The dynamic of the first fall of our
first parents that we call Original Sin is fascinating in its psychology and
can easily be applied to our own lives, our own temptations, our own falls and
our own rebounds! Indeed when we read
the Bible, which is truly the Word of God, we must read our own lives into the
Biblical reality.
HOLY SPIRIT. Before reading and
meditating the Word of God always beg the Holy Spirit to enlighten your mind,
as well as to touch your heart so that you will truly have an encounter with
God on an ever deeper level!
This being said, what are some the
golden nuggets of wisdom that we can glean from this passage that we are most
likely familiar with, but possibly have never really read and meditated in
great depth.
1.
LOVE IN CREATION. God is love and love gives of itself. God
wanted to share His life by creating human life and by creating Adam and Eve.
Of all of the levels of creation on earth the creation of Adam and Eve was the
most lofty, sublime and important. If you like, the creation of the human
person was and still is the crown of creation. God created al other things for
the purpose of man and woman and their eternal salvation.
2.
FREEDOM. God is love, but God desires to be loved in
return. To love demands freedom; freedom, however, always demands a risk of
abusing it! In other words with respect
to freedom Adam and Eve could have either used the freedom to glorify and
praise God or to abuse their freedom and allow sin to enter into the world.
3.
THE TEST: THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT. The only prohibition that God imposed on Adam
and Eve was to avoid eating the fruit in the middle of the Garden, the fruit
from the tree of knowledge; if done, they would die! The life of man and woman
on earth is a constant testing ground to either obey God or reject God’s
command. This goes back to the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.
4.
THE SERPENT: THE DEVIL IN
DISGUISE. The devil arrives on the scene
disguised as a serpent or snake! Often the devil will disguise himself, as we
saw in the film of Mel Gibson, the Passion of the Christ—huge yellow snake,
small snake, man, woman or a combo of both!!! The devil wants to deceive and
trick!
5.
FATHER OF LIES. Jesus will call the devil the “Father of lies
and a murderer from the beginning.” The
devil talks to Eve and lies about God! Eve enters into conversation with the
ancient serpent, the devil! By entering into conversation the devil lies to her
and tricks her to doubt the goodness of God. How often have we entered into a
conversation with the ancient serpent, the devil, in our mind? The devil has
presented us with the forbidden fruit in our mind—money, illicit sexual
pleasure, power, fame, vanity, revenge, jealousy, greed, etc.—and the devil has
painted it as good. Just as the forbidden fruit appeared to be good for the
sight and tasty for eating, so how often
has the devil pulled a fast one on us, pulled the wool over our eyes by lying
to us, tricking us and deceiving us???
6.
SIN THROUGH THE GATEWAYS OF
PERCEPTION: THE EYES! Another key lesson
or message that we can learn from Adam and Eve, but especially in the case of
Eve is the use or better said the “abuse” of the eyes. The devil tempted Eve to use her eyes to look
up to the forbidden fruit. The eyes are
the mirror of the soul. By looking at
the forbidden fruit the temptation and alluring force became even more
powerful, almost irresistible! Today we
live in AN IMAGE WORLD: Instagram, Facebook, Photos, t.v. movies and magazines.
It is not a surprise what I will write now—the most powerful poisonous as well
as addictive image is that of pornography! How many people in the modern world
have viewed pornography? How many have serious addictions that despite many
efforts, cannot overcome this powerful chain? In a word, we live in a
pornographic world! The lifting of the
eyes to the forbidden fruit done in the Garden of Eden today is the use of the
eyes to view immoral and impure and highly addictive pictures in the modern
electronics show-case, wherever that show case may present itself!
7.
CONSENT OF THE WILL. Being totally
seduced by the enemy, Eve lifts up her hand, gives full consent of the will,
grabs from the forbidden fruit and bites into it! ORIGINAL SIN!!! From Original
Sin that we are all born with, flows actual sin. If the action is serious—in
moral theology called “Grave-Matter”, one has full knowledge as well as full
consent of the will then a mortal sin is committed. How often have we seen the
forbidden fruit, knowing it is evil, we still bite into it and taste the bitter
fruit???
8.
SHARING IN EVIL. Adam could have walked away from Eve and told
her to take up the matter with God, but we all know that Adam also took and ate
from the forbidden fruit. He shared in the sin of Eve. Both of them were
responsible for the commission of Original Sin.
9.
SOCIAL EFFECT OF SIN. One of the
effects of sin as a whole is that all too often our sin has effects as well as
repercussions on other people. As the poet Wordsworth so clearly stated: “No
one is an island unto himself.” Indeed our actions do affect others. Eve led
Adam into sin. Still Adam is just enough to blame as Eve. Given that Adam was
the husband, should he have not warned Eve of the danger of being so close to
the forbidden tree and prevented the sin???
10. NEAR OCCASION OF SIN.
Another point worthy of reflection is the following: both Eve as well as Adam
should have never even gotten close to the forbidden fruit. In sum, they had
placed themselves in the near occasion of sin!
How often has this happened in our own lives??? We draw close to a
person, place, thing or circumstance that we know is dangerous. We are close to
the forbidden fruit, exactly like Adam and Eve. In other words we are playing
with fire, walking on ice, climbing up a slippery slope and playing in danger.
Most likely, like Adam and Eve we too end up by biting into and eating from the
forbidden fruit!
