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Friday, January 13, 2006

being like god - part 1

brian posted an interesting comment to my post on community that i wanted to pick up on in a new post, rather than changing the subject in that thread of comments. brian, i'm expecting some comments from you on this one! because of the length of this post and the theological meatiness, i am splitting it in to 2.

here's what he said...
This brings up another interesting idea I've been working through in the last year: Is knowing the difference between good and evil a bad thing? (And does responsibility come with it?) If not, then might God have let Adam and Eve eat of the tree after they were mature enough to handle it?
the reason this particularly comment struck me is the reference to the garden of eden and the original final destiny that was purposed by god for adam and eve. i think to answer brian's question directly about whether or not god might have let them eat of the tree when they were mature enough to handle it is yes and no.

what if the tree is only symbolic of what adam and eve already knew? what i mean is that god had told adam and eve what was good, "eat any tree you want" and what was evil, "don't eat this one." adam and eve knew right and wrong. this is what makes the serpent's words so tempting. in essence, he questioned god's word, "did god really say..." this is really the crux of every temptation we face today - whether or not we will believe god's word.

when god created adam and eve, he created them in his image and they were to rule over creation on his behalf. with respect to creation, man was god. with respect to god, man was servant. you see this in the psalms when kings are referred to as gods. this is further illustrated when god presents adam and eve with their first set of clothing - animal skins. this is god's way of saying, "you were like god, but now you are like the animals." there is dual purpose to clothing them with animal skins - to cover their guilt resulting from awareness to nakedness and to put them in a new economy.

(i could easily rabbit trail here on the theme of covering and how god is always the one who must provide a covering for guilt and ultimately does it finally through the blood of Christ, but that would be a post in itself. nevertheless it is a glorious theme to meditate upon.)

1 Comments:

At 8:06 AM, January 14, 2006, Blogger ryan sutherland said...

how do you know green didn't get that interpretation from me? huh? huh?

 

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