Adam and Eve.

Adam lived happily with his wife, Eve, in Eden. He enjoyed the fruits of Eden and the animals for his direct sustenance. Man did not work at that time. God only says this to Adam after he has sinned. Cursed be the ground for you. With toil shalt thou feed upon it. Thorns and thistles shall bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herbs of the field. Did God thus predestine man for agriculture? I suppose so. The sin must have been committed sometime just before the beginning of man, the farmer. Suppose we assume that the biblical paradise on earth was probably at the source of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers as far as Lake Van in modern-day Turkey. In that case, we are in the land of earliest agriculture, even according to archaeologists. This area is considered to be the cradle of agriculture. If we look at the archaeological sites from this area and the Book of Genesis, the fall of man into sin can most likely be dated between 10,000 and 9,000 years before Christ. What led man to sin in the first place?

The Book of Genesis says. The serpent was more crafty than all the beasts of the field and told the woman. Did God say you can’t eat from any tree of Eden? The woman replied. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of paradise, but we must not eat of the fruit of the midst of paradise lest we die. But the serpent said. No, you will not die. God knows that the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Him. What’s the point? The plain biblical text tempts us to look for the cause of sin in temptation and disobedience to sin. Just why was man obedient for such a long time? All of a sudden, he rebelled. The cause must have been some extraordinary discovery. What a discovery it was. The serpent in the Garden of Eden speaks plainly. Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.

What does the tempter want to accomplish? Disobedience? Hardly. We know that disobedience is a transgression that brings discord and unrest, but only temporarily. Love remains. Satan needed something much more. He needed to convince the man that he was enough on his own. That is why God is God, and he is enough for himself. And the temptation is directed toward this feeling of man. I am enough for myself. I don’t need God. If I believe this, the logical conclusion follows. If I have everything by myself, I can do everything I need to live, so God does not exist. In this reasoning lies the whole mystery of original sin.

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