We’re skipping a little here; but, of course, you can read the stuff in between. We’re skipping over the creation of Adam; but, then again, maybe we shouldn’t. In that particular passage, God seems very intentional in what He is creating. So…does that put the creation account against the idea of evolution?
Here are some thoughts on the passage you read:
1. People think of Christianity as a huge list of don’ts. But, how many don’ts are there in the beginning?
2. Did you notice that it says that men need women, that it’s not good for a man to be alone? What do you think about that?
3. Ladies, what do you think about the term “helper” to describe women?
4. Scientific question: we all know that scientists name animals (ie, the duck-billed platypus). Does this passage suggest that every animal has a unique name given to them by Adam?
5. Guys, do you see how man picked up his first girlfriend? He didn’t. God did it for him. He was sleeping. Is there anything to learn from that?
6. According to the Bible, what is the purpose of marriage? What does that little phrase mean?
7. How cool would it be to run around naked and not be ashamed?
Also, check out the serpent’s strategy to tempt Eve (and Adam):
8. The serpent phrases his first question to make it sound like God is keeping her from so much, when, in reality, if you look at the original command from God, there is only one restriction.
9. Notice that the serpent uses the “God is holding back on you” technique to get her to eat the fruit.
Now, before we lash out at womankind for being deceived…let’s not forget about that tiny little phrase about where Adam was throughout this exchange…”who was with her” or “with her.” Adam was there, knew what to do, and didn’t say a thing!
10. Guys, what can you learn about leadership and being assertive from this passage?
11. Cool little detail, God would meet with Adam and Eve during the cool of the day, when it would be most comfortable for them.
12. Why would God ask, “Where are you?” when He knows everything already?
13. Check out the excuse-o-meter: Adam blames God for giving him Eve, blames Eve for giving him the fruit. Eve blames the serpent. No one really accepts responsibility for failing to follow God.
About the curses:
14. Check out the serpent’s curse…did he used to have legs? What does “he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel” mean? Hint, some people think it has something to do with Satan and Jesus.
15. Check out the woman’s curse…ouch on childbirth (and maybe periods, too?); and what does “your desire shall be for your husband” an “he shall rule over you” mean?
16. Check out the man’s curse…having to work to get food out of the ground and having to work, work, work.
17. Adam and Eve had a way of covering up their sin, but God made a new way (animal skins are better than fig leaves, but they require sacrifice!)
18. So…God kicks man out…He doesn’t want man to live, in broken connection with God, for the rest of his life.
19. Just a side note, my friend, Jared, has the cherubim with the flaming sword as a tatoo on his arm.
So…yeah…there’s a ton in there. Only respond as you feel led. Don’t feel like this is a crazy burden. What, of all that, sticks out to you?
This is a fundamental part of the Bible because this is where sin enters the world; and, from this point on, the relationship between man and God is not what it was originally.
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Wow, there is a lot of stuff in this passage. Then again how can there not be. When you have a perfect world and sin enters in there is going to be a lot of things happening.
1. One, and really there is still only one: don’t sin.
2. I think its pretty cool that God knows we don’t like being alone and would create women to be our ultimate companions
3. Not a ladie
4. Well, thats what it says but animal names could have changed over that long period of time.
5. Yes! You don’t need to go and try to find a girlfriend, let God bring her to you.
6. It says that marriage brings man and women together as one. to me that means that you don’t just worry about your self but also your spouse because you must now care for and love one another no matter what happens. This is why you can’t rush into a marriage. No matter how much you might want to.
7. It would be awsome!
8. Bad serpant.
9. I think thats the way all sin is like. It makes you think that the sin is far greater than what God can offer you. Which is totally not true.
10. We ned to step up and be a man, a real man. One how is accountable for his actions and helps encourage the actions of others.
11. hey what can I say, gods a nics God.
12. I think he was trying to give them a chance to confess.
13. Excuses, Excuses. In the end I find its always better to just take resposiblity. Its not very fun though.
14. it’s hard for me to imagine a serpent with no legs. Doesn’t Jesus step on a snake or something in the garden before he is captured to be crucified? I guess I’ll find out when we get there.
15. I guess that explains why women have been treated so badly through out history. I know its gotten better but its still around. I guess the curse is still going on.
16. Bo to Adam. I now have to work the rest of my life to provide for myself and my family.
17. I think its cool how when we sacrafice, or give something up, we end up getting something back from God, thats pretty awsome.
18. God loves us and thats why I think he kicked Adam and Eve out of Eden and gave them the curses. He was showing the world what would happen if you let sin into your life.
19. cool.
Well sorry if you didn’t want to read all that. i just felt like I’d answer all of the questions. If you agree or disagree with any of my satements let me know, I’d love to hear your opinion.
~Adios Amigos
Comment by jose ole April 9, 2007 @ 6:47 pmWhat you’re thinking about with Jesus crushing the head of a snake is from “Passion of the Christ.” It’s not in the Bible, but do you think that it is symbolic of something that actually happened?
Comment by Paul Mannino April 9, 2007 @ 6:49 pmFound this on the net:
“In this verse, the word “seed” refers to Jesus. This is appropriate because He was Eve’s decendant. God said that Christ would get bruised (some translations say “crushed”) in the heel by Satan, but would bruise (or crush) Satan’s head.
God’s statement here has enormous significance. Let’s look at it more closely. Remember that Satan was taking the form of a serpent, most likely a snake. A snake’s head is where the venom is stored; crush it and the snake has nothing else to work with. Satan did bruise the heel of Jesus in that he had Jesus put to death. However, his proximity to the heel was only due to the fact that the heel was coming close to his head for the purpose of crushing it. In essence, his attack on the life of Jesus backfired on him.”
I’ve been a Christ-follower for 11 years, and I never thought of the venom being stored in the head and all of that. See…you can always learn something new.
Comment by Paul Mannino April 9, 2007 @ 7:01 pmYou guys help me out….There’s God…God creates Man & Woman… Man and Woman can walk in the presence of God…Man breaks Gods trust and God punishes Man…Maybe the answer is to come…but Can Man no longer walk with God and hence the need for God to came back as Man (Jesus) in an effort to rebuild the bridge back to Him…Am I on the right track?
Comment by Empty Cup April 10, 2007 @ 5:41 pmi’ve always thought it was really harsh that God punished all of mankind after Adam and Eve ate the fruit… like, whose to say that if jason and i had had a chance, we would have made the same mistake? but i think it makes sense. unlike the animals, he gave us everything and made us so darn special –he gave us free will and a higher intelligence (well, most of us). but when put to the test, we ALL failed in that garden. God got his answer. it’s so easy to think, “oh, i wouldn’t have eaten that forbidden fruit,” but how many times do we sin EVERY day?
i think of how much God must really love us because he could have easily just wiped us off the map after that. i mean, he’s GOD. his punishment could have been MUCH more severe.
Comment by girlturnsmom April 10, 2007 @ 5:42 pmIn response to “Empty Cup”:
I think that you’re on the right track. I don’t think man could be as close to God from that point on without some form of sacrifice. It’s hinted at with the idea that God kills animals to cover their nakedness. And, even though Jesus (as a man) doesn’t come on the scene until 4,000 years later, the idea that there must be a sacrifice to be close to God will be the way…
In response to “girlbecomesmom”:
I agree with the feeling that it doesn’t seem fair to have all mankind pay for two people’s sins. But, sin is like a virus– it’s in the blood of mankind. Maybe that’s why it takes clean blood to pay for it. Some people believe that Jesus was born apart from the normal way of human reproduction…sperm to egg…because He would then not have the sin epidemic in Him at birth. He would instead be formed within the womb of Mary apart from the normal stuff. I don’t know if that makes sense, but I thought it was kind of cool. Jesus being born of a virgin was more than a cool, “ain’t God awesome” thing. It actually was necessary for Him not to be born into sin.
Comment by Paul Mannino April 10, 2007 @ 5:49 pm2. I think God gave man a companion because He knew we would be separated from Him and would need accountability.
Comment by D May 8, 2007 @ 8:55 pm6. I agree with josh on the “one flesh” thing. I would also like to add that I believe God is also using the “one flesh” description to imply that separation is not ok.
8. Yeah, it sucks how easily we are able to resent God for what we can’t do or have rather than praising Him for what we can.
14. I still don’t get the Satan-Jesus idea here. Can anyone clarify?
15. Maybe the woman’s desire for her husband has something to do with why women are stereotypically more emotional when it comes to relationships.
“I would also like to add that I believe God is also using the “one flesh” description to imply that separation is not ok.”
Whew…for a second, I thought you were saying the opposite! I was about to, in the nicest way possible, ask, “How on earth could you come to that conclusion?” He he he…
Yeah, God definitely intended “oneness” to be permanent.
Satan would get to “bite” Jesus in the heel. That plays out by the powers of evil, through the Roman soldiers, did actually drive a nail into Jesus’ heel on the cross.
Jesus, though, got the “crush”ing blow: He removed the power of death by dying for Sin on the cross. Does that make sense?
Comment by Cyclops May 8, 2007 @ 9:04 pmsorry if i was unclear…i do not support separation…i kno it was an obvious thing to say, but i feel strongly about it…yes, that does make sense, thank you
Comment by D May 10, 2007 @ 4:08 pmIf the fall of man never happened, and we all walked around naked, would there still be an evolution(that’s not the evolution you normally hear) of temptation? If a man saw a woman walking around naked, and she was attractive, would he be tempted by her? Or would he go on his business and think to himself, “gee, haven’t seen her at school in a while?” I couldn’t imagine what a world full of unashamed naked people without temptation thrown into the mix would be like? There wouldn’t be a seperate world of pornography, or would there be? If everybody was unashamed of being nude, there wouldn’t be a stigma attached to seeing nakedness of women, and being aroused by that. What was it like for Adam and Eve before the fall? Isn’t doubting a sin? How could Eve doubt God if she trusted solely on Him? I’ve always been perplexed by that
Comment by Shadowcat May 13, 2007 @ 9:48 pmIn the words to Commodus (from “Gladiator”), “I am quite vexed.”
In our modern viewpoint, I know it’s unfathomable for a man to look at a naked woman and not either indulge or turn away for fear that you would indulge. Hmm…I don’t know. OK, so we know that Eve was made for Adam (and no one else). So, maybe in a world without sin, men would respect that??? Maybe they wouldn’t ogle at a woman who was not theirs or fantasize about being with her if she wasn’t his. I mean, biologists would say that woman are curvy and attractive so men want to procreate, thus furthering the human race. But…would man (without sin) resist the urge to jump the bones of a naked girl and simply respect that that is not his woman? I don’t know. What an unfathomable world? But…maybe it would be like a man bathing his daughter in a tub when she is a small child. Total innocence. Maybe the body parts would only come into play until they are needed? I don’t know…that’s my two cents.
I’m not sure if doubting is a sin. It would be hard to have any kind of certain faith if there wasn’t room for doubt. I think that doubt is like temptation. Being tempted is not a sin; what you do with it is. Same with doubt?
Comment by Cyclops May 13, 2007 @ 9:58 pmSo many interesting things here but i think that the curse and first sin seem to be building a relationship. In a way it seems to me like if it hadn’t been for the curse and sin we wouldn’t have been created and if childbirth did happen and Edan was big enough to fit us all in then what would we do… what did Adam and Eve do to pass the time?
This passage explained alot but also raised many more questions like all great reads should.
Comment by Wolverine June 10, 2007 @ 2:12 pmHmm…
It’s not saying that childbirth was part of the curse–it’s saying that pain in childbirth is part of the curse. Shoot, we would have been here…and our mom’s wouldn’t be hanging how long they had us in labor over our heads.
Hmm…a huge Eden. Yet another good question. I don’t know what God would have done.
They had sex and named animals. He he he… Sounds like a plan to me. It also appears that, before the fall, they had conversations with God Himself.
Yeah…I do think it’s key here to realize that sin didn’t have to happen to make people. We don’t need to thank God for sin. I don’t think that’s the idea here. I think it’s more the fact that, even though sin came into this world, good is still coming out of us as the human race. God is injecting goodness into what would otherwise be a pretty raw deal for humans.
But, I can tell you right now (without out any hesitation) that I would prefer naming animals, having sex, and talking to God over anything else this life has to offer!
Comment by supermannino June 10, 2007 @ 2:19 pm