Here’s something I’ve been wrestling with over the past few weeks, and I wanted to share it with you (and get it in some form of writing for my own sake).

I’ve always grown up with the impression that the Garden of Eden was the perfect world as God intended it to be, where man could walk and talk with his Creator, where man and woman would live immortal lives, where all was as it was originally planned. That is, until everything went horribly wrong: Satan (the figure we know from the NT, disguised as a serpent because serpents are evil) lied to the woman about this one Tree in the Garden that God had planted. The tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was put there simply so God could say, “I created humans to have free will. They can choose to disobey me whenever they want!” The woman took to “apple;” ate it; went and found Adam who was completely clueless; he ate it; they realized they were naked; and hid from God because they were guilty for what they had done. God then curses all three of them with all these horrible curses and punishments, banished them from Eden, and mankind from that point on is “fallen.”

That is the primary Christian interpretation of the Garden of Eden, thanks in part to the Catholic Church.

But what if we were to look at the story through a different set of lenses? Forget everything we heard in Sunday school, and let’s take a fresh look at the situation of the first humans in the Garden of Eden.

First, maybe we should begin by viewing Eden as a Temporary Training Facility, not a Permanent Paradise. There is no indication that God planned for the Garden to be a permanent dwelling for mankind. There’s a whole world outside the Garden. This particular Garden in Eden in the East was set up by God to not need any human input. Everything was taken care of – the plants were watered, the fruit grew in its season, the animals lived in peace with each other. Adam didn’t have to take care of anything except learning – about himself, the animals, the woman, and ultimately about his Creator.

Second, the fact that man had to eat from the Tree of Life indicates that he was not created to be immortal.

Subsequently, the other tree, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, was not there simply as the presence of temptation. It was not there so that God could give the humans free will. I think, and you may disagree, that there would come a time when man would be ready to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man could only grow so much in the Garden. But just as there comes a time when a child must leave home, so there would come a time when man would have to leave the safety and protection of the Garden to make a life for himself and his family. When that day came, he would no longer be able to eat of the Tree of Life. (“Good and Evil” is an example of a literary device in ancient Hebrew which uses the two extremes to mean “Good, Evil, and everything in between.”)

Next we come to the serpent. It’s important to understand that at the time this was written, the Israelites had no idea or knowledge of Satan (the Devil, Beelzebub, etc.) as we see in the NT. That type of personification of evil wasn’t developed until the time between the Testaments. Therefore, the serpent as we see him in this story is nothing more than a serpent. The fact that he can talk might be indicative of the relationship between man an beast in the Garden. It does say that he is more crafty or cunning than all the other creatures. He indeed tells the truth to the woman – and the man who was there with her.

So the man and woman ate the fruit and everything happened just as God and the serpent had said. They gained vast amounts of knowledge and wisdom, for which they were not ready. I believe that they learned a lot of things that God wanted to teach them when the time came, but that time would never get to come. Their eyes were open and they saw that they were naked. God was the one that wanted to tell them that – you can hear it in his voice when he asks, “Who told you that you were naked?”

Their eyes were opened and their mind was full of a world outside the Garden – where chaos was yet to be domesticated, where evil could take hold of them, where life was hard and pain was an everyday reality. I get a sense that when God is addressing all the guilty parties, he is no scolding and cursing them out of anger, but rather out of disappointment. He is reluctantly having to describe to them what life outside the Garden is like.

He doesn’t overreact. He doesn’t turn his back on his children. He is still committed to taking care of them. He even makes them proper clothing out of animal skins – the first instance of any created thing dying.

This is where I am right now. I know these thoughts aren’t new, and they definitely are perfected in my head yet, but this way of encountering the Garden makes sense to me. It’s a much more moving, touching, relate-able story.

Will we one day return to the Garden of God, be in his presence, walk with him among the trees, and be naked yet unashamed? I think so. I think that’s what heaven is for.

Have you ever wondered what Jesus may have written when he stooped down and wrote on the ground in John 8? This is one of the most intense scenes we see of Jesus’ ministry. Tensions are high. His answer to the Pharisees question will bring him certain doom, either from the Jews or the Romans. He’s in a no-win situation. All eyes are on him. The very life of this woman hangs in the balance. And what does he do? He seemingly ignores everyone. The suspense of the moment is tight; everyone’s waiting and watching, yet he stoops down and draws in the dirt. Twice! What was he writing?

One possibility may be found in Jeremiah 17:13,
“LORD, the hope of Israel,
all who abandon You
will be put to shame.
All who turn away from Me
will be written in the dirt,
for they have abandoned
the fountain of living water, the LORD.”

Think about the situation. The Pharisees and scribes, the religious leaders of the day, the ones who are supposedly the upright and models of godliness, are bringing to Jesus this woman who is looked down upon. She’s not the kind of girl to bring home to meet the parents. She’s a one-night-stand type. We can think of our own cultural descriptions for this woman. The Pharisees and this woman are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

Jesus’ response to this question, “Should we follow the Law and stone this woman?” carries a vast array of implications, not just about the Law but about politics, mercy, righteousness, prejudice. The entire system of Judaism is hanging by the thread. After writing on the ground, Jesus gives his famous response, “The one who is without sin should be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then he continues writing on the ground.

Could he have been writing the names of these accusers in the dust? Could Jesus have been making the statement that these men who are perceived as following the will of God are actually the ones abandoning and rebelling against God? Could Jesus have been making the statement that this woman caught in the act of adultery is closer to the kingdom than her accusers?

So where is your name written? Is it written in the dust, only to be blown away, wiped over, and forgotten? Or is it written in the Book of Life to be remembered and honored forever?

On campus this weekend at Harding was Hal Runkle, author of the book Scream Free Parenting. He spoke in chapel Friday morning and then held a seminar Friday night and this morning. His take on parenting seems to be quite different than much that I have heard. I would highly recommend his book and the other resources offered by his company, Scream Free Living.

Check them out at www.screamfree.com

After hearing this speech by Ron Paul, I think he is the type of leadership our country desperately needs in Washington. (Thanks to my friend Jon for pointing out this video for me)

The two lines that I found particularly convicting were:
“What if we wake up one morning and realize that the terrorist threat is a predictable effect of our meddling in the affairs of others..?”

“What if Christianity actually teaches peace…?”

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On a different note, we found out some exciting news tonight. Katelyn is going to have the chance this summer to get her Field Experience for psychology at the Child Haven children’s home in Alabama. God has been working to get us to Alabama. This is the answer to many prayers. Please keep praying for us that this summer may be a chance for us to grow and to have an impact on others.

As I’ve been reading through the Old Testament this semester, I have read through some very sad, depressing stories about people who begin to rely on themselves instead of God. For instance – the fall of man, the tower flood story, the tower of Babel, the death of Moses, the inability of the Israelites to drive out the Canaanites, the stories found in Judges or Abimilech, Samson, and the Levite in Benjamin. I could go on. But the saddest, most pathetic, most pitiable characters I have encountered so far is King Saul.

When we start out, he is anointed by Samuel as the king for whom Israel had been praying. But as the story progresses, we see “the Lord’s anointed” fall into a moral tailspin. He begins to rely completely on himself and turns his back on God. He begins by disobeying God and blaming others for his mistakes. Then he flat out rejects God to the point that God regretted he ever made Saul to be king. What starts out as a little rebellion quickly escalates into full scale manic depression. His best friend is his spear which is always by his side even when he sleeps. His whole life is consumed with a burning desire for vengeance against David, who did nothing to Saul in the first place. This heartbreaking story ends in the loss of his sons in a hopeless battle, the loss of his throne, and the loss of all hope when Saul commits suicide.

But the story of Saul doesn’t end there. After David becomes king, he honors his oath he made to Jonathan, Saul’s son, and honors the last remaining relative of Saul – his grandson Mephibosheth. One of the most heartbreaking stories in the Bible ends in one of the most touching stories of redemption.