(Michael Kennedy) invited me to expand on the following comment:

I would understand the last phrase about "Adam and Eve" metaphorically, where I assume you mean it literally.

Michael had stated that in his understanding of "Salvation" part of the deal is "a restoration of things back to the way they were set up originally for Adam and Eve.".

Evidence from the Mishnah and Talmudim, and other sources, shows pretty clearly that the word *paradeisos*, a loan word from the Persian language meaning 'garden', was used by Jews from about 100 years before Jesus to at least 500 years after with shades of meaning which included a place of being with God, a place of eternal happiness and peace, and a place of reward for the righteous. This assoication is clearly linked with the Hebrew *gan eden*, ie the garden of Eden of Genesis 2-3.

Even if the Jews in the time of Jesus regarded Adam and Eve as historical people, and Eden as a geographical locality (both of which I regard unlikely, as do nearly all Biblical scholars), modern people with our greater knowledge of the nature of history, the formation of the Universe and our part in it, and the nature of the Biblical record, can hardly do so. The story of Adam and Eve is a metaphorical story of a perfect primeval past - an illustration amongst the bold brushstrokes with which Genesis 1-11 depicts Human sinfulness, God's goodness, and our need to repent and turn to God. In the same way, identifying "Paradise" with the place of eternal life for those who enjoy God's favour extends the mataphor by indicating that Jesus' death on the Cross undoes the consequences of sin, and our faith in him is the means by which we share in the benefit of what he has done for us.

The text which indicates most clearly what I mean is 1 Cor 15:22, where Paul says "for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ."

Cheers
N+