This took a dark turn real fast. The serpent meanders to Eve for some reason (turns out it’s Satan, see Revelation 12:9), deceives her, then she and Adam eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Indeed, perhaps only a day or two had passed between their creation and this sad event. (This chapter is found in page 2 of my NKJV Bible, pages 2-3 (Old Testament) of my NASB Bible, and pages 4-5 of both the VOICE and Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copies I have.) The theories that surround the reasons why are many, and each are as far-fetched as the next. While I don’t want to explain any of them, I will say that I once heard a message from a staff member of ASU CRU several years ago (ASU CRU is the student ministry I was a part of during college) — she said Eve was afraid, and Satan could smell fear. I don’t know about the fear thing, but she probably did have questions about her marriage. I know I don’t want to make any woman I tie the knot with (if I have the chance to do that) question her sanity with any questions.
What I’m about to say won’t be found in many churches across the world and will probably get people angry, but the idea that sin comes from people and only people to omit the reality of demonic influence that Satan had started is a lie from Satan himself. This false teaching has been imprinted on a Bible translation at least once, and that adds to the Word of God, and He won’t forgive anyone who does this (Revelation 22:18-19), for it is a way to reject Him. I speak like this because it is one way to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, and spoiler alert: this won’t be the last time I speak against a sin that rejects Jesus according to His Word in Matthew 12:31-32. There are many ways to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, but thank God blasphemy against Jesus can be forgiven. It’s not as though one can reject Him by accident, either. But if you fear you’ve done this and want prayer that you get close to Him, rest assured in the fact you haven’t done it. I’ve feared this before myself.
As I read this chapter in the four translations I mentioned earlier (by the way, I’ve finished Hosea in the Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) and am up to Matthew 16 in the NASB), I’ll make more and more notes on it. But I won’t get divisive with anything… yet as I read the footnotes of page 5 of the Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy I have, I’ve already found something divisive in footnote e in Genesis. But I won’t get into it now. Besides, it’s not as though God would blame you for something and heap up and actually enjoy condemnation on you or someone else. The one who made the divisive comment on footnote e is dead, though, and he’s in Hell for his godless comments he’s made over the years. Psalm 53 tells us that atheism is a way to reject Jesus, too, but I don’t think we should judge who’s reprobate and who isn’t. No one’s mind is supposed to work like this. Oh, and by the way, I don’t speak of a kind of atheism that is someone saying they don’t believe in God (though that’s still not good), but I’ll get to what the man said in the next chapter. For now, though, I’d like to take my time through this one and get some rest should things get hairy. I have almost 30 hours of work this week, so I don’t think I’ll write much for awhile (I don’t know next week’s work schedule, but they’ll post it on Thursday). I had found the divisive comment two years ago when I began reading that Amplified Bible translation anyway. Such things can only come from Satan himself, but in this case, he spoke through someone else. I don’t know why it was imprinted in the translation I have now or even on the website you can access that translation in.
Also, we were cursed with dreadful stuff as a result of eating of the forbidden fruit, but I really don’t think this should be translated into something unkind. Those who are trying to find the Lord Jesus and want to know Him don’t deserve such hate. Verses 16-19 are indeed some of the most difficult to translate into anything one in his/her right mind can accept. I won’t get into it here, but I love how God made some fur clothing to provide a better covering for Adam and Eve in verse 21. But He kicks them out of Eden so that they can’t live forever. For unfortunately, God was broken-hearted, and it is likely He forgave no one that day, but I don’t have a concise answer as to what exactly happened in their hearts except that shame had won. So Eden became paradise lost, and even to this day it is still closed. No one has ever taken a picture of it, though I think there were paintings of it in the past, but it is probably invisible, too. I just looked up “tree of life” on Google, and none of the images describe it to a satisfying extent. I don’t think those are real “trees of life.”
I’ll make notes on some individual verses or passages in context later. Like I said, this might take a while.
Ron And His Stories 