Genesis 3:1-13 (New International Version)

 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 surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of 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 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”    The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

1) Right at the beginning we see the willful nature of mankind.  God asked only one thing of Adam and Eve, that they not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They were easily tempted and eat of this fruit.  We are just as easily tempted.  The simplest way to get a person to want  something is tell them they can’t have it

It takes discipline to resist temptation.  Discipline is not something that  comes naturally to us, just ask the credit card companies.  🙂

When a Christ Follower surrenders themselves to God they are replacing their willful nature for his Grace(?).  Their reward is eternal life in Heaven, the life Adam and Eve turned their backs on.

2) When I looked at the life Adam and Eve had in Eden it’s my perception that I have a different perspective from that of CFs.

In the perfect world of  Heaven the Sun is always shinning. There are no storms, earthquakes, rain or snow. Everyday is perfect.  The world I live in is constantly changing.  If you live in New England, USA, it can change every hour.  🙂

I do greatly enjoy the warmth of the sun on a summer day.  However after the first hundred years or so I think I might actually look forward to a snowstorm.  🙂

In Eden Adam’s and Eve’s every want was provided for them.  To be honest I get the picture of a couple of less than scintillating personalities.

Eve, “Adam, what do you want to do today?”  Adam, “I dunno, maybe sit in the meadow and soak up the sunshine, just like yesterday.”  Eve, “Cool!”.  🙂

The quest for knowledge is for me what separates us from the rest of the creatures I share my world with.  Along with the imagination to visualize what to do with it.  It’s the challenge of dealing with a changing world that keeps my world interesting.  It’s the destructive side of nature that fuels this change.  That means dealing with hell as well as heaven.

Questions:

When faced with the temptation for something you know is wrong, how do you resist it?

If a being appeared before you and offered you immortality, and all you wanted, that the only thing you had to do was surrender your will to him, how would you know if he was God or the devil?