Post by newnature on Apr 15, 2011 18:14:06 GMT -8
At that fateful moment, Adam and Eve are standing together at the tree, and although only the woman and the serpent speak, Adam was present, and it seems he accepted the fruit that his wife handed him. He was fully complicitous, and indeed, YHWH holds him responsible. YHWH reproaches Adam. Adam says: Well, Eve handed to me. She gave it to me. Eve explains, the serpent tricked me. YHWH vents his fury on all three, and he does so in ascending order: first the serpent for his trickery and then the woman, and finally the man. The doctrine of original sin, which is the idea that humans after Adam are born into a state of sin, by definition. The actions of Adam and Eve bring death to the human race, they don’t bring a state of utter and unredeemed sinfulness. In fact, humans have moral choice in each and every age. Adam and Eve after eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and bad, they also lose their harmonious relationship with nature. There had been a peaceful relationship between creatures and humans to that point. Humans are banished now from the Garden. It used to yield its fruits to them without any labor, but now humans have to toil for food and the earth yields its fruits only stintingly. The humans will learn that the concomitant of their freedom is responsibility. Their first act of defiance is punished harshly. So they learn, that the moral choices and actions of humans have consequences that have to be borne by the perpetrator. Evil is a product of human behavior, not a principal inherent in the cosmos; man’s disobedience is the cause of the human predicament. So knowledge or wisdom or perhaps moral freedom, seems to come at a very high price.
The disobedience happens in a rather backhanded way. It’s interesting, YHWH tells Adam before the creation of Eve that he’s not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, lest you die. Eve doesn’t hear this command directly, she hasn’t been created. Then we meet the cunning serpent, and although many will identify the serpent as Satan, an enticer, a tempter, some sort of evil creature, the serpent doesn’t seem to be so. The serpent in Eden is simply a talking animal.
Adam and Eve after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and bad are like YHWH; they have become wise in that they have learned they have moral choice. They have free will, they can defy YHWH and YHWH’s plans for them in a way that animals and natural phenomena cannot. But now that means there is a serious danger here, YHWH says, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and bad, what if he should stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and life forever!” So the acceptance of mortality as an inescapable part of the human condition, the quest for immortality, YHWH could not afford to allow them access to the tree of life, and YHWH maintains the upper hand in this, the fact that they eventually must die. YHWH has to punt the ball, he has to modify his plans by barring access to the tree of life, humans are going to be a force to be reckoned with.
Thanks for any insight.
The disobedience happens in a rather backhanded way. It’s interesting, YHWH tells Adam before the creation of Eve that he’s not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, lest you die. Eve doesn’t hear this command directly, she hasn’t been created. Then we meet the cunning serpent, and although many will identify the serpent as Satan, an enticer, a tempter, some sort of evil creature, the serpent doesn’t seem to be so. The serpent in Eden is simply a talking animal.
Adam and Eve after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and bad are like YHWH; they have become wise in that they have learned they have moral choice. They have free will, they can defy YHWH and YHWH’s plans for them in a way that animals and natural phenomena cannot. But now that means there is a serious danger here, YHWH says, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and bad, what if he should stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and life forever!” So the acceptance of mortality as an inescapable part of the human condition, the quest for immortality, YHWH could not afford to allow them access to the tree of life, and YHWH maintains the upper hand in this, the fact that they eventually must die. YHWH has to punt the ball, he has to modify his plans by barring access to the tree of life, humans are going to be a force to be reckoned with.
Thanks for any insight.
