Imagine it’s the end of the day and God has decided to walk in
the garden to enjoy the evening breeze.
God looking for a deeper relationship and holy conversation,
realizes Adam and Eve are hiding, so God asks, “Where are you?”
God knows their emotional and spiritual condition since they
are afraid and hide shamefully knowing they are naked.
God, acting like a prosecuting attorney, asks, “Who told you
that you were naked?”
Then the Blame game begins.
Adam, avoiding responsibility for eating the fruit of the
tree, responds by indirectly blaming God for giving him woman.
God asks the woman for her testimony, “Who told you?”
She blames the serpent for deceiving her into eating the
fruit; a really bad choice because it results in being banished from the Garden
of Eden.
God concludes the questioning and acts as the judge.
The verdict for the snake is to crawl on its belly and for the
woman to be its constant adversary.
This verdict is an ongoing struggle.
Between Adam, Eve, and the serpent, only the serpent is
cursed.
God has pronounced the verdict with the caution, “be careful
who you listen to.” in your imperfect attempts at learning to become the
responsible, caring adults you are created us to be.
The Garden of Eden story reminds us that God is always walking
and ready to talk with us as we work to
overcome polarization, extreme hatred, and fear of others.
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