The God Culture: Romeo and Juliet is the Story of Adam and Eve

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has found a new champion in David Whited of Flyover Conservatives. David is so enamored with Tim that he calls him "a phenomenal teacher, a kind of a renaissance man, a biblical scholar, a researcher, an entrepreneur" which is all quite hilarious. Tim is first and foremost an adman who graduated with a marketing degree and is far from being a Bible scholar. If you have read this series about The God Culture you know it is abundantly evident that Tim is no researcher as he fudges some information and ignores other information detrimental to his cause. It goes without saying that "a phenomenal teacher" does not shut down discussion by calling people names, blocking them, and ignoring criticism. 

In this second interview with David Whited Tim gives his same presentation stating the same ridiculous lies as are contained in his videos and books. However, he says two things that are interesting. First he gives his opinion about Shakespeare claiming he lifted Romeo and Juliet from the Bible. 

https://flyover.live/e/shocking-facts-about-the-largest-structure-ever-built-by-man-ep-40

8:21 And, you know, even Shakespeare, he borrowed from Adam and Eve. What's Romeo and Juliet? It's the story of Adam and Eve. In the physical, of course, they died spiritually, but still, at the same point, you know, they both ate of the fruit and they both died, tragedy, you know, in that sense. So, yeah.

Historically this is totally wrong. While Shakespeare liberally borrowed from many sources for his plays Romeo and Juliet is NOT an adaptation of the story of Adam and Eve. 

Romeo and Juliet borrows from a tradition of tragic love stories dating back to antiquity. One of these is Pyramus and Thisbe, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, which contains parallels to Shakespeare's story: the lovers' parents despise each other, and Pyramus falsely believes his lover Thisbe is dead. The Ephesiaca of Xenophon of Ephesus, written in the 3rd century, also contains several similarities to the play, including the separation of the lovers, and a potion that induces a deathlike sleep.

The earliest known version of the Romeo and Juliet tale akin to Shakespeare's play is the story of Mariotto and Ganozza by Masuccio Salernitano, in the 33rd novel of his Il Novellino published in 1476. Salernitano sets the story in Siena and insists its events took place in his own lifetime. His version of the story includes the secret marriage, the colluding friar, the fray where a prominent citizen is killed, Mariotto's exile, Ganozza's forced marriage, the potion plot, and the crucial message that goes astray. In this version, Mariotto is caught and beheaded and Ganozza dies of grief. 

Luigi da Porto (1485–1529) adapted the story as Giulietta e Romeo and included it in his Historia novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti (A Newly-Discovered History of two Noble Lovers), written in 1524 and published posthumously in 1531 in Venice.

In his 1562 narrative poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet, Arthur Brooke translated Boaistuau faithfully but adjusted it to reflect parts of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. There was a trend among writers and playwrights to publish works based on Italian novelle—Italian tales were very popular among theatre-goers—and Shakespeare may well have been familiar with William Painter's 1567 collection of Italian tales titled Palace of Pleasure. This collection included a version in prose of the Romeo and Juliet story named "The goodly History of the true and constant love of Romeo and Juliett". Shakespeare took advantage of this popularity: The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, and Romeo and Juliet are all from Italian novelle. Romeo and Juliet is a dramatization of Brooke's translation, and Shakespeare follows the poem closely but adds detail to several major and minor characters (the Nurse and Mercutio in particular).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet#Sources

It is not surprising that Tim is ignorant of Shakepseaere's sources for Romeo and Juliet. His remarks about Dante's Divine Comedy being a mockery of the Book of Enoch shows that he is not familiar with literature.

"And Dante creates a fictional version of himself." Who, who's he copying here? Think about it."Who travels through the furthest reaches of hell, inferno, purgatory, purgatorio and paradise, paradiso. Uh, what is Dante doing? Well he's replacing and mocking Enoch's journey with his own. What an idiot. And the church bought it because they prefer the occult view over that of the Bible. That's fact. Dante did not make up anything really though. He just replaced Enoch with an occult view of himself of course, uh, and that's really it. I mean the guy's an idiot. He, he didn't do anything, okay? Maybe his poem, you know, maybe it rhymes well. I don't know but whatever it does or doesn't do, whether it is a masterpiece of sort, what makes it of such importance is it's a linchpin in time in infusing the occult into the church. Oh, good job there buddy.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-god-culture-big-mistakes-where-do.html

As silly as this remark is what is important to note is WHY Tim thinks Shakespeare adapted Adam and Eve into Romeo and Juliet:

they both ate of the fruit and they both died 

That is not true either because Romeo drank poison and Juliet stabbed herself but I digress. Tim sees a man and a woman in love and dying together. Adam and Eve were a man and a woman who died together after they ate from the tree. Ergo Romeo and Juliet is Adam and Eve. In his book Rest: The Case for Sabbath Tim writes:

“Many assume Adam was evil and there is no evidence he ever sinned after he was tricked in the Garden. He made the conscious decision to willfully sin no doubt. However, Adam only ate the fruit after he saw the love of his life do so. He knew she would fall and no longer be with him if so. His eating the fruit is the greatest love story.” 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-god-culture-rest-case-for-sabbath.html

The fall of man is not a tragedy plunging all of humanity into the bondage of sin, death, and the devil but "the greatest love story." Incredible.

This kind of exegesis permeates Tim's teaching. 

For instance his teaching about the fruit of the tree of knowledge and evil. He believes an old Filipino tale mentions that fruit because it is about a fruit that is poisonous.

Lanzones appears to be the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Enoch's description as it is a perfect fit in every way. Could there be such a history that Lanzones could be poison?

Lanzones originates in the Tagalog word Lason for "poison to morals or mind." This is perfectly fitting an very similar to the Hebrew "Lashon" which denotes essentially a poison tongue in some applications and even a golden wedge or bar in others tying to Ophir and Havilah. To the right, you will notice insets of the Carob and Lanzones Trees. Notice the leaves and branches revery similar as Enoch recorded. The Lanzones fruit certainly appears as grapes growing on a tree as described.

According to this oral legend passed through generations in Laguna, Lanzones was once known to be poison. Where might a legend like that derive? The Book of Enoch yet again? An angel removed the poison and the tree was good to eat after that. Of course, this is a legend and there is no need to verify the story as much as we realize, legends like this usually have some sort of basis in ancient events many times. In this case, this happens to match what Enoch was describing in the Book of Enoch. Thus, we believe there is a connection.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-god-culture-stuff-god-culture.html

One thing is like another therefore it is that thing. Never mind the fact that God did not prohibit Adam and Eve from eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because it was poisonous. Enoch says the fruit of the tree looks like grapes, lanzones look like grapes, and there is a legend that an angel removed the poison from the fruit making it good to eat. Ergo, the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is lanzones.

Tim is most guilty of this kind of reasoning when comparing Hebrew with Tagalog. Here is Tim's definition of the Philippine place-name Samar.

...Samar likely named for Samaria.

Samar Island:

Hebrew name: סָמַר he/it bristled. Past Tense 

Bristled in English: 

1 (of hair or fur) stand upright away from the skin, as a sign of anger or fear. 2 react angrily or defensively. 3 (bristle with) be covered with or abundant in 

Our Interpretation: Standing Upright in Righteous Anger in Abundance

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-god-culture-search-for-king.html

It is important to never forget Tim says:

5:06 We are not linguists nor do we care to be

Lost Tribes Series Part 2F: Decoding the Butuan Ivory Seal - Evidence

The second interesting thing Tim says is related to his belief in the truth of the Bible. 

8:21 So look, I get it, many of us grew up in churches. I come from a Bible background since I was five years old. I get it. And I used to just not really pay attention to the Old Testament, because in my mind, I found a lot of these things, like we're gonna cover right now, I found them to be unbelievable. I mean, how could they build a building that was three, four or five times as tall as the tallest building on earth? That's impossible, right?

1:22:19 So anyway, back to the book of Jubilees, there's so much here. Obviously, it gives us the detail of the Tower of Babel that now makes sense. For the first time in my life. I can read the Tower of Babel's story and believe it as it's written. Wow.

Tim says when he was younger he ignored the Old Testament because he found it, the story of the Tower of Babel specifically, to be unbelievable. But now he can believe that story "as it's written" because he has read the Book of Jubilees. And there's the rub, as Shakespeare's Hamlet says. Tim simply does not believe the Bible "as it's written." He needs the additional book of Jubilees.

Of course he will deflect by saying Jubilees is part of the Bible which has been censored by the Church and the Jews. It was found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls and that is the TRUE BIBLE CANON. He will say, with nothing to back up the claim, Genesis requires a second witness. That witness is Jubilees despite the fact it contradicts Genesis at many points. Is Tim unaware that in multiple instances both Old and New Testaments refer to Genesis? Jesus cited or referred to Genesis many times. Here is one example.

Matthew 19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

5:And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

Are the words of Jesus Christ not witness enough? Apparently not. 

We can definitely expect more interviews with Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture and David Whited of Flyover Conservatives. What crazy or revelatory thing will Tim say next? Stay tuned!