I’d like to start this video a little differently. Normally, I would just make the video and
assume this went without saying, maybe I’d slip it in after ten minutes as a quick disclaimer
and then move on. But this seemed important enough that I thought
I should say it from the start. If you’re expecting this to be some epic
atheist take down of Christian beliefs, you’re in the wrong place. I have no interest in tearing this book apart. If you believe in this book, that’s fine,
I don’t want to take your faith or anything else from you… But if you think Moses threw down his staff
and it turned into a snake… I do want to take that from you, because you’re
wrong. This video was brought to you by Skillshare. The bible, and specifically the Old Testament,
isn’t a very good book narratively speaking. This happens, then this happens, then this
happens, then there’s a whole lot of knowing and begetting, then this happens… It’s just kind of a list of events, there
aren’t a lot of rising actions or climaxes or even character development. And that’s fine since that’s not necessarily
its purpose. But when you’re trying to tell these stories
to children, you kind of have to punch it up a bit, otherwise they’re just not going
to pay attention. That usually means adding onto the story or
changing certain aspects. If I were to ask you who went to Pharaoh and
said “let my people go” and threw down his staff, which then turned into a snake… most of you are going to say Moses. I knew a lot of you were going to get this
wrong, but Jesus Chr-. Moses either had a speech impediment or was
incredibly shy, interpretations vary, but the point is, he wasn’t very good at public
speaking. So his brother… A-Aron spoke for him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have
made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and
your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. Whenever this story is told, Moses often becomes
a composite character of both Moses and Aaron. I’m not sure why, I ‘m pretty sure kids
can understand that there’s two people, but fine. So, in every movie made about the book of
Exodus, it’s Moses that does the talking and Aaron just stands off to the side – If
he exists at all. He’s completely written out of this scene
in the Prince of Egypt, so it’s Moses’ staff that turns into a snake. But in the original source material, it isn’t
Moses’ staff. So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did
just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh
and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers,
and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw
down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. But that’s the new international version,
maybe they changed it… let’s take a look at the official, original King James’ Version… And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh,
and they did so as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh,
and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh blah blah blah… but Aaron's
rod swallowed up their rods. No matter what version you look up, it’s
always been Aaron’s rod. The thing is, when I asked that question,
several of you specifically mentioned Charlton Heston, who played Moses in the Ten Commandments. Here’s Charlton Heston… and here’s not
Charlton Heston. Even in this movie, it’s Aaron, I don’t
know why any of you thought it was Moses… maybe you came from the Berenstein universe. Another bible story which has fallen victim
to modern embellishment is Noah’s Ark. In the source material, there really isn’t
much to go off of. The entire story, from beginning to end, depending
on your version, is just shy of 800 words. To put that into perspective, so far in this
video, I’ve said 800 words. And a good chunk of the story is just IKEA-like
instructions on how to build the ark. This is how you are to build it: The ark is
to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof
an opening one cubit high- It goes on, but I think you get the point. For those of you who don’t use cubits in
your everyday life, it’s eighteen inches, so the ark was one and a half times the size
of a football field and four stories high. Let me summarize the story of Noah’s Ark
for you. God tells Noah to build an Ark, to be filled
with two of each animal in order to escape the Flood, which will wipe out every living
thing in the galax- on Earth, on Earth. That’s it, that’s the entire story. How do they take that and turn it into a two-hour
Russell Crowe movie? By adding on a whole bunch of extra stuff. The thing is, no matter what modern interpretation
you sit down to watch, they all have the same story beats. Initially, his family doesn’t believe that
he spoke to god. There’s some sort of confrontation with
the local townsfolk, with or without fallen rock angels. Maybe Noah tries to save other people, but
they also don’t believe him. And afterwards, they send out birds to try
and find dry land. None of that is in here. Confabulation is when someone has a false
memory of an event or story, ranging from a slight alteration to a complete fabrication,
when everyone has the same false memory, we call that the social contagion of memory conformity. But you probably know it by another name:
the Mandela Effect. … You probably already know what I’m going
to say about this don’t you? And the thing is, we all know it’s wrong. The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is never
named. People who actually study the bible for a
living think it might have been a fig, which grows in the Middle East, or maybe even a
pomegranate. Some scholars believe it wasn’t an apple,
but a ruby red, antioxidant rich pomegranate with which Eve tempted Adam. What a weird way to market your product. Hey, remember that thing that doomed humanity
for all eternity? Well, we’ve put it in a bottle now, drink
up! Saying it’s an apple is incredibly Euro-centric. It’s even stranger when you remember that
up until 1893, apples tasted like dirt. More specifically, like a raw potato. The only things apples were good for were
improving your land so that you met the legal requirements of the Homestead Act and… turning
it into apple cider. People didn’t really drink plain water back
then. Doing so ran the risk of you dying from diarrhea,
so most people either drank coffee and tea, which you have to boil, or wine and cider,
which you have to ferment. Would any of you really have been tempted
by a raw potato? Assuming Adam and Eve weren’t Irish, I doubt
it. The idea of it being an apple came centuries
later, along with many of the other things you remember about that story. Adam and Eve take up a single side of a single
page of this book. It’s about a thousand words so depending
on how fast you read, you could blow through it in a minute. So why is it that when we tell this story,
we have all the same extra narrative flair? The answer is Paradise Lost by John Milton. Kevin Lomax. John Milton. That movie actually borrows a lot of themes
and lines from Paradise Lost. Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven,
is that it? What Dante was to Italian literature, John
Milton was to English, and wouldn’t you know it, they both chose to write Christian
fanfiction. And both used religion as a disguise for political
commentary. Paradise Lost was written over five to ten
years and published in 1667, so the political and religious situation was completely different
from Dante’s time. The Protestant Reformation was in full swing
and the pilgrims just landed in America. Keep that in mind as we discuss the plot,
which, spoiler warning, but it is a 350-year-old poem that tells the story of Adam and Eve
but from Satan’s perspective. You’ve probably heard all the spoilers already. The story is presented non-linearly, meaning
we start in the middle and there are flashbacks – I’m not going to do that here. So, if you want that original experience,
you’re going to have to read it yourself. I read and listened to a few different versions
in preparation for this video, but I personally recommend the BBC radio dramatization where
Satan is voiced by Ian McDiarmid, aka the Emperor. Heh, heh, heh…. Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. If that isn’t perfect casting, I don’t
know what is. When you picture Lucifer in your mind, you
either imagine him as someone who hit every branch of the ugly tree during his fall from
heaven or something like this. Dang Lucifer, you lookin like a snack. Dante’s version of Lucifer made him a half-goat,
three-faced, six-winged monstrosity, but when I gave that information to Poethewondercat
to draw, this twink studmuffin is what I got. Which is fine, he included everything I told
him to. And he’s certainly not the first to do that,
almost every modern depiction of Lucifer, whether he’s a man or a woman, casts him
as a perfect ten. This sexy and even sympathetic depiction of
Lucifer started with Milton’s Paradise Lost. Satan is the protagonist of this story. We begin with Satan and his followers waking
up in a lake of fire in Hell, which they call Tartarus. I swear I’ve heard that name before. They had been banished as punishment for participating
in the Rebellion of Angels against God. Why did they rebel? Well, that’s an interesting story, in the
beginning, it was just God and the angels living in the Empyrean, what we call Heaven. Lucifer was one of those angels – and angels
are apparently beautiful. There’s some debate over what rank of angel
Lucifer was, if you recall, in heaven, God is surrounded by nine rings of angels, one
for each rank. The closer you are to God, the higher your
rank, and the highest were the Seraphim. You’d think being the highest rank would
be awesome, but a seraph’s only job was to continuously shout praises at God. They’re the ultimate yes men. They have six wings and are engulfed in perpetual
fire – Seraph means burning one, so that’s fitting. Since Dante’s Lucifer had six wings, some
think he might have been a Seraph. Though some biblical scholars, including St.
Thomas Aquinas, believe Lucifer belonged to the second order of angels, the Cherubim. No, Cherubim were not naked babies, like Cupid. Instead, they had four wings covered in eyeballs,
four faces, and the body of a lion… decidedly less cute, which is fitting since they guard
God’s throne and the Garden of Eden. We’ll get to why that is later. The next order are the Thrones, which appear
as wheels within wheels, again covered in eyeballs. They serve as symbols of God’s power and
authority, and that’s it, they don’t seem to do anything. The Dominions are next, they look like your
typical angel and their only job is to delegate work to the other angels. The middle management of the angelic hierarchy. The Virtues are in charge of controlling all
of the elements in the universe and they’re also responsible for all the natural miracles
in the world. They also don’t have any physical form that
we know of. The Powers make sure that all the laws of
physics are maintained and supervise the movements of all of the spheres of Heaven. Someone’s gotta make sure these things keep
ticking over, right? They’re also the warrior angels who banish
evil spirits to Hell and served as the primary soldiers against Lucifer’s army. The seventh order of angels are the Principalities. These angels oversee countries, nations, and
groups of people, much like how St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. Ireland also has a Principality angel. They’re the ones that give their blessing
when their specified group of people prays before going to war or playing football. I wonder if they have any control over the
Youtube algorithm… Dearest Principality of Demonetization, please
see fit to bestow your blessing upon me, so that I may make those dolla dolla bills y’all. Archangels are the first ones that directly
interfere with human affairs and steer things in the direction of God’s plan. There are only seven halos- archangels – and
Lucifer was one of them. I don’t know if that means there were eight,
and now that Lucifer is gone there’s only seven, or if Lucifer still counts and there’s
only actually six. And it’s unclear if you can be an archangel
and something else, like a seraph. We only know four of the seven names, which
is why it’s unclear if Lucifer still counts. Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel. That’s true. The ninth order are the Malakhim, just regular
everyday angels that serve as messengers or personal guardians, they’re pretty boring. Humans don’t become angels. They’re their own thing, you don’t die
and go to heaven and then perform some good deeds in order to earn your wings. You just need to drink a Redbull for that. That’s true. Lucifer was God’s favorite angel, or at
least, he was… right up until God created Jesus and declared him Lord of the Angels. Wait, I thought Jesus didn’t come along
until way later… I’ve always existed. …What? I’ve always been a part of God, and he’s
always been part of me. What are you doing here Jesus? Well you’ve been nagging me on Twitter for
a while and it was getting kind of pathetic so- Dude. I mean, I’m here to answer your questions. Can you explain the trinity to me? No one can explain the trinity, if you ask
a dozen Christians about the trinity you’re gonna get a dozen different answers. So are you the son of God or are you God? Yes. … What’s the holy spirit? I think that’s enough questions for now… Really? Okay can you just- am I going to hell for
all the blasphemy stuff? What are you kidding? I do that all the time. Ah, good… So Jesus exists now, both in the story and
on Youtube – he’s verified so you know he’s the real deal. Lucifer didn’t want to bow down to this
new creation, so he incited a rebellion. It turns out a third of all the angels in
Heaven agreed with him and didn’t want to bow down to God’s new son… so, they went
to war. The only problem is that angels are immortal. They just kind of spent the whole day fighting
and not really getting anywhere until they retreated and tried again the next day. Only this time with cannons! Oh my god, oh my god this battle is epic! Again, this didn’t really work because of
the whole immortality thing, so they retreated. When they lined up for battle on the third
day, God decided enough was enough. He banished Lucifer and all of his followers
from Heaven and they fell for nine days. During those nine days he did the whole creation
thing and made Adam and Eve. It’s at this point that Lucifer ceased to
be Lucifer and became Satan. Much like how Anakin Skywalker became Darth
Vader by falling to the dark side, there was a name change involved. But Satan isn’t his name, it’s a title. Satan just means “the adversary” and his
first official appearance in the Bible is in the Book of Job. While we’re at it, Christ is also a title. So his name isn’t Jesus Christ, it’s Jesus
of Nazareth comma the Christ. Nobody’s going to call him Lucifer comma
the Satan though, it’s usually one or the other. He’s known by other names as well, but as
we’ll soon discover, those aren’t always accurate. I am the Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub,
the Prince of Darkness… well, the Princess of Darkness, anyway. While we’re at it, Lucifer Morningstar is
a comic book and TV show character, that’s not his real last name. Biblical characters didn’t really have last
names, that’s a relatively new thing. So Lucifer and his friends are all cast down
to Hell and become demons, there is no demonic hierarchy since they’re just fallen angels. They do choose Lucifer as their leader though,
which is also a new concept. Before Milton came along and changed the story,
Lucifer was a prisoner in hell, not the ruler of it. In Dante’s Inferno, he’s being punished
just like everyone else. Lucifer does have several lieutenants though,
if that counts as a hierarchy, including several people you probably know like Belial and Beelzebub. Beelzebub is a separate entity, not just another
name for Satan. After they regroup, they build the city of
Pandemonium and gather around to democratically debate what to do next. Imagine that, Hell is a democracy. You see, Milton lived during the time of Oliver
Cromwell and was an avid supporter of his Commonwealth government. Lucifer’s rebellion against the monarchy
of God is written as a good thing. Some of the options put on the table include
fighting again or building their own better Heaven, but then someone mentions rumors of
an entirely new creation they could corrupt. Perhaps they could enlist these new creatures
in the fight against God. It’s heavily implied that Lucifer is controlling
the democratic debate by feeding lines to his lieutenants. I am the Senate. They all vote for the third option, to corrupt
man, and then discuss who will do the actual corrupting. Lucifer heroically volunteers himself. He heads towards the gates of Hell, which
are guarded by his children Sin and Death, those aren’t just their names, they are
the actual embodiments of sin and death. They were born through a weird incest and
I’m sure there’s a Rule 34 about it somewhere. When Sin and Death open the gates to let Lucifer
out, they find that they can’t close them again. This was the first time they’d ever been
opened and now they’re stuck that way. Lucifer disguises himself as a cherub and
asks the Archangel Uriel for directions to the new creation so he can see it for himself. The concept of lying hasn’t been invented
yet, so Uriel just tells him everything. Lucifer arrives in the garden and upon seeing
how beautiful it is, starts to wonder if he could be redeemed and get back into God’s
good graces. But he has too much of the north in him now
and he decides that he will not kneel. He stalks Adam and Eve for a while to figure
how these creatures work and how to corrupt them. He notices that the woman is smaller and weaker
and she’s probably his best bet. Then, he hears them talking about their one
and only rule – to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge. And there you go, now he has his plan. He spends the night whispering into her ear
so she has a dream about how awesome it would be to eat from the tree and be among the angels. Eve wakes up and tells Adam about her crazy
dream. About how an angel told her it would be okay
to eat from the tree and it wouldn’t result in death – whatever that is. Remember, they don’t know what anything
is yet. We cut to God who sees all of this happening
and knows that man will give into temptation. And he just lets it happen, saying man is
free to fall. Jesus asks if there’s any way man can be
redeemed, and God says yes, but… someone will have to pay for it. Who pays for it? You… you don’t know? No, I haven’t read this one. Uh, well, I don’t wanna spoil anything for
you Jesus, so I’m just gonna leave it there. Suffice it to say, someone heroically volunteers. Ooo, that sounds exciting. Yeah… so God also sends Archangel Raphael
to warn Adam about Satan and remind him of his free will. Specifically so Adam can’t plead ignorance. Every scene of Adam and Eve just has them
talking about how awesome God is, how much they love each other, and how they’re not
supposed to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Which makes sense, right? What else are they going to talk about? Hey, I saw a deer do a thing today… and
uh… I think I discovered a new color… It’s not like they can gossip or have any
common interests – nothing exists yet. When Raphael comes to warn Adam, he also recounts
the entire story of the rebellion and creation in much more detail than the Book of Genesis. Then he just starts answering Adam’s random
questions. Adam says that according to his observations
of the stars, it looks like the Earth goes around the Sun, Raphael says it only looks
that way because the Earth is spinning. Galileo was only 20 or 30 years before this. Having Raphael say “I don’t know about
that heliocentrism thing” is Milton’s way of voicing his own doubts about the at-the-time
current scientific debate. Milton throws a lot of his other views into
this conversation as well. Adam asks if there is life on the other planets,
to which Raphael says to let God worry about that. Worry about yourself! Worry about yourself! Can’t you just be happy with the one Paradise? Raphael also talks about how Eve is pretty
and nice to look at, but is less intelligent, less pure, and has an inferior spirituality. There’s that 17th Century misogyny for you. The next day, Adam and Eve have a ton of work
to do in the garden, I’m not entirely sure what “work” they have to do, but Eve suggests
that they’d get it done faster if they work separately. They were just warned that Satan was coming. But Eve thinks she can handle it and looks
forward to proving her faith, so against his better judgment, Adam let’s the woman go
off to work independently. Gee, I wonder what message Milton was sending
with that. Lucifer sees this as his opportunity and physically
climbs into a snake’s mouth to possess it. They know he’s coming now so he needed a
disguise. In Genesis, the serpent is just a serpent,
just like any other animal God created. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of
the wild animals the Lord God had made. The idea that the serpent is Satan didn’t
come along until centuries later. Milton didn’t come up with the idea, but
he certainly helped solidify it. Anyway, he goes over to Eve and starts flattering
her with how beautiful she is, saying she belongs among the angels in the clouds, not
here on Earth. Satan is a smooth operator. Eve is shocked that there’s a talking snake
telling her how beautiful she is and asks how he came to talk – where did he learn
this power? Not from a jedi. By eating from the Tree of Knowledge, of course. If that fruit can raise a beast to the level
of man, imagine what it could do for you, you would be of God. But they were told if they ate from the tree
they’d die. Obviously that’s not true, because the snake
is alive, she never actually sees him actually eat it but she takes his word for it. Besides, God wants you to do it. He wants you to show your independence, why
would he create the tree if he doesn’t want you to partake? This is a test. If it grants knowledge of good and evil, think
of how much easier it would be to shun evil if you actually know what it is. This starts making a disturbing amount of
sense to Eve. And it’s awfully reminiscent of your typical
adolescent peer pressure – your parents were lying to you, it’s not dangerous. It’ll expand your mind. Eve gives in and her first thought is maybe
she shouldn’t tell Adam so she can remain intellectually superior… but then she realizes
she can be replaced. And according to some, she’s already a replacement. In Genesis chapter one, he creates man and
woman at the same time… So God created mankind in his own image, in
the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. But then in chapter two, it’s just Adam,
alone, and then God creates Eve. The Lord God said, “It is not good for the
man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground
all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into
a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib
he had taken out of the man. Am I missing a chapter? Why did he have to create a second one if
he already created both of them? According to some, that first woman was actually
named Lilith and since she was created equal to man, she wasn’t obedient enough and she
was banished. So Eve was created from Adam in order to be
subservient. Eve knows she could just as easily be replaced
and decides that Adam will eat too so that they share the same fate. Whether that be in bliss or woe. She goes to Adam, says she ate and didn’t
die, God lied to them and now her eyes are open. Eat up. So he does, then they look at each other with
lust and have the most epic naughty time to have ever happened. Sounds like that apple was laced with something
if you ask me. They wake up the next morning with a colossal
hangover and immediately start arguing with each other over who’s at fault for their
current misery. Adam blames Eve, of course. But then Eve reminds him that she came from
him, she is his to command, and he let her go off to work alone. He should have known this was going to happen. Satan, confident in his success, returns to
Hell to find that Sin and Death have created a bridge between Hell and Earth while he was
away. Sin and Death are now free to wreak havoc
in the world. God senses that man has fallen and tells the
angels that it’s not their fault, they couldn’t have prevented this, he gave humanity free
will and individual choice. And now they must take personal responsibility
for their actions. If those buzzwords sound familiar, remember
that this is the 1600s, capitalism and free markets were a fairly new idea. And it would seem Milton was somewhat of a
fan. God, through Jesus, finds Adam and Eve in
the garden and asks them why they disobeyed his one and only rule. Adam immediately throws Eve under the bus. Which makes God furious, he created women
to be subservient to men, why on Earth would you listen to a woman? Eve then blames the serpent. God doesn’t question why a woman would listen
to a serpent, he just punishes the serpent. So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because
you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will
eat dust all the days of your life.” So that’s why snakes don’t have legs. He also mentions that Adam and Eve’s children
will crush the head of the serpent. A prophecy later known as the Protevangelium,
that Jesus will eventually defeat Satan. Then God punishes Eve, cursing her to have
painful childbirth and to always submit to male dominance. That part’s in here, pretty much word for
word. God then sows discord between man and beast,
man will have to hunt and till the soil for food, which is also cursed to grow thorns
and thistles. Adam got off light, if you ask me. And now that Sin and Death are in the world,
they will grow old and die and be tempted to stray from God’s divine grace the entire
time. And lastly, God tilts the Earth on its axis,
creating seasons to make life just that much more difficult. Adam and Eve discuss what to do about this
eternal punishment, since it sure sounds awful. They briefly contemplate suicide, but no. Eve proposes a life of celibacy, so that their
children will not be likewise cursed. And maybe because painful childbirth doesn’t
sound that fun. But Adam rejects that idea, because if they
don’t have children, nobody will ever defeat Satan, they must have children to fulfill
the prophecy. So they decide to just live with their punishment. But then God remembers that there’s another
tree in the Garden of Eden – the Tree of Life, which grants immortality. Protecting that is why they were banished. Painful childbirth and tilling the soil was
punishment for disobeying God’s command, preventing them from eating from the Tree
of Life was why they were kicked out. At least according to Milton… and the Book
of Genesis. And the Lord God said, “The man has now
become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand
and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” Wait… us? Who’s us in this context? He’s not talking about other angels, he’s
talking about other gods. Here’s where I’m going to start losing
some people… as if I hadn’t already. There are other gods in the bible. There are at least two dozen named gods in
this book – specifically the Old Testament. God, capital G, is only the god of the Hebrews. Everyone else has their own gods and they
are free to worship them as they please, the Hebrews weren’t trying to convert anyone. God is the most powerful, but he isn’t the
one and only. In the Book of Exodus, he says that he is
a jealous god and that you should have no other gods before him. It’s even one of the commandments. When Moses- when Aaron threw down his staff
and it turned into a snake, the Pharaoh’s sorcerers did the same. Who do you think turned the other staffs into
snakes? In some cases, those other gods were absorbed
into Judaism and Christianity as angels or demons. Take Ba’al, for example. He appears in the first Book of Kings as a
lesser, puny god, but is then absorbed over time as Beelzebub. One of Satan’s lieutenants. Satan is likewise a borrowed concept, is he
a fallen angel, or a demon, or… is he a lesser god? In the Old Testament, he’s just “the adversary.” It wasn’t until Christianity came around
that God became the one and only. And Satan became his somewhat equal and opposite. Zoroastrianism was a religion that existed
alongside Judaism for centuries but eventually faded away as Christianity took over. It was a dualistic religion. It’s defining characteristic was that there
were two equal and opposite forces in the universe, one good and one evil, and they
were constantly battling over humanity and creation. Sound familiar? Zoroastrianism is no longer a major religion
because they were told “Yeah, you were right about the dualistic nature of the universe,
you just got the names wrong.” It’s God versus Satan. In Christianity, Satan isn’t viewed as a
god, but he is the opposing evil force to God’s good. Milton proposes that God allows Satan to exist. Suggesting that Satan has some ultimate purpose
in God’s divine plan and that his evil is necessary to fulfill that goal. Just as Skillshare can serve a purpose in
fulfilling your goals, by going to skl.sh/knowingbetter8. Skillshare is an online learning community
with over 25,000 courses taught by principalities in their field. Take this course in how to write character-driven
short stories so you can create your own tragic backstory for formerly evil villains. Or this course in how to write humor for the
internet… I should probably take that one, honestly. You can learn this and much more for less
than $10 a month. But if you head over to skl.sh/knowingbetter8,
you can get 2 months of unlimited access to all of Skillshare’s courses for free, you’ll
also be supporting the channel when you do. When Adam and Eve are leaving Paradise, the
Archangel Michael shows him a vision of the future. From the first murder, to the Ark, to the
present day. Adam worries that the followers of Jesus will
be persecuted. Michael says they will be. Adam worries that corrupt politicians will
enter and control the church. Michael says they will. Milton lived during a time of political and
religious turmoil, monarchies were falling to revolution and churches were fracturing
left and right, so he put that in his story. Milton has been described as both a Calvinist
and a Puritan. And his protestant reimagining of the creation
story has shaped how most of us remember it today. Along with our views on democracy, women,
and Satan. Many people today don’t see him as the embodiment
of pure evil, but as a misunderstood jealous son who has a place in the grand plan. It’s up to you to decide what he represents. And I suppose that’s the point of this book,
you’re supposed to take these stories and apply them to your own life in whatever way
suits you. But at least get the stories right. Try to credit the right person for performing
miracles and stop saying it was an apple, because now you know better. I’d like to give a shout out to my newest
Golden Fork patron, Jon. If you’d like to add your name to this list
of Powers and Virtues, head on over to patreon.com/knowingbetter. Don’t forget to tempt that subscribe button,
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