Monday, September 12, 2011

Week End Musings

We're doing a study of Genesis in our Sunday School class and being one of the teachers caused me to search the basics of the beginning of mankind again. I've grown up with this moving story but discovered that the bits and pieces tend to get a little foggy between truth and imagination. I want to share with you what I've learned.

The Misconceptions
No where in scripture do we find the fruit was an apple - it was merely a fruit.
Eve (life-giver) was given her name after God cast them out (Gen 3:20) - she was Woman (taken out of man).
The command to not eat of 'the tree of knowledge of good and evil' was given to Adam before Woman was created, giving the responsibility to Adam alone. Yet Adam, standing by Women (Eve), remained silent.

The Garden
It was a beautiful place with perfect harmony between God, Adam And Woman. The Garden had two important trees...the tree of life and the tree of  knowlege of good and evil. They could eat of every tree but the tree of knowlege of good and evil.

The Temptation
  • this beautiful, crafty creature isolted and spoke to Eve, not Adam.
  • they had no chance to strengthen each other to choose good.
  • he cast doubt on God's motive.
  • he contradicted God.
  • he focused Eve's attention on desirable ends or 'situation ethics.'
  • Satan proposed a mixed good as the end, 'You will become like gods, knowing good from evil.'
  • he relied on the appeal of the senses.
Death Came

It's important to understand this death was more than an end to life.
  • it's a terrible distortion of divine order.
  • it involves a warping of human personality and a twisting of relationships.
  • it alienates us from God.
Effects of Death
  • the sudden flush of shame as they recognized their nakedness.
  • their flight from God
  • Adam's refusal to accept responsibilty
  • judgement on the earth for man's sake
  • most of all, we see death in the anger of Cain, whose bitterness led him to murder his own brother.
The Recovery of Hope
  •  God seeks out the sinning pair
  • He clothes the naked pair
  • God promoses an Offspring of the woman who would destroy the serpent
Yes, Paradise is lost! How well we know, for you and I recognize the taste of that fruit in our mouth's every day. But - we will eat of the tree of life again...read Revelation 22:2!

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Though the rains are past, there are still many people who are in clean up from Tropical Lee. The weather predictions for the upcoming week promises lots of sunshine and cooler weather...yea!  

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good Thoughts. According to this passage, the woman clearly knew that she was not permitted to eat of the Tree. Later when she was confronted by God, she blamed it on the serpent. God never rebukes Adam for allowing Eve to eat of it. It was after the fall that God tells Eve that her husband would rule over her. He was not responsible for her before the fall.

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

fleurcottage said...

good thoughts! authority was introduced after the fall - it's interesting to think about why the crafty creature choose woman over man to speak to. thanks for sharing!

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