Come Holy Spirit. Give us ears to hear, and eyes to see. Let us not be so arrogant as to make of ourselves, your judges. Make us humble and biddable, easily turned to your ways. NIV Genesis 2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[a] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams[b] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 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. 10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[d] and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[e] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 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.” Contradictory? No, I think not. The passage is drawing a distinction between Eden, and not Eden, the wilderness. God has prepared a place for man, but he creates Adam outside that place. Eden is in modern day Iraq. There is a swamp south of Bagdad, still populated by a people known as Marsh Arabs. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh_Arabs newswatch.nationalgeographic/2013/04/24/in-cradle-of-civilization-shrinking-rivers-endanger-unique-marsh-arab-culture/ Some have speculated that this is Biblical Eden. This land is bounded by two of the rivers mentioned. The third may have disappeared, as rivers do change course as land and climate change. If the land was uplifted, it may have disappeared altogether. Now, in the middle of this garden, God places the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Notice that the tree is not evil, it merely gives knowledge of evil. God tells Adam not to eat of the tree, or he WILL die. Adam is not created to die. God intends a loving relationship with Adam, but love isnt love if its commanded or forced. Neither Adam, nor the human race, is created to be a Stepford Wife. We dont love God because he has given us no other choice. God wanted real love, freely given, and the only way to get that love is to give the other the option to not love. That is the reason for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God is Love. God is righteousness and justice. Evil is the rejection of love, righteousness and justice. This tree gives Adam the option. He can embrace love, righteousness and justice. He can embrace all that is beautiful and good. Or he can eat of that tree and die. This is the genesis of real love between God and man, because this is the genesis of free will, autonomy and choice. Yes, there are consequences to making the other choice. All choices have consequences. If you choose door A, you get a beautiful life full of love and goodness. Those are the consequences of that choice. If you chose door b, you get death, darkness, fear, oppression, murder and torture. Those are the consequences of that choice. It isnt that God strikes you down and tortures you for sin. That choice shuts God out. Those are the consequences of choosing not God, or the absence of God. Say you are playing Lets make a Deal. If you choose door a, there is a car behind it. The consequence of choosing that door is getting a new car. If you choose door b, there is nothing behind it. The consequence of choosing that door is that you walk. No one is striking you down. You just picked the wrong door. In the case of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the door is marked. God put a big warning on it that said, dont pick this door. There was no glitzy host or bejeweled lady in a slinky dress enticing Adam to pick that door. There was a big sign on it saying, dont even come over here. Now, part of the problem is that the Tree of Life stands beside it, in the center of the Garden. Presumably, this is the tree from which Adam receives long life and health: his fountain of youth. This is the place where Adam and God intersect. Perhaps if God had put the Tree of Knowledge far from the Tree of Life, Adam might not have made that choice. However, this would be taking his choice away from him, and turning him into a Stepford Wife. He would have become a worship robot who worshiped God because that was the only option, not a true loving companion to God. Every time Adam comes to the Tree of Life, he will be tempted by the Tree of Knowledge, for better or worse. Every time he comes to the Tree of Life, he will have to make a choice about the Tree of Death, just like the rest of us. Each day we must make a choice to follow God or follow the world, to eat of the Tree of Life or from the Tree of Death. We dont make a decision for Christ, so much as we make a constant, daily, minute by minute choice of God and his love over Satan and his temptations. Door A leads to life abundantly. Door B leads to death. Each day, we must say, Yes, Lord. But what Satan wont tell you is that you have the choice to bo back to Door A, even if youve previously chosen Door B. Yes, there will be earthly consequences of that earlier choice, but eternity and life abundantly still belong to those who go back and choose Door A.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 18:43:10 +0000
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