Who says any of these things are metaphorical to begin with. Your assumption precludes a literal interpretation that is not borne out by the text, or further references to it.
Why would God include/allow Satan in Paradise as a spoiler to innocence?..
I don't know.
Upon hearing "its raining cats and dogs" do you run to the window to see pets falling?..
Now you're being silly
There is much much more information in Genesis ch. 1-3 as a metaphor than the literal words(gross language) contain..
You're comparing apples and oranges here. Genesis, chapters two and three, center around Adam and Eve, therefore it deals with the human condition which can lend itself to allegorical arguments, since moral truths are the nature of such things. I don't agree with these arguments, but at least you have the framework in which to make the arguments.
Genesis, chapter one, does not in any way deal with the human condition, therefore, if it is allegorical, it must relate to a scientific truth, or a truth about the dynamics of nature and matter. Of these arguments, I have found none that have merit when taken in context with the whole of the text. That's just my opinion, and I've spoken on these particular arguments before. Sadly, most people don't even bother to engage me further, and simply ignore my argument.
Adam and Eve are just as real as a group metaphor symbolically as they would be if NOT a metaphor.... TO US...
All you're saying here is that it doesn't matter if Adam and Eve were real or not. I happen to disagree. Everything in the Bible, not the least of which is Christs redemption, follows from this one central event. If you consider that event to be fictitious....then what's the point really.
Look, I've said it before and I'll say it again. You either believe that the Bible is the word of God, or you don't. It's that simple.
This argument that God would create us as incapable of understanding his word is nonsense. How hard would it be for God to have conveyed the idea of great lengths of time, or that all creatures are related to each other. In fact, such a story probably would have made much more sense to the people of the time than some invisible being poofing everything into existence for no apparent reason.
Could be the Adam and Eve metaphor is a bootstrap to a much larger story Not Told.. i.e. what happened with the fall of the angels precipitating the need for humans..
Well, surely God has hidden some things from us, as Christ testifies, but they are not for the benefit of those that would call themselves wise....rather, it is to their detriment.
I've notice with the bible.. there is a graduation from the literal to the metaphorical content.. Two camps and those in transition.. Those addicted to the literal are weaker in faith and "vision".. Their God is weaker than the God that hides reality in metaphor.. Pure genius on Gods part, I think..
The literal interpreters generally think they have God locked into a contract and they have contractual rights.. metaphorical interpreters generally have given up all rights to God.. The Total Law(Statutes) vs. Total Grace.. Which is basically the parable(metaphor) of the talents lived out..
Most literalists I know quite literally miss most of the metaphor in the bible.. not all but most.. What do they miss?.. The most important ones.. That also is according to plan.. Pure genius..
Jesus spoke mostly in metaphor, the deciples wondered about that.. You cannot believe in something that you don't know.. Is Jesus(God)?.. then how does God speak?.. If you miss the metaphor you have missed the word of God.. therefore what you believe is not the word of God.. or a mere surface understanding..
Genesis ch 1 pertaining to this planet is not about creation it is about remodeling.. or recreation.. The (@hebrew)word translated as creation(ch 1) is really recreation or remodeling.. The earth was here already but was remodeled.. WHo says?.. A Hebrew scholar I know.. I believe him.. ugh! them!.. there are more than one convinced of this..
If true, and I believe it is true.. something could have happened to trash earth.. i.e. some kind of mischief of the fallen angels(Satan).. Genesis's abbreviated account of earths remodeling is also metaphorical.. After all who could understand what it would take to REMODEL A PLANET?..