Adam And Evelyn

After Adam had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to him and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!” The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”

The LORD God then asked the woman, “Why did you do such a thing?” The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”

Then the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.”

The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living. (Genesis 3:9-15,20)

First, God made a mistake.  Snakes do not eat dirt.  They are predators.  One in particular, the python, swallows its prey whole.  So, what’s with God’s command to “eat dirt!” Yes, they crawl on their bellies, but that makes them silent and “sneaky” predators.  By the way, a talking snake!?  Too many people read this story literally, so I wonder about their critical thinking ability.  Metaphors and symbolism are not appreciated and understood.  Much of our Bible is like that and, therefore, misused often in bad ways.  Sometimes I wonder if our children who are taught Bible stories get the correct lowdown.  If not, they leave their class saying to their teachers: “Get-outta-here!”  One of my sons said, “I’m outta there!”

Secondly, God called out to Adam and spoke to Eve.  So, God does look like the old man with the long white hair and with a voice?  I suspect God is a baritone, perhaps like Nat King Cole or James Earl Jones.  Perhaps God is black, or brown.  I suppose His color is in the eye of the beholder.  Then again perhaps She has black curly hair.  We can only guess, can’t we? Then again, to Catholics God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  That latter third suggests no human form.  But aren’t we all made in the image of God.  That image is love, so relationships are key to our understanding of God, as subjective and confusing as it might be.

Thirdly, the man called the woman “Eve.”  I guess she had no choice.  Perhaps she would have preferred “Maeve” or “Evelyn.”  Also, when the woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it,” Eve was pulling God’s “leg.” Why deny herself and Adam the knowledge of good and evil?  We all should eat from the same tree because many of us cannot see the difference between good and evil. Therein lies a big problem for our nation and politicians who don’t know the difference, or they do and pretend evil is good so followers go lockstep behind them thereby risking their souls – if they have any [Sorry. I’m a bit angry and uncharitable this morning].

So, this reading from Genesis is entertaining and fanciful.  Yes, it has meaning, such as watch out for snakes in the grass [I’m joking, or am I?].  Moreover, when we know the difference between good and evil, we are free to choose evil, and we often do.  God knows when we make that choice.  There are consequences when we disobey God.  We injure ourselves and throw ourselves out of the garden.  

Deacon David Pierce