ADAM & EVE ASK: HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT? Part 4 of 6 Parts

The choice at the testing tree was different. They could choose to obey God, accepting

God’s rule or claiming self-rule.

They knew there were consequences should they disobey God. The consequence was death.

They also knew evil was possible. But possibility is not actuality.

In the ancient world, “To know” signified more than just intellectual knowledge. It meant experiential knowledge. Knowing evil existed was not the knowledge of evil.

As adults we teach our kids about doing wrong. We tell them drugs and smoking damage the body, fast driving kills, free sex isn’t free.

And how do they respond?

Over and over I hear, “Yes, I hear you, but I have to experience it for myself for it to be real! I have to control my own life. It won’t happen to me.”

Adam and Eve’s choice at the testing tree was the choice to obey God or to become separated from God and direct their own lives. It was the choice to “know” evil, to ad the experience of evil to their lives.

It was not unusual for them to meet the Serpent and visit with it. But this day was different. It asked Eve a question that led her to answering with a defense of God.

“Has God said you should not eat of every tree in the garden?” it asked Eve.

The answer lay within the question.

“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is which is in the midst of the garden, God said we shall not eat, nor touch, or we will die.”

The Serpent moved in for the kill.

“You shall not surely die,” it said. “For God knows that when you eat the fruit, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.”

You shall die. You will not die. Two opposing statements for Eve to consider.

The Serpent had presented an envious God who would selfishly and greedily keep precious knowledge to Himself. It offered Eve the choice of believing God or believing itself.

Choosing to eat the fruit would mean leaving the protection of divine providence, of letting go of God’s provision of what was good for man and losing complete security.

The Serpent showed Eve she could go beyond this protection and goodness to decide for herself what would help or hinder her.

Its offering of freedom was fascinating, with its lack of restriction, its intangibleness, its mysteriousness.

As Eve saw that the tree was good for food, was pleasant to the eyes and was desired to make one wise, her mind was no longer on all that God provided for her. It was on the forbiddenness of the tree only. “What? Is God depriving me of this fruit and wisdom too?” was the thought that kept running through her mind.

Ultimately, she succumbed. She took the fruit and ate.

And she didn’t fall over and die!

Then she gave Adam some fruit, and he ate.

And the eyes of both of them were opened.

Not opened to the anticipated benefits of disobedience, however. But opened to guilt and shame.

Guilt can be dealt with, but shame has tentacles that reach deep within the soul. Shame changes a person soul-deep, at the core of one’s being.

Suddenly, the couple found themselves changed. They noticed their nakedness, both physically and psychologically. Their innocence was lost: they now knew vulnerability.

And they did not like it.