Raphael and a man walk into Eden...

I'll just start off by saying Raphael is one of the three named archangels in Scripture we hear the least about, and I thoroughly enjoy just reading and seeing his name pop up. Regardless, I want to touch on Adam's recounting of his own..."birth". Take that with a grain of salt as Adam was not physically born, but rather he simply became. In truth, we should all be able to give a similar account to their first memory of consciousness and fully aware. Adam was created, but he realized he could walk, talk, and speak without first learning. Imagine being able to think clear thoughts in your native language and be a functioning individual right out of the womb. It's an incredible thought, and Adam can give a recall of this like it were yesterday...which it might have been, who knows? Aside from that, Adam could even give an account to Eve's creation. The Bible says nothing pertaining to this matter so this is where Milton does a bit of adlibbing and writes around line 460 in book 8 that Adam seemed to have the first out-of-body experience. While I do think this could have happened as God is all powerful and can do all things imaginable, it isn't stated in Scripture. If I had to draw a parallel, it would be to the recent Doctor Strange movie where he's there giving instructions on his own surgery. Though Adam did not direct God, the picture is the same concept. Milton adding this in could have been his way of showing how Adam was immediately infatuated with Eve. She was taken from him, and so she was like him. Adam had asked God to provide for him, and God kept His promise as He always does. So when Raphael tells Adam to cease his search for knowledge, he's implying that God has all the answers so Adam need not worry about the floating, unanswered questions of the cosmos like his Earth rotation conundrum. Really and truly though, I only had enjoyment reading Raphael, but it's because demonology is such an interesting topic to me. Especially when the he isn't elaborated on in Scripture (yes, I know that isn't the point), it helps build personality on a character and helps create closure in my mind.

Comments on (The Legend of) Zelda's and Carmen's posts. :)