Genesis 2:8-9, 2:15-17 (NIV)
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 2:25-3:7 (NIV)
25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
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.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 2:25-3:7 (NIV)
25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
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.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Reflection
Those folks who told the Genesis stories, long before they were ever written down had some of the same questions we have: How did we come to be here, on this earth, under this sky, beside this ocean? Why do we have to work so hard? Why do women suffer so in childbirth? Why do people , even brothers, hurt and even kill each other? Why do we want especially when it is prohibited and forbidden to us.
So Genesis is mainly a compilation of two traditions; one called Elohim and the other written as YHWH or Yod Heh Waw Heh in Hebrew – we add a couple of vowels and say Yahweh but for the Jews the name is so sacred that it is only pronounced as Adoni or Lord. There are two other interests whose writings and editing enters into the Torah or the first five books of the Old Testament; they are the Priests and the Deuteronomists. So sometimes we have two different stories of the same event such as in the creation of human beings: in Genesis 1 male and female are formed in the image of God at the same time and in the other Adam is formed from the dust and God breaths life into him, then God
forms woman from one of his ribs. The story of the Garden of Eden is one of those stories that tries to answer questions. Why is there suffering in the world. Why is there good and evil if the God of creation is good? And most Jews and early Christians would say that God and creation are good. Right there in Genesis 1 we hear seven times that “God saw it was good”.
And after creating Adam and Eve we get to the Garden of Eden. What is that all about? Why put a tree there if you don’t want anyone to touch it or even look at it, Eve looked at it and thought is was quite beautiful. So God dangles the forbidden fruit; and the serpent comes along and says: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” And the woman replies “Oh Yes that’s what he said, Adam told me, we can eat from every other tree but that one – touch it – and you die!”
Now I don’t know how the serpent knew and I really don’t know why it was so interested but the serpent is like all those friends your mother warned you against, and you warned your kids about. And, I guess, Eve has another look at the tree, it looked – so tempting and delicious and there was the added bonus of wisdom of good and evil, that seemed pretty important stuff to know.
So she takes a bite, it taste good she offers it to Adam who also ate and by the way did not try to dissuade her.
So this story got me thinking not about sin but desire and free will. But as an important aside sin and the Garden incident or Gardengate does become a very discussed and debated issue in the Church in the fourth and fifth centuries. And because Christianity was by then the religion of the Roman Empire politics both in and outside of the Church were interested parties. On one side you had the Church Father St. Augustine of Hippo in what we call Algeria today. On the other people like Chyrsostom , Pelagius and Julian of Eclanum in Italy.
Augustine was an angst driven man to rival a modern day Nietzsche, who based on his own life and experience steered the church toward the idea od a universal guilt that could only be mediated by a strong church authority and an even stronger state. We have inherited this idea that we are a fallen sinful people even if we don’t adhere to these ideas as individuals and many churches still preach this message that only through baptism or a profession of faith or a conversion experience can one be saved.
For most, if not all early Christians, even if they did believe the Adam-Eve-serpent story, they understood that through baptism the sinful nature of the individual (themselves) was washed away and you became a new person in Christ.
The other component of the argument focused on the matter of free will. As the Jews and the early church read the story Adam and Eve freely chose to eat the fruit of the tree, and we see Eve considering what she and Adam are doing…the tree and its fruit is delightful, the wisdom of good and evil is tempting if it will make you like God, - it is a choice they make even if they are cajoled a little by that wily snake. The listeners and readers of the story would clearly understand: we get to choose what we do or don’t do.
It might be prohibited but attractive, it might be really tempting and our hands reach to touch such beauty and we might take it and eat it and enjoy the taste and texture and encourage others to eat as well just because it is so enjoyable – and then , well, sometimes you get thrown out of the garden and get to wear fig leaves and your eyes are opened to the world. And as the Garden of Eden story makes clear you can’t go back again.
Once your eyes have been opened - you see, and only by disavowing what you know you know, can you pretend you don’t know it. In psychoanalytic terms we repress or suppress the knowledge; neither of which is good for our mental health.
In Judaism and early Christianity free will is really important because it is free will, that allows Christians to be Christians even in the face of a persecution. The martyrs, beginning with Stephen, chose to declare themselves as followers of Jesus and later as Christians in spite of horrendous and fatal outcomes.
But Augustine is writing after Christianity becomes the religion of the emperor and therefore the empire and he doesn’t really have to contend with being stoned, crucified, or torn apart by wild beasts for the amusement of a cheering crowd. He wants people whose sinful nature, as he saw it, was unleashed at conception, to come under the authority of the church, as a safeguard because they cannot control themselves. He understands himself and therefore by extension everyone else as helpless when confronting baser wants which he equates with sexual desire.
Free will, or so earlier Christians thought gave them a choice: their allegiance was to God and Christ first; outside of the empire. Whereas, the empire wanted subjects who knew their place and whose allegiance was to empire first. None of this sell all you have and give it to the poor or hold it in common or equality between slaves and free, men and women, rich or poor. The empire liked everything in its place and everyone in their place. their goal was stability and peace at any cost.
When Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire in 315 CE the state gained a measure of influence within the church. As the church and its bishops accrued gifts of land, money, tax exemption and a privileged status within the state, the western Church was completely changed. This set the course for the Church for the next 1200 or so years.
By the way Augustine won, as the Roman Catholic Church, and later Protestant and Evangelical churches inherited his reading of the Garden of Eden. The prohibited fruit becomes not only the knowledge of good and evil and a loss of innocence
but a tainting of all future humanity with an original sin (usually interpreted because of Augustine as sexuality transmitted through procreation).
So back to desire because that’s the big idea. A prohibition that ignites desire – the very thing I can’t have- I want! We see how it happens so clearly in children but it works the same way in us.
Show me something shiny and new and that promises to make my life easier and better, more fun. Show me something that promises to heal all my aches and pains and bring my body back to when I was thirty, heal all my hurts, take away all my scars, and make me happy, my life fulfilled, my family loving – and I will desire it. See that shiny fruit hanging on the tree, I don’t need a serpent – I want it!
Now the free will comes in; or evidence of free will, I get to choose: Do I really want it? Will it really make me happier, smarter, richer? or can I pass? Can I be glad when my neighbour gets something I don’t have or a better one than I do have? Desire.
What if it is a question of moral right and wrong. which do I choose? Do I strike out in anger because I am afraid? Am I ruthless because I refuse to see the need all around me? Do I lie, steal, or commit adultery because I want what I want. Desire
The bible is full of these kinds of stories. Abraham tells the Pharaoh in Egypt and later King Abimelech of Gerar that his wife Sarah is his sister. Jacob steals Esau’s birthright. David desires Bathsheba, the wife of his friend Uriah the Hittite, and after sleeping with her plans Uriah’s death on the battlefield.
Some of which I will never figure out except that I sometimes get a glimpse of God at work in these stories of fallen, broken people, who are picked up by God, they repent and are blessed in their redemption. And our couple from the garden well in Genesis 3: 21 “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” So God still takes care of them, protecting them leaving me to believe that this knowledge of good and evil is not a fall from grace but a falling into it.
This week I was watching a TV show; maybe the Resident, in which one of the doctors proclaims himself to be “a righteous man”.
I admire the statement and the surety with which it was said- I guess it helps to be an actor. But I admire the statement. I would be proud if more people would stand and say: “I am a righteous person”…but maybe he just meant
“Today I am a righteous man”
“Today, I made the right choices;
today, my moral compass was set true;
today, I truly saw because my eyes have been opened;
today, I tasted the fruit of the tree.
Our world is one in which good and evil exist but I am confident that we are capable of discerning right from wrong even when the situations we face are complicated and complex.
Mostly I am just grateful that the God who pronounced on creation “And it is good” seven times is the same God, who after ousting Adam and Eve from the garden, did not abandon them but made sure that they were warm.
So that, even when we fail to do the good, God is with us. God cares about and for us. We are not alone.
Amen
Those folks who told the Genesis stories, long before they were ever written down had some of the same questions we have: How did we come to be here, on this earth, under this sky, beside this ocean? Why do we have to work so hard? Why do women suffer so in childbirth? Why do people , even brothers, hurt and even kill each other? Why do we want especially when it is prohibited and forbidden to us.
So Genesis is mainly a compilation of two traditions; one called Elohim and the other written as YHWH or Yod Heh Waw Heh in Hebrew – we add a couple of vowels and say Yahweh but for the Jews the name is so sacred that it is only pronounced as Adoni or Lord. There are two other interests whose writings and editing enters into the Torah or the first five books of the Old Testament; they are the Priests and the Deuteronomists. So sometimes we have two different stories of the same event such as in the creation of human beings: in Genesis 1 male and female are formed in the image of God at the same time and in the other Adam is formed from the dust and God breaths life into him, then God
forms woman from one of his ribs. The story of the Garden of Eden is one of those stories that tries to answer questions. Why is there suffering in the world. Why is there good and evil if the God of creation is good? And most Jews and early Christians would say that God and creation are good. Right there in Genesis 1 we hear seven times that “God saw it was good”.
And after creating Adam and Eve we get to the Garden of Eden. What is that all about? Why put a tree there if you don’t want anyone to touch it or even look at it, Eve looked at it and thought is was quite beautiful. So God dangles the forbidden fruit; and the serpent comes along and says: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” And the woman replies “Oh Yes that’s what he said, Adam told me, we can eat from every other tree but that one – touch it – and you die!”
Now I don’t know how the serpent knew and I really don’t know why it was so interested but the serpent is like all those friends your mother warned you against, and you warned your kids about. And, I guess, Eve has another look at the tree, it looked – so tempting and delicious and there was the added bonus of wisdom of good and evil, that seemed pretty important stuff to know.
So she takes a bite, it taste good she offers it to Adam who also ate and by the way did not try to dissuade her.
So this story got me thinking not about sin but desire and free will. But as an important aside sin and the Garden incident or Gardengate does become a very discussed and debated issue in the Church in the fourth and fifth centuries. And because Christianity was by then the religion of the Roman Empire politics both in and outside of the Church were interested parties. On one side you had the Church Father St. Augustine of Hippo in what we call Algeria today. On the other people like Chyrsostom , Pelagius and Julian of Eclanum in Italy.
Augustine was an angst driven man to rival a modern day Nietzsche, who based on his own life and experience steered the church toward the idea od a universal guilt that could only be mediated by a strong church authority and an even stronger state. We have inherited this idea that we are a fallen sinful people even if we don’t adhere to these ideas as individuals and many churches still preach this message that only through baptism or a profession of faith or a conversion experience can one be saved.
For most, if not all early Christians, even if they did believe the Adam-Eve-serpent story, they understood that through baptism the sinful nature of the individual (themselves) was washed away and you became a new person in Christ.
The other component of the argument focused on the matter of free will. As the Jews and the early church read the story Adam and Eve freely chose to eat the fruit of the tree, and we see Eve considering what she and Adam are doing…the tree and its fruit is delightful, the wisdom of good and evil is tempting if it will make you like God, - it is a choice they make even if they are cajoled a little by that wily snake. The listeners and readers of the story would clearly understand: we get to choose what we do or don’t do.
It might be prohibited but attractive, it might be really tempting and our hands reach to touch such beauty and we might take it and eat it and enjoy the taste and texture and encourage others to eat as well just because it is so enjoyable – and then , well, sometimes you get thrown out of the garden and get to wear fig leaves and your eyes are opened to the world. And as the Garden of Eden story makes clear you can’t go back again.
Once your eyes have been opened - you see, and only by disavowing what you know you know, can you pretend you don’t know it. In psychoanalytic terms we repress or suppress the knowledge; neither of which is good for our mental health.
In Judaism and early Christianity free will is really important because it is free will, that allows Christians to be Christians even in the face of a persecution. The martyrs, beginning with Stephen, chose to declare themselves as followers of Jesus and later as Christians in spite of horrendous and fatal outcomes.
But Augustine is writing after Christianity becomes the religion of the emperor and therefore the empire and he doesn’t really have to contend with being stoned, crucified, or torn apart by wild beasts for the amusement of a cheering crowd. He wants people whose sinful nature, as he saw it, was unleashed at conception, to come under the authority of the church, as a safeguard because they cannot control themselves. He understands himself and therefore by extension everyone else as helpless when confronting baser wants which he equates with sexual desire.
Free will, or so earlier Christians thought gave them a choice: their allegiance was to God and Christ first; outside of the empire. Whereas, the empire wanted subjects who knew their place and whose allegiance was to empire first. None of this sell all you have and give it to the poor or hold it in common or equality between slaves and free, men and women, rich or poor. The empire liked everything in its place and everyone in their place. their goal was stability and peace at any cost.
When Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire in 315 CE the state gained a measure of influence within the church. As the church and its bishops accrued gifts of land, money, tax exemption and a privileged status within the state, the western Church was completely changed. This set the course for the Church for the next 1200 or so years.
By the way Augustine won, as the Roman Catholic Church, and later Protestant and Evangelical churches inherited his reading of the Garden of Eden. The prohibited fruit becomes not only the knowledge of good and evil and a loss of innocence
but a tainting of all future humanity with an original sin (usually interpreted because of Augustine as sexuality transmitted through procreation).
So back to desire because that’s the big idea. A prohibition that ignites desire – the very thing I can’t have- I want! We see how it happens so clearly in children but it works the same way in us.
Show me something shiny and new and that promises to make my life easier and better, more fun. Show me something that promises to heal all my aches and pains and bring my body back to when I was thirty, heal all my hurts, take away all my scars, and make me happy, my life fulfilled, my family loving – and I will desire it. See that shiny fruit hanging on the tree, I don’t need a serpent – I want it!
Now the free will comes in; or evidence of free will, I get to choose: Do I really want it? Will it really make me happier, smarter, richer? or can I pass? Can I be glad when my neighbour gets something I don’t have or a better one than I do have? Desire.
What if it is a question of moral right and wrong. which do I choose? Do I strike out in anger because I am afraid? Am I ruthless because I refuse to see the need all around me? Do I lie, steal, or commit adultery because I want what I want. Desire
The bible is full of these kinds of stories. Abraham tells the Pharaoh in Egypt and later King Abimelech of Gerar that his wife Sarah is his sister. Jacob steals Esau’s birthright. David desires Bathsheba, the wife of his friend Uriah the Hittite, and after sleeping with her plans Uriah’s death on the battlefield.
Some of which I will never figure out except that I sometimes get a glimpse of God at work in these stories of fallen, broken people, who are picked up by God, they repent and are blessed in their redemption. And our couple from the garden well in Genesis 3: 21 “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” So God still takes care of them, protecting them leaving me to believe that this knowledge of good and evil is not a fall from grace but a falling into it.
This week I was watching a TV show; maybe the Resident, in which one of the doctors proclaims himself to be “a righteous man”.
I admire the statement and the surety with which it was said- I guess it helps to be an actor. But I admire the statement. I would be proud if more people would stand and say: “I am a righteous person”…but maybe he just meant
“Today I am a righteous man”
“Today, I made the right choices;
today, my moral compass was set true;
today, I truly saw because my eyes have been opened;
today, I tasted the fruit of the tree.
Our world is one in which good and evil exist but I am confident that we are capable of discerning right from wrong even when the situations we face are complicated and complex.
Mostly I am just grateful that the God who pronounced on creation “And it is good” seven times is the same God, who after ousting Adam and Eve from the garden, did not abandon them but made sure that they were warm.
So that, even when we fail to do the good, God is with us. God cares about and for us. We are not alone.
Amen
