25.6.06
The Fall of Man
The Fall as explained in Genesis has been used and misued over the centuries to control men and women and to explain all the evils in the world. The Bible however does not make such claims and we actually know very little about the Fall.
The Bible does not hold women responsible for Evil like some had it! Reliefs on European medieval churches even went as far as representing the serpent with women features! The Bible certainly does not say that sex was the original sin, since God commanded the man and the woman to have sex and replenish the land! Yet that theme is often used in today's songs or ads.
The Bible does not even say that the man and the woman would have never died hadn't they taken of the tree.
Speaking of the tree, its fruit may have been any fruit and not necessarily an apple!
These ideas all came later for some reason or another, namely erroneous translations and the cons of man. Furthermore, the Bible does not say that the serpent was in fact Satan. This is what Christians believe the New Testament texts clarified regarding the matter.
Genesis tells us that God had given the man and the woman a garden to dwell in and to cultivate and live from. Now, there were two trees in the garden that were not supposed to be eaten from: The tree of Life and the tree of Knowledge.
The Bible says that the Serpent was a mischievous creature, who led the woman to desire the fruit God had said would make them die. The verb translated as "to die", for the ancients may have just meant to be "cut off from the presence of God", what Christians call: The spiritual death, and this is what happened... They got banished from the presence of God.
So, the woman ate of the forbidden fruit and she then had the knowledge, she knew... In the Bible, "to know" is not only intellectual, it also means: "to experience, to master". With her eyes now open, she could have done anything. The man ate of the fruit too, as the woman invited him to. The fate of Mankind was sealed. One single rule existed at that time. Mankind broke it and strained their entire world.
The evening came, God walked in the garden, Mankind and God living in the same place, Mankind being in the presence of God. Later, no-one would be able to be in God's presence, for his glory would kill them. At the time, the humans were still "little less than the gods".
It is interesting to see that God is not some shapeless spirit, but an actual, if glorified, being: He walks, and he talks to the couple who also heard him walking in the garden, not to forget that God created Mankind in his own resemblance. What's more, Jesus will say that whoever sees him, also sees what his God is like.
God punished the serpent, the man and the woman:
The serpent would crawl from now on. It was interesting to see some article in the newspaper last month: Scientists had "discovered" that snakes used to have legs. I thought to myself that "I always knew that, thank you very much for this discovery anyway". God also said that the woman's descendants will be the Serpent's enemies: "You will bite his heel and he will bruise your head". Christian texts would then recognize the woman's descendant(s) to be Jesus, who bruised the Serpent's head -Satan's kingdom-, after it bit men's heels -causing death to come to their bodies and the world.
The woman would suffer when giving birth, meaning that the easiness of life was now lost. The woman did not open some Pandora's box, the couple just paid the price for this specific mistake, nothing more. Same thing for the man, the easiness of life was now lost for him too, he would need to "till the land that will bring forth weeds and thistles". Curiously enough, the man was not directly punished: It was the Earth that became cursed instead!
God proceeded to banish mankind from his presence, so they won't "eat of the tree of Life and live forever to become like the gods". God shows that he still cares when he gives them clothing. The couple had covered their nudity with some leaves after eating of the fruit but God supplied them with something more appropriate. God still cared when mankind parted from God's presence and ventured into unknown territory...
The Bible does not hold women responsible for Evil like some had it! Reliefs on European medieval churches even went as far as representing the serpent with women features! The Bible certainly does not say that sex was the original sin, since God commanded the man and the woman to have sex and replenish the land! Yet that theme is often used in today's songs or ads.
The Bible does not even say that the man and the woman would have never died hadn't they taken of the tree.Speaking of the tree, its fruit may have been any fruit and not necessarily an apple!
These ideas all came later for some reason or another, namely erroneous translations and the cons of man. Furthermore, the Bible does not say that the serpent was in fact Satan. This is what Christians believe the New Testament texts clarified regarding the matter.
Genesis tells us that God had given the man and the woman a garden to dwell in and to cultivate and live from. Now, there were two trees in the garden that were not supposed to be eaten from: The tree of Life and the tree of Knowledge.
The Bible says that the Serpent was a mischievous creature, who led the woman to desire the fruit God had said would make them die. The verb translated as "to die", for the ancients may have just meant to be "cut off from the presence of God", what Christians call: The spiritual death, and this is what happened... They got banished from the presence of God.
So, the woman ate of the forbidden fruit and she then had the knowledge, she knew... In the Bible, "to know" is not only intellectual, it also means: "to experience, to master". With her eyes now open, she could have done anything. The man ate of the fruit too, as the woman invited him to. The fate of Mankind was sealed. One single rule existed at that time. Mankind broke it and strained their entire world.
The evening came, God walked in the garden, Mankind and God living in the same place, Mankind being in the presence of God. Later, no-one would be able to be in God's presence, for his glory would kill them. At the time, the humans were still "little less than the gods".
It is interesting to see that God is not some shapeless spirit, but an actual, if glorified, being: He walks, and he talks to the couple who also heard him walking in the garden, not to forget that God created Mankind in his own resemblance. What's more, Jesus will say that whoever sees him, also sees what his God is like.
God punished the serpent, the man and the woman:
The serpent would crawl from now on. It was interesting to see some article in the newspaper last month: Scientists had "discovered" that snakes used to have legs. I thought to myself that "I always knew that, thank you very much for this discovery anyway". God also said that the woman's descendants will be the Serpent's enemies: "You will bite his heel and he will bruise your head". Christian texts would then recognize the woman's descendant(s) to be Jesus, who bruised the Serpent's head -Satan's kingdom-, after it bit men's heels -causing death to come to their bodies and the world.
The woman would suffer when giving birth, meaning that the easiness of life was now lost. The woman did not open some Pandora's box, the couple just paid the price for this specific mistake, nothing more. Same thing for the man, the easiness of life was now lost for him too, he would need to "till the land that will bring forth weeds and thistles". Curiously enough, the man was not directly punished: It was the Earth that became cursed instead!
God proceeded to banish mankind from his presence, so they won't "eat of the tree of Life and live forever to become like the gods". God shows that he still cares when he gives them clothing. The couple had covered their nudity with some leaves after eating of the fruit but God supplied them with something more appropriate. God still cared when mankind parted from God's presence and ventured into unknown territory...
Reflections on the Fall...
I often think of the Fall, if we could have progressed hadn't it happened? If it was really what God had in mind for mankind as I tend to believe?
Did it hit the woman right after she tasted the flesh of the fruit that there was one single rule God had given, and that she had just broken it and was bringing a curse to herself, her descendants and the Earth itself?
It is kind of sad that the Man cannot even keep one single commandment and not mess up his entire world.
I wonder what kind of knowledge the man and the woman suddenly had and also what life was like before the Fall.
I will always wonder why God put these forbidden trees in the garden in the first place! I mean, if you don't want people to use something you have, you are not going to bring it to their house, are you? So maybe, like some believe, God knew exactly what was going to happen, and it was necessary to make the humans fall and go through the school of life.
I think God wanted them to fall. Creation was perfect, and all the animals were blameless. So it must have been Satan who entered the serpent. And when God cast Satan away, he knew what he could end up doing. God could have destroyed Satan, but he did not. There was a role for Satan to play, and he's playing it. It all ultimately is for God's glory.
To me, the humans -souls held in a tabernacle- were like children who just could not remain in their innocent state: they had to grow up, they had to learn how to walk, and they had to fall to learn how to get back up and become grown-ups. This is my idea, but the text does not say anything about that...
The couple were still vegetarians, so when God gave them garments, was it the first violence on animals, skinned to give their fur?
I also invite people who wonder why God allows sufferings, sickness, and death, wars, famine and all sorts of evils to consider how it all began. The answers are in the text. Mankind brought a curse upon itself and the Earth, and our actions generate problems, and problems can turn into pain and disasters. Think about that next time you hear people say: "If there was a God, my grand-father would not have died", or "If there was a God there would not be children starving in Africa", or "Where was God when that tsunami or that earthquake hit?" If your father lovingly tells you not to do drugs, but you do drugs anyway, one cannot blame your father for your becoming an addict. The people affected, friends, family, or the people whose house you broke into to steal to get your dope, cannot possibly blame your father for the bad things happening to them. Besides, all that misery does not mean your father stopped existing...
Because many people reject the origin of your world and the reason for mankind to be, they lose sight of the divine spark in them, they become the beasts they believe they descend from. What's more, because they reject Genesis, they fail to understand why they are here for, and why the God they hear say is good and loving lets so much misery have its way.
Did it hit the woman right after she tasted the flesh of the fruit that there was one single rule God had given, and that she had just broken it and was bringing a curse to herself, her descendants and the Earth itself?
It is kind of sad that the Man cannot even keep one single commandment and not mess up his entire world.
I wonder what kind of knowledge the man and the woman suddenly had and also what life was like before the Fall.
I will always wonder why God put these forbidden trees in the garden in the first place! I mean, if you don't want people to use something you have, you are not going to bring it to their house, are you? So maybe, like some believe, God knew exactly what was going to happen, and it was necessary to make the humans fall and go through the school of life.
I think God wanted them to fall. Creation was perfect, and all the animals were blameless. So it must have been Satan who entered the serpent. And when God cast Satan away, he knew what he could end up doing. God could have destroyed Satan, but he did not. There was a role for Satan to play, and he's playing it. It all ultimately is for God's glory.
To me, the humans -souls held in a tabernacle- were like children who just could not remain in their innocent state: they had to grow up, they had to learn how to walk, and they had to fall to learn how to get back up and become grown-ups. This is my idea, but the text does not say anything about that...
The couple were still vegetarians, so when God gave them garments, was it the first violence on animals, skinned to give their fur?
I also invite people who wonder why God allows sufferings, sickness, and death, wars, famine and all sorts of evils to consider how it all began. The answers are in the text. Mankind brought a curse upon itself and the Earth, and our actions generate problems, and problems can turn into pain and disasters. Think about that next time you hear people say: "If there was a God, my grand-father would not have died", or "If there was a God there would not be children starving in Africa", or "Where was God when that tsunami or that earthquake hit?" If your father lovingly tells you not to do drugs, but you do drugs anyway, one cannot blame your father for your becoming an addict. The people affected, friends, family, or the people whose house you broke into to steal to get your dope, cannot possibly blame your father for the bad things happening to them. Besides, all that misery does not mean your father stopped existing...
Because many people reject the origin of your world and the reason for mankind to be, they lose sight of the divine spark in them, they become the beasts they believe they descend from. What's more, because they reject Genesis, they fail to understand why they are here for, and why the God they hear say is good and loving lets so much misery have its way.
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