The “Fall” of man & “Original Sin”
Genesis 2 – 8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil... 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die…" 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man…
Genesis 3 – 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' " 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." 11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" 12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate..." 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel..." 22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Christians read this and reminisce over the fact that sin was brought into this world by our ancestors and that God had to send His son to die for us to rid us of its curse. Now when I read this story I cringe to think how many people are kept in the darkness and ignorance by the church. First, God is classified as “our Father”. He is supposed to be the keeper, guardian and parent of his children. However, if He really exists in the form of the Bible, He is in fact a sadistic and undeserving parent. I believe you are shocked at my statement, but let me explain why I say so.
Adam and Eve have no knowledge of what is good and what is evil. They are ignorant in that sense, as young children. The serpent tells them they will not die and should eat the fruit. They have no way of knowing that they are being deceived or that to disobey God’s order is wrong, thereby evil. Therefore, they eat of the fruit. God punishes them and now only, they know the difference between good and evil. If God is omnipotent, omniscient, omni benevolent, why did He place that tree in the middle of the garden? Didn’t He already know that they would eat of the tree? He should, He is God. Where is the free will? God could have stopped the suffering of billions of people if He only removed that tree from the garden. The Garden of Eden was supposed to be God’s special place. How did the serpent (Satan) get in without God knowing? If God is omniscient, He was supposed to know what Satan was up to. Some would like to use the excuse that God tested man and that man had the choice not to eat of the fruit. Like most if the Christian reasoning, it is full of holes and misunderstanding of their own scriptures. How can God test man to see if he is going to disobey His order, while man has no understanding that disobeying the order is wrong and not eating the fruit is right? They only knew the difference after they ate of the fruit!
Let us put this story in another way. A mother places her 2 young children in a playpen. With the children she places an exposed electrical heater in the pen with them, and turns it on. She tells them not to touch it, or they will be punished. She wants to see if they will obey her. The children, not knowing better, touch the heater and burn themselves. The mother is so furious with them that she places them in an orphanage. Sounds familiar…?
Another way to put it is that a father of 2 children places them in a room to play. With them, he places just-baked cookies in the middle of the room. He tells them that they can do what ever they want but they are not allowed to eat the cookies, or they will die. As the father leave, an older brother comes along and speaks with his younger brother and sister. They tell him that if they should touch the cookies they would die. The older brother laughs it off and tell them that grown-ups always says that and that they just want the cookies for themselves. The children, not knowing any better, eat some of the cookies. When the father finds out he kicks them out of the house and tells them to fend for themselves. Again, does it sound familiar?
Do you see the resemblance between these two parents and God the “Father” of the bible?
That God had to ask what happened and had to ask where they were when hiding… It is surprising to see that God did not know what happened while He was “away”. Where do you think He went? No, rather do not answer.
Genesis 3 22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."
We cannot be sinful because we disobeyed His order; we were completely ignorant of what is right and what is wrong. The only reason I can see why we are labelled sinful is that we now know what is good and what is evil. It is also intriguing to realise that man now, is just like God. What then makes God not sinful? Is He allowed being sinful and we are not? God acted in fear when He banished man from the garden. The only difference I see between us and God is that He still has the tree of life and we do not!
Continuing on the subject of the fall of man, let us look on how “Original Sin” affects humanity as a whole. After the “fall”, Adam and Eve had two children. According to the “Original Sin” theory, they would have been born with sin. The bible is not very clear (as with a lot of things) on where the wife’s of Cain and Able came from. The bible also does not explain how two people can populate the entire earth. Biologically it is impossible. In any case, let say God created more people to overcome the biological problem. The question now arises as to when they were created! If they were created before the “fall”, in the garden then they were punished, unfairly, on the grounds of what Adam and Eve did. Does this sound like a just God to you? Ok, say they were created after the “fall” and then God had to create them with sin! Does that sound like a just and merciful God to you?
Do you see the theory of “sin” brought into the world by man is a lie! If it did happen as the bible tells, then you are serving an unjust God and undeserving Father.
Genesis 3 17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
Let us realize what has actually happened here. Adam and Eve had eaten of the fruit and are now, apparently sinful because they know the difference between good and evil. However, God has cursed the earth and not man! Even after Adam and Eve had “sinned”, nothing has change in this paradise world they were living in. Only after God cursed the earth did death, pestilence, drought, floods etc come into the world. Before this He was keeping everything in check with his God Magic, but now man will suffer for all his time on earth. Do you think all the animals were vegetarian before the “fall”? Is there any logical reason why He would curse his own creation?
