-
†. Gen 3:1b . . He said to the woman,
A characteristic of Eden's world was not only a lack of human death, but also
a lack of fear. Man feared neither himself, nor the other creatures, nor the
dark, nor the boogie man.
The woman displayed no recorded astonishment whatsoever when the
Serpent spoke to her; which suggests it had associated with the Adams on
other occasions before this incident; and possibly had become a close family
friend. Before making its move to wreck their life, the Serpent more than
likely spent some time in advance nurturing a rapport with the Adams so the
woman would have no cause for alarm when it approached; and would.
therefore not suspect its intentions.
That's actually a pretty effective sales approach. Many years ago I sold
vacuum cleaners for a little while. I was trained to engage potential
customers in chit-chat, a.k.a. small talk, to break the ice and get them to let
their guards down. In other words: to build some trust before I got down to
the predatory business of talking them into buying something expensive that
they could easily get by without.
Being an innocent who had never been exposed to evil, the woman would
certainly never suspect one of God's creatures to be anything but honest and
truthful. Up to this point, Eve wasn't even aware that something called a lie
existed. And actually, she didn't even know what honesty was either
because nobody had taught her anything about it yet.
†. Gen 3:1c . . Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the
garden?
Catching the woman alone, away from her husband's oversight, the Serpent
began subtly introducing a concept which neither she nor Adam had even
imagined before: it is actually possible for a creature to question its maker.
However; that is not a particularly good idea.
"Shame on him who argues with his Maker, though naught but a potsherd of
earth!" (Isa 45:9)
"All the inhabitants of the earth are of no account. [God] does as He wishes
with the host of heaven, and with the inhabitants of the earth. There is none
to stay His hand or say to Him: What have You done?" (Dan 4:32)
Why didn't the Serpent attempt to trick the male before turning to Eve?
Well, Adam was a tougher nut to crack because he got his intel straight from
the horse's mouth and knew the truth very clearly and without ambiguity.
But the woman quite possibly was instructed second hand, in conversations
with her husband; who was, in effect, her personal rabbi. So it would be
fairly easy to convince Eve that maybe she didn't hear her husband
correctly; or worse; that he didn't know what he was talking about. I mean:
isn't there more than one way to interpret the Bible? How do you know your
way is the right way?
Of course it was ridiculous to suggest Eve wase forbidden to eat of "any"
tree. But the Serpent was slowly sneaking up on the woman with subtle
suggestions. Probing for weak points, the Serpent tested her understanding
of God's instructions by asking a question that she should have been able to
answer with relative ease. In response; the woman bounced right back and
quoted God like a pro (or so she thought).
†. Gen 3:2-3 . . The woman replied to the serpent: We may eat of the
fruit of the other trees of the garden. It is only about fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said: You shall not eat of it or
touch it, lest you die.
oopsie! Where did God say Adam couldn't "touch" the fruit? He didn't. (cf.
Gen 2:16-17)
The woman adulterated God's instructions by reading something into them
that He didn't actually say. She fell prey to a very human weakness-- not
only of adulterating God's testimony, but of a tendency to make the laws of
God more cumbersome and more strict than they really are.
Adulteration changes the meanings of God's sayings and inevitably leads
people into error. While often containing a kernel of truth, adulterations are
nevertheless not pure truth, but amalgams of truth and human error that
falsify God's teachings and direct people off in the wrong direction; leading
them to believe, and to repeat, things that aren't true. Adulterations are also
very useful for manipulating people to favor the Serpent's wishes rather than
the Lord's. Thus, without their knowing it, they fall in line and become the
Serpent's sheep instead of Christ's.
†. Gen 3:4 . . And the serpent said to the woman: You are not going
to die,
Here we have the beginnings of what's known as a half-truth; which
Webster's defines as: a statement that is only partly true and that is
intended to deceive people. In other words: a half-truth contains a kernel of
truth but not the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Having already tested the woman's interpretation of God's instructions, and
found it in error, the Serpent was understandably encouraged to push on
and attempt to introduce some additional bogus concepts. The woman's fall
is typical. First she adulterated God's instructions. Then she listened to
someone refute them. Next, she will accept the refuter's argument, and then
she will break with God.
NOTE: Something that Christ's believing followers have to be constantly on
guard against is sophistry; which Webster's defines as subtly deceptive
reasoning and/or argumentation (Eph 4:11-14). Cults typically sustain
themselves by means of sophistry; which of course they call reasonable
and/or sensible. But faith isn't built upon only what makes sense to it;
rather, faith is built upon what's revealed to it. So be careful out there; most
especially with door-to-door missionaries armed to the teeth with
humanistic reasoning, semantic double-speak, and clever half truths.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
†. Gen 3:1b . . He said to the woman,
A characteristic of Eden's world was not only a lack of human death, but also
a lack of fear. Man feared neither himself, nor the other creatures, nor the
dark, nor the boogie man.
The woman displayed no recorded astonishment whatsoever when the
Serpent spoke to her; which suggests it had associated with the Adams on
other occasions before this incident; and possibly had become a close family
friend. Before making its move to wreck their life, the Serpent more than
likely spent some time in advance nurturing a rapport with the Adams so the
woman would have no cause for alarm when it approached; and would.
therefore not suspect its intentions.
That's actually a pretty effective sales approach. Many years ago I sold
vacuum cleaners for a little while. I was trained to engage potential
customers in chit-chat, a.k.a. small talk, to break the ice and get them to let
their guards down. In other words: to build some trust before I got down to
the predatory business of talking them into buying something expensive that
they could easily get by without.
Being an innocent who had never been exposed to evil, the woman would
certainly never suspect one of God's creatures to be anything but honest and
truthful. Up to this point, Eve wasn't even aware that something called a lie
existed. And actually, she didn't even know what honesty was either
because nobody had taught her anything about it yet.
†. Gen 3:1c . . Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the
garden?
Catching the woman alone, away from her husband's oversight, the Serpent
began subtly introducing a concept which neither she nor Adam had even
imagined before: it is actually possible for a creature to question its maker.
However; that is not a particularly good idea.
"Shame on him who argues with his Maker, though naught but a potsherd of
earth!" (Isa 45:9)
"All the inhabitants of the earth are of no account. [God] does as He wishes
with the host of heaven, and with the inhabitants of the earth. There is none
to stay His hand or say to Him: What have You done?" (Dan 4:32)
Why didn't the Serpent attempt to trick the male before turning to Eve?
Well, Adam was a tougher nut to crack because he got his intel straight from
the horse's mouth and knew the truth very clearly and without ambiguity.
But the woman quite possibly was instructed second hand, in conversations
with her husband; who was, in effect, her personal rabbi. So it would be
fairly easy to convince Eve that maybe she didn't hear her husband
correctly; or worse; that he didn't know what he was talking about. I mean:
isn't there more than one way to interpret the Bible? How do you know your
way is the right way?
Of course it was ridiculous to suggest Eve wase forbidden to eat of "any"
tree. But the Serpent was slowly sneaking up on the woman with subtle
suggestions. Probing for weak points, the Serpent tested her understanding
of God's instructions by asking a question that she should have been able to
answer with relative ease. In response; the woman bounced right back and
quoted God like a pro (or so she thought).
†. Gen 3:2-3 . . The woman replied to the serpent: We may eat of the
fruit of the other trees of the garden. It is only about fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said: You shall not eat of it or
touch it, lest you die.
oopsie! Where did God say Adam couldn't "touch" the fruit? He didn't. (cf.
Gen 2:16-17)
The woman adulterated God's instructions by reading something into them
that He didn't actually say. She fell prey to a very human weakness-- not
only of adulterating God's testimony, but of a tendency to make the laws of
God more cumbersome and more strict than they really are.
Adulteration changes the meanings of God's sayings and inevitably leads
people into error. While often containing a kernel of truth, adulterations are
nevertheless not pure truth, but amalgams of truth and human error that
falsify God's teachings and direct people off in the wrong direction; leading
them to believe, and to repeat, things that aren't true. Adulterations are also
very useful for manipulating people to favor the Serpent's wishes rather than
the Lord's. Thus, without their knowing it, they fall in line and become the
Serpent's sheep instead of Christ's.
†. Gen 3:4 . . And the serpent said to the woman: You are not going
to die,
Here we have the beginnings of what's known as a half-truth; which
Webster's defines as: a statement that is only partly true and that is
intended to deceive people. In other words: a half-truth contains a kernel of
truth but not the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Having already tested the woman's interpretation of God's instructions, and
found it in error, the Serpent was understandably encouraged to push on
and attempt to introduce some additional bogus concepts. The woman's fall
is typical. First she adulterated God's instructions. Then she listened to
someone refute them. Next, she will accept the refuter's argument, and then
she will break with God.
NOTE: Something that Christ's believing followers have to be constantly on
guard against is sophistry; which Webster's defines as subtly deceptive
reasoning and/or argumentation (Eph 4:11-14). Cults typically sustain
themselves by means of sophistry; which of course they call reasonable
and/or sensible. But faith isn't built upon only what makes sense to it;
rather, faith is built upon what's revealed to it. So be careful out there; most
especially with door-to-door missionaries armed to the teeth with
humanistic reasoning, semantic double-speak, and clever half truths.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=