God is love. God is
good, patient, and forgiving. So, why
does the first biblical interaction between God and people end in His intolerance
and rejection? Actually, it doesn’t. Without the unbiblical constraints of
perfectionism, the Eden stories
reveal God’s true nature.
Long before Jesus was born, Persian, Egyptian, and Greek
“perfection” ideologies seeped into the Hebrew cultural mindset in the same way they absorbed the neighboring
Canaanites’ beliefs. They
did not realize it was happening. Religious
theology distorted God’s love into disrespect, patience into wrath, and
forgiveness into condemnation. Christian
Gnosticism injected more stipulations. Some
of these remain imbedded as dogma to this day.
Readers cannot imagine the Eden
stories or God without the burden of this altered perspective. Believers say God is all-knowing, all-powerful,
and completely just. Yet, the
“perfection” perspective represents God as ignorant of what was about to happen,
incompetent to correct the problem, and over-reactive to the situation He
created.
Perfectionism makes sin more powerful than God, since it
easily corrupted His perfect universe and forced Him to retreat to heaven. Perfectionism elevates His purity until He
became intolerant of sin and redeems only those few who follow a narrow set of vague
rules. Pitilessly, He sends everyone
else to everlasting torment.
Except, those actions make God just like the gods of the
Persians, Egyptians and Greeks. If God is
no different from all the others, then He too is a myth. But, that is not who He is and not what He
made. If God wanted perfectly proper
people, then we could not be tempted.
A natural interpretation of the Eden
stories removes the overburden of unbiblical perfectionism. It proclaims that the Creator is not like all
the other gods. He retains control over
events that only seem to disrupt His plan.
He devised the scenario in the garden, which means the opportunity to
sin was good for humanity because we now have the choice to not sin. He set the conditions for free will and laid
out just consequences when sin happened.
When you read the Eden
stories, remember God’s love, patience, and forgiveness guides His
actions. He is in control.
To be continued:
[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard
Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]
Eden Revisited #3:
The Garden River
Eden Revisited #4:
Humanity’s Origins
Eden Revisited #5:
Creation of Death
Eden Revisited #6:
Curse? What Curse?
Eden Revisited #7:
Original Sin Theology
Eden Revisited #8:
The Lesson of Blessing
Genesis Revisited
Also in this series:
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 #6:
Curse? What Curse?
Eden Revisited #7:
Original Sin Theology
Eden Revisited #8:
The Lesson of Blessing
Also see series: