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A Garden Party—Genesis
The history of mankind beginning in the garden is evidenced as part of
every culture.
אָדָם
,
אָדָם
[
ʾadam
/aw·
dawm
/],
Adam according to the essence of the
Hebrew means of the earth, and
חַוָּה
[
Chavvah
/khav·
vaw
/],
Eve means
spirit. Eve derived flesh from Adam—as flesh of my flesh—and the two
became one in spirit and flesh. Satan came after Eve because she was
spirit—more so than Adam—and deception or the struggle between good
and evil became apparent. God did not desire failure, but once the failure
was revealed a Divine Plan was enacted. This Plan would eventually justify
man in order to reestablish a perfect, prominent place as in the beginning.
The details begin to unfold as the purpose of that plan is revealed in the
lives of people throughout the ages.
Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the LORD God
had made. He [Satan] said to the woman, “‘Did God really say, “you must
not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We
may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not
eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden [
tree of the
knowledge
] and you must not touch it, or you will die.”’ ‘You will not
surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you
eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good
and evil.’”
(Genesis 3:1-22)
This is the origin of sin (misunderstanding); disobedience to precise
instructions deserved justice. However, misunderstanding was and is
relevant to the state of perfection. The proposition that mankind must die
was Satan’s decree not God’s desire, and belief found a place to start, for