Hell Bent
What was the serpent's problem?
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. - Genesis 3:1-7
We all know people like the serpent in today's reading, don't we? They make us feel like idiots for believing what we believe. Why do they do that?
I would assume they believe what they are saying is true and that they are doing us a favor by helping us see the truth, so maybe their motive is not evil. They may just be misinformed or misguided.
Or maybe they don't respect the authority they rail against. The serpent may have had a problem following God's rules, thinking them foolish.
People who are hell bent on getting us to see the world they way they see it are not necessarily evil, and they may not have evil intent. They just may be unable to see have all the facts.
Maybe God underestimated Adam and Eve, by giving them too simple a reason for obeying Him. If you eat the fruit, you will die.
They didn't understand that they could have lived forever in the garden. By eating, they changed their future and ours.
Could they have understood that? Perhaps. We can. Now.
Those who seek to share their version of the truth with us may believe they are doing us a favor. But I would venture to guess they would be the first to let us know our version is wrong, should we try to tell them what we think.
The message here may be twofold.
One, we should not assume what others say is more valid than what we believe. Imagine what our world would be like if Eve brushed off the serpent as foolish.
Two, we should not be quick to judge others if they fail to see the world the way we do. We can let them know what we think or believe, but leave the judgments to them.
We should live somewhere between Eve and the serpent.
More to come...