Bob Dylan: Cooking Up More Mythologies (Part XV)

An index to the full “Cooking Up More Mythologies” series appears at the end of this article.

By Larry Fyffe

The dogma of ‘original sin’ is rooted in the following biblical verse:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world
And death by sin
And so death passed upon all men
For that all have sinned
(Romans 5:12)

Taken by many non-literalist Christian theologians to mean that Adam with Eve are representatives of humankind; they disobey God, and therefore they are cast out of Eden where they are now mortal.

That everybody thereafter gets stuck with Adam’s ‘orginal’ sin comes from an earlier translation:

“In whom all have sinned”

The Hebrew faith holds that’s Adam and Eve’s problem, and that though members of humankind may be tempted, they be not stamped with original guilt; they are not basically depraved from the get-go.

Satire abounds, it can be construed, in the double-edged song lyrics below:

Shake the dust off of your feet, don't look back
Nothing now can hold you down, nothing that you lack
Temptation's not an easy thing, Adam given the devil reign
Because he sinned I got no choice, it run in my vein
(Bob Dylan: Pressing On)

Mark Twain-like humour pops up again in the song lyrics below. Apparently, Christian authorities have Adam with Eve trapped there in Romans Five – Moses cries in vain:

Preacher was talking, there's a sermon he gave
He said every man's conscience is vile and depraved
You cannot depend on it to be your guide
When it's you who must keep it satisfied
It ain't easy to swallow, it sticks in your throat
She gave her heart to the man in the long black coat
(Bob Dylan: Man In The Long Black Coat)

The writer(s) of the “Gospel of John” really stick it to the Jews.

They’re no different than Christians. Jesus, the ‘Son of God’, is the only one who can save them all.

Accordingly, the Jews are forced to symbolically eat the body and drink blood of Jesus, the ‘Lamb of God’ at the Passover meal. Christ, it’s said, be crucified at the time of the feast.

Traditionally, blood-drained lamb, unleavened bread, and wine are served at the table just before the holiday week. In the other three Gospels, it’s said, Christ and His disciples have already consumed a supper.

As previously mentioned, seems that the the songwriter, in the the lyrics quoted next, notices the changes made to the story of the crucifixion:

Never could learn to drink that blood
And call it wine
Never could learn to hold you, love
And call you mine
(Tight Connection To My Heart)

All in all, rather mixed-up confusion.

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