13 - Eve and the serpent

Eve and the Serpent

Eve encounters a serpent who promises her an actual good, to help in imitating God. Because it is an actual good on offer, Eve shares this good thing with Adam. And on the surface the serpent is not completely deceiving them, as this is actually true in a very monkey's paw fashion. As they now know that there are choices other than God, just as God knows this. The service that they performed for God, which seemed so natural before, was now a conscious choice. There were now many options and choices other than serving God. The freedom of autonomy is greatly expanded with desire for options other than God. They are afforded the option to truly choose God on their own volition, knowing full well that there are other options available.

However, in their combined weakness they also recognize the unequal power relationship between creation and creator. No longer recognizing the intimate relationship between themselves and God which up to this point they had only experienced without regard to power. They now see the actual power differential, which inspires fear. Despite prior experience that is completely to the contrary, they begin to doubt God’s character and their own experiences. In this fear, they adopt the view of the serpent painting God as possibly not having their best interests at heart.

Imagine the emotions that they are experiencing, possibly for the first time: inadequacy, embarrassment, confusion, shame, fear. Fear and shame are enough to drive them to hide themselves from God, add in embarrassment and the confusion caused by realizing that the world is not what it seemed, and you have the perfect recipe for a founding trauma. Having some PTSD from being completely taken advantage of by the serpent, and completely confused on how God would react, they hide. They have never made a mistake of consequence. Yet God is there.

God doesn’t hang on the mistakes as we do. God made us, God knows we are limited and will make mistakes. All God asks is that we acknowledge responsibility and right the wrong, and this is where Adam and Eve truly stumble.

Ashamed and embarrassed, Adam and Eve finally experience the fall. This is not the actual mistake being made. Mistakes will be made. It is the nature of creation. No, God asks them about what has taken place. Instead of owning up and learning from the mistake, they do the exact opposite. They blame someone else.

The eating of the fruit was never going to be the fall. God always knew we would make mistakes, for it is built into creation. However, the fall begins the moment Adam says “it was her fault”. No longer can God work with humanity to correct their mistakes, as intended. If responsibility is denied, then there can be no learning. Adam and Eve were never abandoned by God because of their impropieties. Instead due to trauma, and the accompanying fear and embarrassment, we turned our own backs toward God and abandoned a true relationship with God.