Genesis: The fall of mankind, Adam, Eve or the serpent to be blamed?

. . . . S T A T U S

Mood : =) 

It has been quite some time I did not update about God's news. I'm on holiday now. Finally, I have some leisure time to update my blog.. I went to a bible class yesterday conducted by Pastor John Moi. He is from Penang. My first impression on him is "urggh..." but after listening to the way he analyses the Bible, I changed my impression on him. So, below is a summary of all the teachings which I would like to share with my readers. I may not be able to remember exactly all but I will try my best to write what I have understood.

Before that, let me throw a question to you regarding the parable of sower.

Are you the kind of seed which is thrown:

1. by the pavement? 
2. on the rock?
3. in the thorns?
4. fertilised soil?

The seed resembles us (Christian or non-Christian). There are 4 different types of seed. It is important that we need to know which type of seed we are. In no matter what we do, it is important for us to know who we really are. Self-identification is necessary. 

1. Seed thrown by the pavement 

Obviously the seed will not grow. There is no water and soil but only strong sunlight. The seed will die eventually. The seed resembles you which means that you will not bring God's gospel to anywhere because you are always weak and fragile in faith.

2. Seed thrown on the rock 

There is a thin layer of soil on the rock. Hence, if a seed is thrown on it, it can survive for a while. However, the seed is not going to grow well because it does not have sufficient water and the nutrients in the soil is too little. Moreover, it is always under the strong sunlight. It will then eventually die too. The seed resembles you which means that you have the root of belief but you are not strong enough to spread God's gospel. 

3. Seed thrown in the thorns 

Thorns are found in cactus. Any seed being thrown into thorns will definitely die. It will not grow into good plant. The thorns resemble obstacles, trials and temptations in life. The seed resembles you who are always tempted by the temptations in life and therefore fail to spread God's gospel. 

4. Seed thrown into fertilised soil

Needless to explain. Any seed which is thrown into fertilised soil will definitely grow healthily. This means that that anybody who thinks that he/she is this type of seed, he/she will definitely be able to spread God's gospel successfully. He/she is probably familiar with God's teachings and the Bible words. 

After knowing yourself, the next important question is: 

Am I a human or a species? 

A human is God's remarkable creation who lives according to God's image.
A species is a living thing who does not live according to God's image.

In order to answer the question above, you need to read Genesis. I agree with the pastor for God has His plan in how He wants the world to be. It is written clearly in the book of Genesis. If you tend to feel lost, read back Genesis. 

Before that, I would like to introduce a term: KINGDOM 

What do you infer about the word "kingdom"? Throw in some adjectives to describe your understanding on kingdom. At first, I feel that a kingdom gives me an imagination of: 

• grand
• beautiful 

After hearing to the explanation, I changed my perception. It should be:

• hierarchical
• a system 
• has a leader and followers 

Why is it important to know this word : KINGDOM? 

Have you ever ask yourself what kind of plot the Bible is made of? It is a very thick book which consists of two testaments. Is there any system working in the Bible? Is there a flow in what you are reading?? 

The answer is: the Bible has a system and it is known as the Kingdom system. I believe that God made the Bible works in such a way because there is a leader in it. Who is he? God, Jesus and the holy spirit. And who are the followers? The disciples and us. 

Now, get the Bible and start reading Genesis 1. Read properly and carefully. You will notice some unexpected discovery about God's remarkable creation. 

Genesis 1

New International Version (NIV)

Genesis 1

The Beginning

 ¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. ³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
 ⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
 ⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
    ¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
 ¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
 ²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
 ²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
    ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
 ²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
   in the image of God he created them;
   male and female he created them.
 ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
    ²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
    ³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

I get this from here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201&version=NIV

I believe that most Christians or even non-Christians have read the book of Genesis. Most Christians probably would have read it more than twice or thrice? We usually read Bible from the first chapter. 

Usually, all we know about the first chapter of Genesis is: God's creations. Have you answered this correctly? So, now, I am going to highlight one word: CREATIONS. 

I am major in Teaching English as a Second Language with Literature minor. I am confident to say that I have a higher level of understanding on English language than ordinary people. With the knowledge of Linguistics, I agree with the speaker saying that, the word CREATIONS is very unique and it has its specific meaning. 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This is the very sentence of chapter 1 Genesis. The Bible uses the word "CREATED". It is a verb originated from the word "CREATIONS". I used plural here because God creates more than one thing. "Create" is a special verb because it involves movements. I argued saying "create" can be imaginary in the sense of mental image creation. Well, that is not the main point to be argued here. The point to highlight is: God uses actions to create this world. From Day 1 to Day 5, God uses His words to create this world. He made day and night, Heaven, seas and earth, seasons, days, years, water creatures and birds. However, when it comes to the sixth day, God clearly tells us that he uses some actions/movements to create humans. To know more about that, you have to continue reading the next chapter of Genesis. 

Genesis 2

New International Version (NIV)

Genesis 2

 ¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
 ² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Adam and Eve

 ⁴ This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. ⁵ Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth^[a]and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, ⁶ but streams^[b]came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. ⁷ Then the LORD God formed a man^[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
 ⁸ Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹ The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
 ¹⁰ A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin^[d] and onyx are also there.) ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.^[e] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
 ¹⁵ The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
 ¹⁸ The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
 ¹⁹ Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
   But for Adam^[f] no suitable helper was found. ²¹So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs^[g] and then closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib^[h] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
 ²³ The man said,
   “This is now bone of my bones
   and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
   for she was taken out of man.”
 ²⁴ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
 ²⁵ Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

God is happy with all His creations for He says, "God sees all His creations as good". In the second chapter of Genesis, we can clearly see that in the process of making man, God put in a lot of effort. Firstly, he gets some soil and creates human according to God's image. 

⁷ Then the LORD God formed a man^[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Different Bible has different way of saying. From what I see in the interlinear Bible, it says that: 

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. 

So God created man in His own image. 

The NIV is a simplified version for easier understanding but undeniably, it eliminates a lot of interesting points. God's initial plan is to create man according to His image. This means that God wants us human to look like Him, learn to be like Him, behave like Him and acts like Him. It is the qualities that God wants us to learn from Him. 

In this chapter, God commanded Adam, the first man on Earth, not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge good and evil. It is very clearly stated that God commanded him ALONE not to eat the fruit. 

¹⁵ The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

   

In Chinese Bible, they use the word 吩咐 which means informing and telling. 

In interlinear Bible (original Hebrew written), they use the word instructing. 

In the NIV Bible, they use the word commanding. 

Hence, in order to understand the underlying meaning of Bible, we should really read the interlinear bible. Some translations may not be that accurate as their word choices are different and this will create slight difference in meanings. 

Please remember that: God only told Adam alone not to eat the fruit. No one else. 

God loves man a lot. He is worried that Adam may feel lonely and He created a companion for him. He made him a woman, which is also known as Eve. 

¹⁸ The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

God gave Adam ultimate power and authority in giving names to all His creations. 

 ¹⁹ Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 

²³ The man said,

   “This is now bone of my bones
   and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
   for she was taken out of man.”

From here, we can see that God loves man a lot and He is willing to give him the rights to name all living things He has created. There is one important point to highlight here is that: God gave Adam high authority and power. 

Now, we need to move on to the third chapter of Genesis. 

Genesis 3

New International Version (NIV)

Genesis 3

The Fall

 ¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
 ⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
 ⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
 ⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
 ¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
 ¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
 ¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
 ¹³ Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
   The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
 ¹⁴ So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
   “Cursed are you above all livestock
   and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
   and you will eat dust
   all the days of your life.
¹⁵ And I will put enmity
   between you and the woman,
   and between your offspring^[a] and hers;
he will crush^[b] your head,
   and you will strike his heel.”
 ¹⁶ To the woman he said,
   “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
   with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
   and he will rule over you.”
 ¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
   “Cursed is the ground because of you;
   through painful toil you will eat food from it
   all the days of your life.
¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
   and you will eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow
   you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
   since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
   and to dust you will return.”
 ²⁰ Adam^[c] named his wife Eve,^[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.
 ²¹ The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ²² And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” ²³ So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side^[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

This NIV Bible has a subtitle for every chapter. The subtitle for this chapter is THE FALL. The fall of what? The fall of mankind. 

Let me throw a question to you to ponder: 

Who causes the fall of mankind? 

Eve or Adam or serpent?  

In this chapter, Eve is deceived by a serpent which influenced her to eat the forbidden fruit. I regard her as innocent and lack of knowledge. She trusted the serpent's words and ate the fruit. Later, she gave to Adam to eat too. Now, beware and look carefully at this quoted line. 

 ⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 

Do you realise anything different with this line?? Read again. 

She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 

This is the main point. Do you see it now? 

who was with her

Now, are you clear? 

Let me repeat my question: 

Who do you think should be responsible of the fall of mankind?? 

The man, Adam or the woman, Eve?

Think carefully. 

Have you got any answer in mind?? 

The answer is ADAM! 

Why? 

Isn't Eve the one who is deceived by the serpent? 

Isn't the serpent who is evil? 

The answer is clearly written in the Bible but we all tend to neglect it. 

Let me repeat the line: 

who was with her

Adam was with her (Eve) when the serpent is deceiving her. 

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 

Do you see it now? The Bible tells us clearly that Adam was with Eve, witnessing how the serpent persuades her to eat the fruit. 

So, another important question is: 

Why should we blame Adam alone?? 

Remember I said earlier, God gave high authority to Adam?

Since God gave high authority to Adam, logically he should have the ability to destroy the serpent or stop it from influencing Eve. 

Yet, he did not do anything but stood there listening and witnessing. 

We all think that the reason he did so is because: 

Adam wanted to see what will happen if Eve ate the fruit. 

Another important point to take note is: 

God told Adam ALONE not to eat the fruit. At that time, Eve was not exist YET. 

So, how is it possible that Eve knows that God commanded them not to eat the fruit? 

The fact that they are forbidden to eat the fruit was told to Adam alone. 

Eve was not informed and therefore, she should not be blamed for creating this sin. 

The main reason  of the fall of mankind was on Adam. 

In fact, most of the bad things today are done by man. 

1. The owner of pornography company? MAN.
2. Tyrant? MAN. 

 ¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Adam threw the blame on Eve. This clearly shows to us that Adam is pushing all the blames to Eve. Then, Eve throws the blame to the serpent. 

 ¹³ Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

   The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Perhaps, this is human nature. It is ugly. We are born with the nature of blaming others when a faulty incident happens. Think about it. 

I am going to put a pause here for the time being. 

It's a long post, long seminar and till here for now.

---

I'd like to include some interesting facts about Bible which some people may be curious about: 

1. Where is Jesus from?

Answer: Middle East.

2. What is the Holy Spirit?

Answer: Holy Spirit is God's spirit. 

3. How many names God has?

Answer: Jehovah, Elohim, El, Adonai, Ilahi, Yahweh (Ieue).