"But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die;"(Genesis 3:4)
The story of Adam and Eve and their encounter with the serpeant, has made for great paintings, and of course is the culmination of how we got in this fine mess we call being living, thinking human beings.
The unraveling of our story happens with seemingly an innocent question, but of course it is a set up. Can we be double dog dared to do something we were told not to do. And then the final piece of the puzzle, to call God's bluff. Sadly the serpent was right and knew we'd cave in.
What follows is the original passing of the buck. Adam can't take responsibility for his actions, so he blames Eve, Eve can't take responsibility of her actions so she blames the serpent. God doesn't seem interested in who the serpent wants to blame.
All three get punished, but perhaps the bigger punishment is that we now have freedom of choice. Actually freedom of choice isn't a bad thing. Not willing to live with the consequences of our choices is.
Our choices may not always lead to immediate death, but they all lead to our eventual death. There is no tree of immortality from which we can eat. There may be a part of us that wishes we could just live life running around naked and eating all the time. But those days are long gone. With the gift or curse if you like of free will, comes the opportunity to use it wisely. Hopefully we won't have to spend every day explaining ourselves.
Blessings,
Ed
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