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        riddles >> what am i >> God made Adam
        
(Message started by: maryl on May 18^th, 2003, 5:28pm)

Title: God made Adam
Post by maryl on May 18^th, 2003, 5:28pm

God made Adam out of the dust,

But thought it best to make me first;

So I was made before the man,

According to God's Holy plan.

My whole body God made complete,

Without arms or hands or feet.

My ways and acts did God control,

But in my body He placed no soul.

A living being I became,

And Adam gave to me a name.

Then from his presence I withdrew,

For this man Adam I never knew.

All my Maker's laws I do obey,

And from these laws I never stray.

Thousands of me go in fear,

But seldom on the earth appear.

Later, for a purpose God did see,

He placed a living soul in me.

But that soul of mine God had to claim,

And from me took it back again.

And when this soul from me had fled,

I was the same as when first made;

Without arms, legs, feet, or soul,

I travel on from pole to pole.

My labors are from day to night,

And to men I once furnished light.

Thousands of people both young and old,

Did by my death bright lights behold.

No right or wrong can I conceive;

The Bible and it's teachings I can't believe.

The fear of death doesn't trouble me;

Pure happiness I will never see.

And up in Heaven I can never go,

Nor in the grave or Hell below.

So get your Bible and read with care;

You'll find my name recorded there.

This puzzle was written by a lady in California in

1890 in response to a gentlemen

in Philadelphia, who said that he would pay

$241,000.00 to anyone who could

write a puzzle that he could not solve. He failed to

do so, and paid the lady

$241,000.00 (a great sum at that time).

The answer is one word, five letters long, and

appears only two times in the King

James Version of the Bible.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by Icarus on May 19^th, 2003, 3:51pm

I find it hard to believe anyone who couldn't get this was foolish enough to make that offer, or hadn't been brought down repeatedly by many takers. This was way too easy, even if it does make certain theological assumptions beyond its obvious Judeo/Christian basis. I got it after only halfway through, and the latter half seems to me to be fairly obvious, particularly in 1890. Besides which, it speaks of something as being in the past that was in its heydey in 1890. Its a nice riddle, but I find the accompanying story unlikely.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by jade_conundrum on May 19^th, 2003, 10:04pm

I would first like to say hello, for this is my first post on this board, and secondly I wonder if someone would be so kind as to post the answer to this perplexing (at least to myself, anyway) ponderance. Or, at least, could someone clarify some points in said riddle such as:

1 "seldom on the earth appear"- does this bar underground and flying?

2 "All my Maker's laws I do obey, And from these laws I never stray" - is this placing the ten commandments on other non-human entities such as animals or trees?

thank you in advance for humoring a poor old fool such as myself

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by Layal Khodr on May 20^th, 2003, 5:39am

;Di think ur riddle is amazing!!i wish i could be that good :'(.... i mainly came on this site coz i have to do a riddle for tommorow in enlglish class....so i'm gettin ideas and urs is very inspiralBYE

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by maryl on May 20^th, 2003, 6:55am

on 05/19/03 at 22:04:21, jade_conundrum wrote:

1. It does not bar underground, and flying.
2. It's more like the laws of nature, not the 10 commandments.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by maryl on May 20^th, 2003, 6:57am

on 05/19/03 at 15:51:40, Icarus wrote:

You may be right Icarus; I don't know my history that well.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by maryl on May 20^th, 2003, 7:00am

on 05/20/03 at 05:39:17, Layal Khodr wrote:

I'm glad to hear it inspired you. I liked it too, and wish I could be that good.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by eviljed on May 20^th, 2003, 12:53pm

i would post the answer, but do not know how to hide it in the text. would someone tell me?

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by towr on May 20^th, 2003, 1:26pm

put your text between [hide] and [/hide]

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by Icarus on May 20^th, 2003, 4:16pm

Rather than come right out with the answer here are some hints (highlight them to read):
Hint 1:[hide] The "extra" theology I mentioned is primarily the belief that animals don't have souls. A debated point among theologians.[/hide]
Hint 2:[hide] This riddle still works for those who believe only humans ever have souls. Animals do not get them even temporarily. The part about "God placed a soul in me" has a different interpretation.[/hide]
Hint 3:[hide] That interpretation is very literal.[/hide]
Hint 4:[hide]
"Without arms, legs, feet, or soul,
I travel on from pole to pole."[/hide]
Hint 5:[hide]
"So get your Bible and read with care;
You'll find my name recorded there."

Make sure it's the King James Version you look in. You won't find it in more modern translations, where the translators did not make as many assumptions about what the orginal text meant by certain phrases, such as "... monster". (Monsters were very real in biblical times. They still exist too, but we have learned more about them, so they each have their own names and we consider them to be various species, rather than grouping them all together under a single catchword.)[/hide]

A bit more on why I find the accompanying history suspicious: The supposed challenge is far too easily met. Dreaming up next-to-impossible-to-solve puzzles is not difficult. You simply make the solution dependent on extremely obscure knowledge and/or a truly convoluted process of your own devising. Many such riddles dating back to the 1800s which were not solved for years (or have still not been solved) exist in "the literature". No matter how smart this fellow was, it would have been fairly simple to collect the award, at least without more restrictions (such as specifying the puzzle must be solvable by at least 5% of people chosen at random).

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by jade_conundrum on May 20^th, 2003, 4:38pm

ooh! Is it [hide] a sperm? [/hide]

oh, nevermind, that answer only works with about 90-95% of the clues...back to the ol' drawing board I guess.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by Icarus on May 20^th, 2003, 5:09pm

on 05/20/03 at 16:38:20, jade_conundrum wrote:

ooh! Is it a sperm?

Wow! That answer is amazing. In particular, it is both amazingly close, and amazingly far off at the same time! :o

Note that this riddle is definitely from a Judeo/Christian perspective, so God didn't need a sperm to create Adam. And I do not believe the word sperm occurs anywhere in the Bible, which was written long before the introduction of the microscope.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by aero_guy on May 20^th, 2003, 7:36pm

Damn! I cannot believe I had to read this far to get it. This really would have been an easier puzzle in the day. I love the "really close while far away" bit. The "soul in me" line is the giveaway, if you remember your bible stories. Great riddle.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by BNC on May 21^st, 2003, 12:53am

If the answer I got is right, than the "And up in Heaven I can never go" is actually confusing. According to some beleives, the dwelers in heaven will consume the flesh of <the answer>.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by Speaker on May 21^st, 2003, 1:51am

I heard this riddle a long time ago, with the dubious story about the contest. Maybe this is the first recorded "urban legend." :o

I don't always get the answers fast, some times it takes a while.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by Icarus on May 21^st, 2003, 3:42pm

I've never heard of a Jewish or Christian sect that believed such a thing. Certainly there is nothing in the Bible about dietary practices in heaven. Do you know what group believes this?

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by Leonid Broukhis on May 21^st, 2003, 4:33pm

On behalf of atheists, agnostics and other non J/C adherents, what is the answer, may I ask? The concordance has 96 five-letter words that occur in KJV exactly 4 times. It's not [hide]viper[/hide], is it?

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by BNC on May 22^nd, 2003, 5:08am

on 05/21/03 at 15:42:06, Icarus wrote:

I've never heard of a Jewish or Christian sect that believed such a thing. Certainly there is nothing in the Bible about dietary practices in heaven. Do you know what group believes this?

According to some Jewish traditions (in the Talmud), in the “end of time” the righteous at heaven will have a feast from a wild ox, [hide]a whale (synonym to Leviathan in Hebrew)[/hide], and wine. The ox and [hide]whale[/hide] will be from the “original created couple”, and the wine made from the original created grapes.
See, e.g., here (http://www.jhom.com/topics/fish/leviathan.html)

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by Leonid Broukhis on May 22^nd, 2003, 12:29pm

Thank you. The concordance I used counted singular and plural separately. I tried another one, and it did show [hide]whale[/hide] 3 times and [hide]whales[/hide] once. So, strictly speaking, the 5-letter long word only appears 3 times.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by maryl on May 22^nd, 2003, 1:22pm

on 05/22/03 at 12:29:06, Leonid Broukhis wrote:

I don't know which Concordance you used, but I do know that the Strong's Exhaustive is probably the best when it comes to the King James version. Let me know if it was Strong's or not please.

OK, Leo...,I looked it up and you are so right. I only found it twice in Strong's-over the Net. I apologize for letting that slip thru, I'll double check my sources next time.

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by propr`one on May 29^th, 2003, 7:21pm

angel

Title: Re: God made Adam
Post by maryl on May 30^th, 2003, 7:38am

on 05/29/03 at 19:21:01, propr`one wrote:

angel

It's not an angel, rather a living, physical being that does not ascend to such heights as an angel would.