Posted on 11/19/2011 7:23:19 PM PST by pastorbillrandles
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:(Genesis 3:1-4)
The gospel begins in a God-given garden of delight, with a very simple cast of characters, Adam, Eve, the serpent, and God. The man and woman were given but one negative commandment by God, a prohibition. They were commanded not to eat of one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil. A vast array of other beautiful, fruit bearing trees were theirs to enjoy at will.
We can only know what went wrong with the world, and with the human race, by Divine revelation. God would have to show us what went wrong with the world, and He has. The man and the woman were undermined by the subtlety of the Serpent, they were seduced into repudiating God and siding with the serpent in his primeval rebellion against God.
I believe that an understanding of Genesis three is essential to a proper perspective on all of the rest of the gospel. It is important to see that the same thing that happened in Genesis three is played out on a larger, worldwide scale in the last days leading up to the final judgment of the world and the consummation of the purposes of God. Genesis three is both history and eschatology.
Now the Serpent was subtil…but can a snake be subtil? Isn’t subtlety a feature of intelligence? Subtlety is an attribute that can only be given to a responsible, moral being, therefore the scripture itself is being subtle, for it is implying that something more than a mere reptile is involved in this story.The serpent is the vehicle for another malevolent personality.
We are told without explanation, that the snake spoke to the woman. We remember that to the man, Adam, had been given the task of naming all of the animals. The act of naming the animals carries with it the idea that the one who names, has dominion over the ones named. This is in accord with the original commission given to the man, to rule over creation.
But something is amiss, for in the fact that the serpent spoke to the woman, there is rebellion against the divine order. It is the man’s wife that the serpent addresses, not the man standing there, the one who named the serpent. Obviously there is something very much out-of-order here.
The method of seduction is enlightening. The serpent probes the understanding of the woman, not by proposition but by loaded question;
,I>Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
What a masterpiece of insinuation! He is not saying that God did say that, nor is he denying God said that, he is merely asking a question.
Yet the question itself is slanted- it could be paraphrased, ,b>Did God really deny you the freedom to eat of every tree of the garden? The serpent insinuated that God’s sole limit upon the couple was altogether unreasonable, not by stating so, but just by asking the loaded question.
The woman’s response offered the serpent clues to the couple’s inner state, openings to exploit;
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Her answer betrayed a slight hint of dissatisfaction. First, she maximised the prohibition of God, (though not as greatly as the serpent ), by saying that not only were they not to eat of the tree, they weren’t even supposed to touch it! Thus she portrayed her benevolent, Creator in a harsh light, as though he were being unreasonable.
Secondly she minimized the sanction, by saying that God said , lest ye die, when originally God had said, You shall surely die! As if it may or may not be true that those who transgress the word of God are liable to the revealed punishments. Maybe not?
Now the Serpent perceived that the couple, (for Adam had been standing there also ),were ready to hear God’s Word openly denied;
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die…
God had already said that the day you eat of the tree of knowledge , literally, “In dying you shall die”, but the serpent’s new ‘word’ was a direct contradiction of God’s word.
The subtlety of the Serpent is first to make an indirect appeal, not to the man whom God ordained to name and rule, but to the woman who was to be his helpmeet. It is a distortion of the Divine order. The confusion of the God assigned gender roles is a sign of satanic influence.
Secondly the Serpent seeks to call into question the revealed word of God. He ever hisses, Hath God really said…? In the modern age, the faith of millions has been ravaged through the virulent attacks on the veracity of scripture by groups such as the higher critics, and the so-called Jesus seminar.
Liberal theology has made a corpse of the mainstream protestant churches and is now marshalling its troops for an all out infiltration and attack on the evangelical church.
Through his servants, apostate ministers, the serpent currently suggests that the God of the Bible is harsh, ‘fundamentalist’, demanding and unreasonable. Through the new preachers, the serpent offers a new and improved “god” of love and mercy. In fact more than mercy, the new ‘God’ presented by liberal theology and the ‘emergent’ stream of the church is indulgent, tolerant of every kind of ‘lifestyle’, for he is a ‘God’ of “unconditional love”.
The serpent also is adamant that no one is “surely going to die”, for the new ‘God’ is too tender to damn anyone to hell. A fiery Hell as a place of punishment for the reprobate, is now seen as a ‘barbaric notion’ held on to by fundamentalists, a holdover from the dark ages. Religion has evolved such a sadistic concept of God.
Finally, when the serpent percieves that we are ready to recieve it, he offers an alternative “Word” in the place of the Word of God. These days there are many “words” from God and many “gospels”. We must be very near the final judgment.
The modern evangelical church has been undergoing this seduction for at least the past fifty years. Steadily the Bible colleges and seminaries have made on accommodation after another to the Spirit of the Age, in its constant question, Hath God really said…? Thousands of sons and daughters of Bible believing christians have been sent to study theology only to lose all faith in God as a result of the experience!
We are finally to the point where it is becoming easier and easier for ministers, theologians, christian musicians and television personalities to openly deny the Word of God. Jesus’ teaching on Creation, marriage, divorce, Heaven, Hell, Judgment, homosexuality, morality, love , the exclusivity of the gospel, all are being attacked and in many cases denied.
If judgment begins in the house of God, what shall become of the ungodly and the sinner?
more to come…
No, but it's in one of the creeds...
You might have thought it was funny but it was deadly serious. Heavy on the deadly. The simple gospel of Jesus is “believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved-and your house”. Add to that at your own peril.
And still there were thousands of souls saved prior to those creeds. Go figure.
“Am I alone?”
No. While threads like these can be enlightening, interesting, etc. - I find that in the end they are not all that helpful. Sort of the “how many angels can fit on the head of a pin”.
It helps to get back to the facts.
We live in a sinful world - people do bad things to us.
I am sinful - I do bad things to myself and to others.
I am proud - and push against God and his guidance and direction. ALL the time!
Life is too hard, too much pain, and too much suffering. Would be best to just kill oneself and have it all done with.
That last part is from Satan - and whispered or shouted in my ear many times. That is why the scriptures are so important - and KNOW that GOD LOVES YOU!
I recall the story about a gal. Her husband was killed in Iraq. A child died shortly thereafter. Then she lost the home. Then another child became severely long-term ill. She talked about how she couldn’t understand God, doubted her faith, gave up believing most everything in the Bible - and she threw it all out. Except for the one verse that says something like “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him...”
She didn’t understand God. She didn’t understand the Bible, she didn’t even understand this verse. But she said “EVERYHING was gone - and the ONLY thing left was that one verse.” But she held onto its promise.
But perhaps most importantly - know that God loves you.
Thank you, I need to hear that and also that I am not alone. So many Christians I know seem to be so much happier, better than I am, I wonder if I am the only one who is in this mess, this fight, it’s like I am the bottle of the barrel Christian when I compare myself to them, they seem to have it altogether, or least do a good job of not showing the struggles.
“..or least do a good job of not showing the struggles.”
Yeah - we’re pretty good at that! Although I know when I have been in a small group of Christians (8 or so), studying the Bible and getting to know one another we all open up more. But it takes awhile to build a level of trust - and it takes a commitment. But it is really great to have a small group of fellow believers to trust. Not that I agreed with them on everything! But I did trust them.
Tell me more about creeds. They are useless without the gospel. THAT is the POINT of Christianity. The finished work of Christ on your behalf. The free gift of salvation by grace through faith in His finished work. Not there. But everything else is. Everything but the ONE thing you need for salvation..
that's what we're looking at some day. (I don't know if that qualifies as a standard answer or not)
The way I figure it is we have the choice here on earth. When we die, God seals that choice.
Am I alone?
No. I'm looking forward to the day when that old nature isn't dragging me down all the time. And it will be a choice I've made of my own free will.
*B* Definitely *B*. When you see everyone in church and they're all smiling and everyone asks how someone else is doing and they all say *Great!* (IMO) they're lying.
It's just that nobody really thinks that the person asking really wants to hear an honest answer.
So everyone goes through life smiling and pretending that nothing is wrong and that makes everyone else, like me, think that I'm the only one with problems and struggles.
The problem with sharing, though, is that it often leaves you vulnerable and open to being hurth through betrayal of the person you thought you could trust sharing with.
Relationships that take that level of trust take time to build and most people don't have that kind of time these days.
“...and open to being hurt through betrayal of the person...”
My 14-year old daughter is going through a real tough time now - even to the point of counseling. One of the things in the counselor’s brochure was talking about how counseling at first may create MORE hurt and pain. Because instead of hiding it we are bringing them out into the open to deal with them. It was a good point that I hadn’t thought of.
And she is VERY good at hiding her distress - she’s the happiest, most caring and upbeat kid I know! (Well, happy and upbeat on the outside anyway.)
I’ve learned the hard way that the only way to deal with issues is to confront them and when that happens, yeah, it comes with the pain that came with it the FIRST time.
What I think happens is that when we’re hurt we bury the feelings deep and the pain goes away and we make the mistake of thinking that we’re over it because it doesn’t hurt any more. But the real reason it doesn’t hurt any more is simply because we only did a really good job of burying the feelings really deep.
But confronting them and dealing with them in Christ, which means mostly with honesty and forgiveness, is the ONLY way to be free.
Eve was not there when ADAM was told not to eat from the tree.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Gen 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Notice what is told to Adam
Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Adam knew exactly what was told to him and he ate it anyway.
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
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