Eden Revisited #6: Curse? What Curse?

Biblically, God never cursed Adam and Eve.  That word appears in the section titles, which Christians added later.  Without the unbiblical constraints of perfectionism, God’s “anger” softens into words of love, mercy, and forgiveness.

The Creator came to the frightened humans gently, just as He had always done.  He knew exactly what they had done.  He always knows.  God cursed the serpent with words filled with anger, but not the people.  He cursed the ground, yet placed no curse upon Man or Woman. 

He gave them the chance to repent but knew they would play pass-the-blame.  Instead of curses, God simply tells them how knowledge and sin would change their lives and their children’s lives.  Babies would have larger heads to store larger brains, so producing children would become difficult.  Desire would distort relationships with each other, with the world, and with God.  People would exhaust themselves providing for their growing communities.  Their intellect would deceive them by believing they were separate from all creation, yet when they died, their body would again become the dust of its origin.

The naming of Eve always stumped me, until the unbiblical anger was removed.  Adam was no longer afraid.  God’s voice put him at ease.  Then the man suddenly realized that he was going to be a dad, so he gave his wife a name in honor of that future joy.

Instead of immediately expelling repulsively sin-stained humans, God spent time teaching His children how to tan animal hide for clothing.  Only when they were ready did He send them out of the safe garden.  Likewise, He did not kill Cain for murder.  God gave a warning before it happened.  Afterward, God spoke gently until a lie came out.  Then, God laid out the consequences, which included a curse that simply changed Cain’s occupation.  Again, instead of immediately expelling a murderer, God eased the man’s fears with a mark before sending him out too.  Their Creator gave grace freely.

The people lived with the consequences of their actions.  In everything, God controlled the situations.  Yet, religion forced God to hate those He loved.  It painted a scene almost violent with condemnation.  It propagates self-loathing and rejection from God.  Where does God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness fit into such an interpretation?  Is love, mercy, and forgiveness only for the perfect?  No, Jesus told us to be better than perfect.

Biblically, humans gained God-like knowledge and learned lasting shame.  This transformation made us more like Him.  Even though we sin, God sees our potential goodness.  Through our shame, we learn to act more like Him.  Each lesson teaches love, mercy, and forgiveness, a state that holds no shame.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Eden Revisited #1: Powerful Love vs. Limited Perfection

Eden Revisited #2: A Safe Place to Grow

Eden Revisited #3: The Garden River

Eden Revisited #4: Humanity’s Origins

Eden Revisited #5: Creation of Death

Eden Revisited #7: Original Sin Theology

Eden Revisited #8: The Lesson of Blessing

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited