Note to all, I spelled Subtil in the title the way it was spelled in the KJV I quoted,i know,I know, it is spelled Subtle in modern usage.
ping
God’s big mistake was in lying to Adam and Eve, he shouldn’t have told them they were going to die, he should have told them the absolute truth about the tree, thereby taking away the Devil’s most compelling argument: That God lied.
No, she embellished what God said, although Adam was probably the guilty one since it was he that got the instruction directly from God - not Eve. Anyway, that embellishment was all the room that satan needed.
When Eve decided to rely on her own interpretation of the Word without any regard for how Adam understood the Word she was already disobeying God by usurping the authority God had given to Adam. Once she refused to acknowledge the authority of Adam. She had become a usurper and would inevitably seek to usurp the authority of God as well.
The real subtlety of the Serpent wasn't how he presented temptation. It was in speaking directly to Eve while ignoring Adam and thereby recognizing her usurpation of authority as legitimate. Once Eve had been flattered by being recognized as the highest authority on His Word, simply suggesting to Eve that eating from the tree would grant her authority equal to God was all it took. She had already decided there was no reason to stop with just ignoring the authority God had placed over her when she could just as easily ignore the authority of God as well.
I believe this to be allegorical, like the creation of the universe and the world. But quite real in that God created the world, and the essence of sin as the human mind began to abstract information from its environment.
Well, as applicable today, what happened was the devil, who seems to have a victim entitlement mentality, seeing it as unfair that God has all the “wealth” power and position which the unworthy devil selfishly lusted for, sought to instill that “root of bitterness by which many may be defiled” (Heb. 12:15) in Eve, seeing she was the “oppressed class.”
The message was just that, inferring that she was being treated unfairly by God, the judicial and moral authority who was selfishly controlling the wealth in keeping Eve via an oppressive law from possessing the unique knowledge of good and evil.
And thus, having enlightened Eve to her oppressed status in Paradise, the (democrat) devil, in the original “share the wealth” and food equality act, enticed Eve to take the wealth by an act of revolutionary defiance.
So the mother of all living ate of the fruit, and not wanting to be alone in her guilt, gave Adam to eat, who went along with the rebel, thus incurring the spiritual death penalty and other effect of not striving lawfully.
And rather than this resulting in an “occupy Eden” scenario, the Landowner drove them out with two secret service types, who were not to be messed with, and instead Adam and Eve lost what they had and instead sweated in a “workers paradise,” though the Landowner was yet gracious to them and enabled pardon and reconciliation, and a paradisaical future for them who trusted Him. (You male like the poem here http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/CREATION2CONSUMATION-POEM.html)
It is obvious how applicable this is to us today, personally and societally. As i know too well myself, the devil works to foster the idea that God is malevolent, intent on our failure, and who does not have our best interest in mind, and you can see his success in the rage of militant atheists, and or he works to make souls see themselves as oppressed victims of those who have things, especially if they did so by hard work and developing their talents etc. The idea is that simply not having what others have makes you a victim, and justifies climbing up some other way (cf. Jn. 10:1) than that which is right, like demanding that those who have what did not achieve by work to divest themselves of what they gained by so doing, or that it be taken from them.
This rebellion then is against the very laws and principles that are necessary and just, not only that of requiring one to show himself responsible and worthy of power and privilege, but which restrains lust. And which even allows just principled dissent and charity and lawful opportunity toward the legitimately oppressed. What the western “liberal” mind wants is a Garden of Eden without God and the laws which are necessary because of the Fall, and instead basically hopes for a deified government which will supply them all they want with no moral demands, or restraints to pleasure, including clothes. And the OWS protest is much about the failure to achieve that 60’s dream (which results in what was seen in Haight Ashbury), with only drugs coming close to experiencing it, and which “hope and change” promised, and their anger is against the very capitalistic, earn-your-bread by diligence work and patience system which rewards such, and which is what actually materially supplies what they have.
And the “seminaries’ for this movement are the universities its evangelism is via the MSM.
This is not to say there is no place for dissent, but the rebellion of the devil was not based on God being selfish or malevolent, as He needs nothing, (Acts 17:25) and is always giving, and requires worship because it is right and to our benefit to worship what is supremely holy and can never fail, versus that of the finite creation which will fail and can deceive. In contrast, what the devil wanted was a selfish sharing of the wealth which he was not worthy of and which would be misused.
The tactics then that the devil used in the Garden is what is behind the present rebellion as well as that of Communism, and while they are often based upon some legitimate oppression, the real rebellion is against any moral and judicial authority that upholds just laws and accountability, reflective of God’s principles which the devil sought to controvert, and what they replace it with is typically far worse than what they had rebelled against, either in anarchy or the kind of oppression which often results from it.
The dissent of the Founders in America was not based on such a basic animus against authority, but against long standing abuses of power and an overreach which was no long necessary, which they replaced with more just and tempered accountable authority, but which depends upon its people being sufficiently governed from within by God and conscience , so they need not be governed from without by the gun of government. Thanks be to God though we see that being rejected and its results today, and thus need to pray. And preach.
Ping.
Seems that when Satan attacks, the first thing he goes for is the veracity of the word of God.
We still see him getting the same mileage out of this technique today as there are millions falling for it hook, line, and sinker, as they add extra Biblical teachings to the Word of God.
Let’s approach the events there in Eden from another angle,
What would have been the case had Adam and Eve NOT sinned? Had Eve said, Nope, no way, Serpent! then what would have happened to both Adam and Eve?
To boot, God created man with a primal urge to test, explore, and discover. Anyone with children knows that the surest way to have them do something dangerous is to tell them not to do it.
And on top of all that, God allowed Satan to have free access to his creations in order to tempt them.
Either Genesis is an allegory, or the garden was a setup for enslavement.
< flame suit>
I have an honest question, please don’t give the standard answers on this about free will and all that.
The bible teaches us that someday there will be no more sin or crying or tears. Why did God allow us to go through all this? I mean, what if God offered us free will, or gave us a choice to have it removed, that is, the desire to sin at all? I think I would have chose the latter. If your mind immediately thought “well that would be no fun then” that is the sin nature talking, fun is basking in the presense of God saying Holy, Holy, Holy, that is what I want. But I hate myself because of sin, I feel dirty, unworthy, and no all about God’s grace that he covers my sin through Jesus’s blood, but still, I feel lost sometimes, it is a misery to exist for me right now. I would have surely chosen to have my ability to choose removed.
Am I alone?