writes, "He has produced a mighty savior for us" (Edgar J. Goodspeed, The New Testament: An American Translation). Alert to the Christ, Truth, we are victorious. We're not deceived by serpent talk, which insists that we are sinful human beings.

Serpent talk is also seen in the gospel account of a man said to have been born blind. The disciples wonder if heredity may have played a part in this situation. "Who did sin," they ask, "this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus immediately declares that there is no "fallen" human being in this situation. He replies, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him" (John 9:2, 3, cit. 18).

Then the man is asked to go to the pool of Siloam and wash.

The pool of Siloam was an oblong pool located within the city walls of Jerusalem, not far from the Temple. The water came from outside the city walls through an excavated tunnel about 1,740 feet in length. Archaeologists feel that the pool of Siloam was the source of water used at religious ceremonies. Raymond Brown states, "Rabbinic sources mention it as a place of purification" (Anchor Bible, John, p. 372). The Bible account continues that the blind man "went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing" (John 9:7, cit. 18). There is no more serpent talk of hereditary blindness in this man's experience. Science and Health explains this type of healing, stating, "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning, mortal man appears to mortals" (pp. 476–477, cit. 15).

In Revelation, the serpent of Genesis becomes a swollen red dragon. Science and Health describes it as "ripe for destruction" (p. 565, cit. 19). Section V includes many references from and about the apocalyptic book of Revelation. Apocalypse is a Greek word that means an unveiling, an uncovering—hence, a revelation. Apocalyptic writing gave encouragement, hope, and comfort to those being persecuted, and included references that were understood only by the privileged few. Because we no longer know the entire frame of reference, it's hard for a modern audience to comprehend all of these coded messages.

Sometimes these messages are explained in the Bible itself. In speaking of the "great red dragon," Revelation refers to it as "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world" (Rev. 12:9, cit. 21).

Science and Health also explains aspects of Revelation, for example in this passage: "The woman in the Apocalypse symbolizes generic man, the spiritual idea of God; she illustrates the coincidence of God and man as the divine Principle and divine idea" (p. 561, cit. 18).

"The spiritual idea of God" contradicts the concept of a fallen man. Science and Health concludes, "... man will reopen with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free, ..." (p. 171, cit. 26). The belief of fallen man is destroyed by the law of Life, as Christ Jesus proved.

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