14 - The serpent god

The serpent god

God never left. There was never some great chasm created by sin that we could not cross (without the cross). God was always directly behind us, always pursuing.

However, we turned away. We turned from the God who had been serving us, as we imitated that and served God. We turned away from this true relationship, one that ignored power to something else, we turned to a new God based on our traumatic experience. We turned to the serpent.

Above all the serpent is about power. Everything is a power relationship. The relationship that Adam and Eve had with God prior to meeting the serpent is gone. Relationships between subjects as subjects are damaged. Relationships for the sake of enjoying the other, relationships for the sake of relationships without considering power are all gone.

Replacing this is power. Every relationship is now dominated by power dynamics between the individuals involved. Relationships shift into the objectification of other subjects based on power, subjects are now tools to fulfill personal objectives.

This even reforms their conception of God. Now that they are aware of the power differential between God and creation, something which had been irrelevant before, contrary to their own lived relationship and experience with God they now conceive God in a manner informed by their experience with the serpent. God is reformed into an image that is based not on their past experience with God but on the experience with the serpent. This new serpent version of God is obsessed with power, one to be feared. This new serpent god can have its ego damaged by creation, it is a god that needs to control creation, it is a god that demands respect, one that demands perfection from its creation and wrath for mistakes. This serpent god is one that we should hide our vulnerability from, which is precisely what they did.

When viewing the relationship between God and humanity as well as the real and perceived effects of sin, there is an image haunting Christendom: God coming upon Adam and Eve cowering hidden in the garden because they have realized they are naked, and God responding "have you eaten of the tree I commanded you not to eat?" Traditionally this is taken as the first accusation leveled at Adam and Eve and is the catalyst for their denial of responsibility for their error.

Satan means accuser. Is this a good thing? Do Satan and God serve the same function in pointing out weaknesses