"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked: and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." (Genesis 3:6-7)
These passages very clearly reveal to us just one of the effects that sin has on mankind; and that effect is SHAME.
God's design for us includes a conscience, and it is apparently this conscience that kicks in when we do something that we know to be wrong, even if we have "reasoned" our way around it, and convinced ourselves that "it can't be THAT wrong", either because everyone else around us seems to be doing it as well or because it just feels too good to be that bad.
It is the shame that causes:
- A child to hide behind a lie when caught stealing gum from the store;
- An alcoholic to drink alone when no one can see him;
- An overeater to sneak unnecessary but tempting food into her mouth when no one is watching;
- A sexually immoral person to hide behind a façade of respect and responsibility;
- And the list goes on and on…
Notice the thought processes leading up to the act of the sin of eating from the forbidden tree.
The woman saw that:
- the tree was good for food (lust of the appetite);
- the fruit was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes);
- the tree was to be desired to make one wise (lust of the pride of life).
Now compare those lusts to the sins listed in the "shame" listing and you will find that it is always the same things (lusts) that motivate us to sin. We might think how ridiculous that the woman had all the fruit of all the trees to eat and she risked everything just to get to eat one particular fruit. But don't we also risk everything when we sin, just to get that one thing that we feel we MUST have in spite of all that we already DO have? Do you see the deception that takes our otherwise seemingly normal and rational mind and makes it abnormal and irrational instead, doing whatever is necessary to get to that forbidden fruit?
Do you see also how the woman brought the forbidden fruit to the man so that he could join her in her sin? Just as we encourage others to sin with us?
And when they sinned, when they chose to be rebellious towards the plan God had set in place for them, when they decided to do things their own way and ignore God, then their eyes were opened. Innocence was lost. Shame entered in. Now they had knowledge of good AND evil, for they had listened to evil and obeyed evil, rather than God.
Tomorrow we'll discuss further their attempt to cover the shame of their rebellion with fig leaves.
3 comments:
Two points:
First , if you consider each and every sin, the center of sin is selfishness or focus on self. Eve listened to the lies coming from the serpent that was either Satan or controlled by Satan, and she desired the forbidden fruit. Fruit she knew the consequence of eating,but she ignored it. Something we are all guilty of when we sin. The desire for the forbidden fruit for Eve was just too much.
This leads me to my second question; in two parts. From the story in the bible, the author, Moses, if I am correct, does not tell us how long Adam and Eve enjoyed the garden and God’s company prior to this event. In your research, have you come across any commentary suggesting a timeframe?
Additionally, we also don’t know from the author’s writing how long it was from when the serpent told Eve his lie, till she went to the tree, ate the fruit and then shared it with Adam. My point is, did it take the serpent several days of lies and deception, until he broke her will? Or, did she listen to his story only once and happily go to the tree and eat the fruit.
This doesn’t changes the fact that she disobeyed God and his instructions; I just think it is something to consider and throw out there for discussion. Too many times I have heard Christians say they wouldn’t have committed such an act against God. I just wonder how long the serpent worked on Eve. Was it day in and day out, much like the Devil does on those who are not Children of God; whispering lies, telling them untruths. I have always pondered this and thought I would ask if you in your studies have come across any information. Thank you, this is very interesting. GW
This response will have to be in two parts.
I would like to address the last part of your question first, if I may. I think any Christian who has searched their hearts in prayer asking the Lord to reveal sin and help us to be healed of it, would be the first to say, "Of course, we would have done the same thing as the man and woman in the garden!" We are all cut from the same cloth. If we doubt that, just look at all the centuries prior to the first coming of Jesus Christ and find one person who was without sin...ever. There was none...until Jesus...God Himself had to answer that call for a Savior. That should answer the question for us. That should tell us why we are in such need of Jesus as our Savior.
Now to answer your earlier question. While there has been much debate and conjecture about the age of the earth (scientists want to say earth is millions of years old; many Christians want to say it is only as old as the total sum of the number of years lived by all of the biblical ancestors recorded in the Word, which brings the earth to the age of 5 to 6 thousand years), I am surprised that I have not yet run across any who question the length of time the man and woman spent in the garden prior to being evicted from it for their disobedience to God. That's not to say that I have looked specifically for it, so if anyone has the time to do so and finds some conjecture or theories applicable to this subject, please let us know...it would be of interest to us all, I believe.
But, for now, I do wonder how long the first couple enjoyed their time in the garden before the serpent tempted the woman to eat the forbidden fruit. Was it a day after she was created? Was it a year? Was it a hundred million years? The Bible does not tell us that.
But I hold with the conviction that the Bible offers no contradictions, only paradoxes...things not yet understood. One day all of our questions will be answered and then we will know the answer to this particular one.
As far as the amount of time that expired before the woman took the fruit to the man, a simple reading of the Word seems to indicate to us that it was right away, and I am satisfied with that indication because the Word also tells us that God deals swiftly with justice. As such, I do not believe He would have waited even a day to deal with the woman's disobedience. Although it is very interesting that her eyes were not opened, it seems, until they BOTH ate of the fruit. At that moment, they were both ashamed and wanted to hide their nakedness and hide from God when He came walking in the garden later that day. Why was it that there was a delay there for the woman? It is almost as though the sin was not complete until the man had partaken of it...perhaps that again goes back to the fact that the man was told directly by GOD NOT to eat of that particular fruit or he would die, versus the man relaying that information to the woman. Perhaps it had to do with their being one in an extremely spiritual and immortal sense of the word. Not that this excused her disobedience at all, but why was there a delay? I don't know. More questions to be asked on that day when we are together with the Lord.
Now for another question: if Adam was 930 years old when he died, did that coutndown to his death begin in the garden or only after his eviction from the garden? I believe that the countdown began only after they were evicted from the garden for death was not in their future, until they sinned. You see, Adam and the woman were created to be immortal beings. Even though they died physically, their souls remained immortal. That is a huge thing for us to understand. For knowing this, we know that there is NO NOTHINGNESS after death; there is a very REAL SOMETHING that lasts for eternity...and that something is determined by what our response to God is here on this earth, now. If we choose to exclude God from our reality in this temporal world, then the reality in the everlasting eternal world will be an exclusion of God as well...otherwise known as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (great depair) in a place called HELL. If we choose to make God a part of our reality now, in other words, if we desire an intimate relationship with Him such as was once enjoyed in the garden, we will face an eternity of that same reality after our physical death. As agents of free will, WE determine which we will have. Many folks want to blame God on their eternal situations, when it is in fact, the results of their own choosing. The consequences of our choices now are HUGE in eternity! That is why caring Christians do their utmost to tell others about those consequences NOW...prior to their facing eternity.
Hope that answers all the questions, even if it is only with other questions.
Post a Comment