Adam and Eve Banished from the Garden: Punishment or Grace
Posted: Sunday, August 24, 2008
by Teresa Ortiz
Freelance writer/Speaker
Have you ever wondered why God would banish Adam and Eve from the Garden for one mistake-just one sin, no second chances?
Over the years, I have pondered this, reading the account countless times and always coming to the same conclusion. It was the punishment for disobedience. Clear and simple-why should that be a surprise? We all understand choice and consequence.
The wheels started spinning and I went back to Genesis and reread the first three chapters.
We are told God created man in His image--created to live forever in peace and harmony with God and the rest creation.
He told Adam and Eve they could eat the fruit of any tree in the garden except the fruit of the tree of knowledge, which by the way, isn't necessarily an apple.
The story goes on to say the Serpent, who was Satan Himself, swayed Eve by appealing to her desires. Some commentators suggest that Eve may have been close to the tree, even gazing at it when Satan came to her. It makes perfect sense to me-this is another lesson. Getting back to the subject at hand, Adam and Eve chose the way of disobedience.
God warned them that if they should eat the fruit of this tree, in the same day they would die. Sure enough, this is what happened. At that moment, they died a spiritual death, thereby separated from God.
God in His mercy calls out to Adam , "Adam where are you?" God restores them spiritually, by sacrificing an animal. (Sin had to be paid for from the beginning. It's interesting to note that God was not satisfied with their attempt to cover their sin by making clothing out of fig leaves--sound familiar?) Nevertheless, the physical effects and consequence of sin remained, thus the need for God to ban them from the garden. This is one of the rare times we are given the privilege to read an account of a conversation that takes place between God the Father, and His Son Jesus:
"God said, "The man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good and evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of Life and eat, and live forever? Never-this cannot happen! So God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they'd been made. He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of Life." (Genesis 3:22-24 The Message.)
For the record, I don't believe in anyway that this passage reveals that God is jealous of man for knowing good and evil, as many suggest. Rather, it reveals that God is concerned for man because he knows that knowing the difference between good and evil doesn't mean we will always choose good. I don't think any of us can ague this point.
With this new thought in my mind, I read this passage in a way I never did before. Why wouldn't God want them to live forever if they were created to live forever? I have come to believe the reason is Grace--Sweet Grace.
Once Adam and Eve chose to sin, their physical bodies were corrupted, they immediately started to die--along with everything else. All of creation was subject to death as a result of their choice (Wow! It makes me wonder what the lasting effects of my sin will be).
If Adam and Eve did not obey and stay away from the tree of knowledge, why in the world would they stay away from the tree of life? How much more desirable is living forever? Isn't this what people are striving for today? Why anyone would want to live forever in this body of decay is beyond me.
This brings me to my point and my understanding of God's choice.
IF Adam and Eve had remained in the garden, surely they would have been tempted to eat from this tree of life. It must have been beautiful with fruit so luscious--fruit that probably doesn't exist today.
What would have been the result? They would have lived forever in their fallen state with no chance for physical redemption, no chance for a new Eden-a better Eden. A life filled with pain and heartbreak. Plant's dying, animals dying--animals eating animals--you name it. It would be forever. Everything you are going though would be forever.
God banned them to protect them because He loved them. He also loved the rest of his creation. So now, Adam had to tend to the ground because it was also corrupt. It would no longer yield the fruit and vegetables of its own accord. I believe you get the picture.
Although I easily accepted the thought that they were banned as punishment, God opened my understanding and has shown me a more excellent way--the way of Grace.
The story doesn't end here, this is just the beginning--the Tree-of Life still exists and as of today is still guarded. When the fullness of time comes, there will a day when the fire in front of the tree will go out.
The great news is when that day comes there will be no corruption, everything will be restored and those who have chosen to receive the gift of God's grace through His Son Jesus Christ will have access to this tree.
For further study on the effects of the fall, read the book of Romans. If you would like some assistance in your study, I suggest Kay Arthur, Bruce Bickle and Stan Jantz's Christianity 101 series, and of course, you can always contact me.
Teresa Ortiz
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Top-level comments on this article: (10 total)Hi Teresa,I had always thought that Adam and Eve were banished from the garden as a punishment as well, I never even thought of it as God's way to protect them. Great article as usual! :) Have a great week!LisaHi Lisa,It took me awhile to process this and compare it with the message of grace we find in the entire Bible. Once I did that, it made so much sense and I feel a new sense of peace regarding that portion of Scripture.Now I can move on to the next :-)Thank you for your input and your comments. I really appreciate them. God bless you bunches!Adam and Ever were not banished from the garden for any reason other than to keep them away from the tree of life. We are told that Adam was put in the garden to work, not to become the father of the human race, since Eve was an afterthought, created only when God could not find a suitable helper for Adam among the animals. Adam and Eve had no concept of right or wrong, meaning they were just slaves created to work the garden where the Gods lived. When the couple ate of the tree of knowledge and became like the Gods, knowing good and evil, they could not be allowed to have access to the tree of life. The Gods did not want lowly slaves living forever.....and that is why they were banished from the garden. Stop fabricating unsupported beliefs.Hi Anon, thanks for reading and commenting. With all due respect, that is exactly what I said in this article. They were banned so they would not eat of the tree of life. Did I not make that clear? I apologize. The grace of God kept them from the tree of life so they would not live forever in their sinful state.I think my belief is supported by the Bible and especially the passages I quoted-- That is what they say.Maybe you could suggest a way that I could make my point clearer, I realize some people will see that I stated my point clearly while others may not.Many, many blessings to you Mr. or Mrs. or Miss Anon.I appreciate your input.Where is your support to believe otherwise?
hi t,this was well written, honest, and interestng.thanks for sharing with us,my best regards,sueHi Sue, thanks for reading. I am always amazed at the new things God shows me in Scripture after all these years! It excites me for my next revelation :-)God's best to you!
Teresa a great job but here is your homework. I will take the position of "devils advocate" and ask this as a follow up article. It sort of interests me from the free choice aspect. God made man and woman and evidently the devil had already fallen from grace. So rhetorially, since God already knows what we are going to do before we do, is it possible Adam and Eve had to fall so God could execute His master plan for the redemption of all men? Why, well simply we all wouldn't be here if it never happened and Eve didn't commit the sin, no? Best Robert?Hi Robert, why did I know you would come back with this kind of question for me :-)I think that we cannot answer this with an "I know for a fact", however, I think there are a few clues that Eve would have borne children even without sinning. My reasoning is this: God told Eve that as a conquence for the choice she would "now have pain in child birth--this tells me that God's design was the women would not have pain in childbirth, leading me to conclude that children would have come anyway. Remember that God created sex and he told Adam and Eve to multiply before the fall. Read Genesis chapter one for the summary and then chapter two for details. We don't know how much time passed from the day they were created, til the day they fell, so even though we have recorded that Adam "knew" his wife after the fall, doesn't mean that the fall is the reason he sex with his wife.I Believe in God's foreknowledge he made his plans accordingly, but to imply that the only reason man is around is because Adam and Eve sinned, is to say that God ordained sin and used sin as a means to build his creation. I believe this to be a lie that the devil would have us to believe.God used his purity to create. Also to say that Adam and Eve's choice to sin caused man to be, says that they are to reason we are here. Again, this puts creation in the hands of man. Not a good thing to do.Anyway, these are just a few thoughts. What do you think?Teresa, it is enlightening to get your replies. I think you answered it excellently because you explained that they could procreate even before the fall and that God always intended them to multiply. As you know this entire aspect is questioned by many opening many area's that man just does not have the total answer to. Blessings and best wishes, Robert.Thanks Robert, it is the only answer I have that I could stand on Biblically.I appreciate your challenging me. I keeps me on my toes and sends me back to the Bible. Blessings right back at cha!Teresa, I love your enthusiasm for the Lord. I still ahve a whole lot of questions but for now I have to run. Blessings, Robert.Looking forward to it. I'm still waiting to hear what you think about the info I sent you communion. Have a blessed day.Yes, I have been gathering info for you but I have not had a chance to formulate it. I can say Luther, a key figure in the reformation movement was very much a believer in it and that aspect he never repudiated. I can also say that all throughout the bible and goes back even before the bible was formatted and put into a book and to the very early church fathers and Christians. However the real question is it done in "remembrance" of or is it the true body and blood of Christ, In my opinion a mere nothing for our God to do. Yet, the main issue at hand is the interpretation of the Word. Since the bible uses many literary forms it is extremely important to know the form used and why? The parable, the allegory, The beast fable, the Short Story, The problem story and as Literary device. The Hebrew authors, though inspired were free to chose the genres they wrote in. Equally troubling is the language translations. Now that is important with this teaching becuase the words chosen did not matter regardless of the language used. Now Catholics and other faiths say theology rests on the written words of God, together with sacred traditions and other holy sources.Those practiced and held by the early church as authentic and of God. If we use Mt 26 26- 28 and use it literally then we read and hear that it states very clearly "Take and Eat this is my body", etc. If we go to John 6 once again we see it and using the literal Jesus repeating it many multiple times that He is the manna which came down from heaven. The bread of life. To the point that many fled that teaching saying "who can accept it"? Now here is the KEY "how can this man give us his flesh to eat"? This is the Word as you may take it as literal. Frankly this is the entire belief cornerstone the Catholic Church holds to as they believe it as literal. This was not allegory, nor any other genre, no EAT is EAT no matter what language of the day, chew, consume. Whereas when Peter was asked he said "Where shall we go". The reason was because the teaching that this WAS HIS BODY was so hard for them to comprehend. It was a teaching for all to come. So I think I have given you enough for now. I have to run. Talk later, Blessings. PS: yes when we eat of it we also do remember.Hi Robert, thanks for the info! I don't necessarily agree with all of Luther's thoughts, especially on this issue.I can see where you are coming from now in believing this thought and if you use only the passages you quoted here, it does appear to say that it is literal, so I appreciate your belief. I think the difference between our belief here, is that I was taught to take the entirety of Scripture on any give subject--using the "rule of first-mention". This sets the stage for context for the subject. Now, as for all the passages, I gave you regarding this matter, it is clear that God said not to eat the flesh of humans, it is abominable. So, incorporating all passages relating to the subject it is evident that Jesus was speaking figuratively, because he would not go against the commandment.As you said, it is not to hard for God to do this, but there is no need. And as you know, The Catholic teaching is not merely that it is the body of Christ literally, but that it teaches that he is paying the price for sin each and every time you partake. This goes directly against several passages in the Bible, no matter what translation we use. I suppose the bottom line here, is are we going to pick a few passages of Scripture to claim doctrinal truth or are we going to use the entirety of Scripture as Timothy said "to rightly divide the word of truth".Thanks again Robert. This has been a great learning experience, and I do hope your inital question to me on why Protestants do not believe the communiun bread/wafer is literally turned into the body of Christ, has been answered to your understanding--even if you chose to disagree :-)God Bless you, dear brother and friend.
Beautiful article, Teresa. I had often wondered myself, why God would enlist such harsh punishment for such a seemly menial crime. But as we learn from reading our Bible, sin is sin--there are no small sins and large sins in the face of God. If I lie and cheat and steal, but I'm not a mass-murderer, will I get into Heaven--not without repentance. When I catch myself thinking an impure thought, I quickly ask God for forgiveness and strive harder to keep my mind on things that would be right in God's eyes.I enjoyed this article--great food for thought.SandraHi Sandra,I am glad you enjoyed the article and that it it gave you something to think about.You pinpointed the problem with sin when you said "seemingly harmless" This is our problem. We think "what is the big deal?" We have no idea the reprocussions we set in motion for generations to come. I can only imagine how they must have felt, given they had 900 years to see the effects of their "seemingly harmless" choice. If I am blessed, I will live til 80. I have already seen some devastating effects of my sin, I can't imagine the problems I set in motion and If I had to live till 900 to watch the generations, I would be a miserable person.And then God's grace steps in and His spirit gives us the ability to change to corse. That is the sweet love of Jesus! Thanks for your input!
I love it when someone really digs into scripture. Many times we read the same thing over and over and only see the surface. Thanks for digging up great truths in this scripture and sharing them with us.Hi David, thanks for reading and commenting. As the Bible says, the word is alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.. We learn deeper things as our walk with God is strengthen and our hearts and minds are open to the work of the Holy Spirit. It makes me sad when I hear people, especially believers say the read the bible already so they don't need to read it again.Blessings to you!
Thank you for writing this article. I wasn't really thinking about this but I stumbled upon a very enlightening find. It makes more sense now why God would banish the whole humanity to a life which is painful and which is eventually going to end in death - so we could have a chance to truly become like Him through the mystery of the gift of Jesus Christ. Now I get that God not wanting them to eat the fruit of life was a concern that we'd be stuck in that form forever. Maybe what the devil didn't tell Eve was that there was so much more to being like God than just eating the fruit and having your eyes opened. Maybe we would have learned that and other important things from just staying in the garden, but probably a condition of free will that we would sin. Having sinned and had our eyes open to good and evil it was probably inevitable that humanity would at times choose evil so God prepared for this beforehand by ordaining Jesus to be our redemption.Hi Rani, I am so glad God had you "stumble" upon this article. It was something that over my years of being a Christian, that was always in the back of my mind.Yes, Satan conveniently left out the part called pain, consequence, guilt and hurt, when having the power to know good and evil, he knew full well that we would choose evil. It was different, exciting and appealed to the flesh.It is a result of free will. How good would God be if he created robots, if we were forced and had no other choice but to love him.Thanks for your input and I am glad this helped you. If you want to dig deeper into this subject and what goes along with what helped me, I suggest a book called, "One Minute After You Die" by Erwin W. Lutzer.He is one of my favorite authors on doctrine.Blessings to you. Teresa
» left by Dr Jeannette Kavanagh from Melbourne, Australia 3 years 13 days ago.
21 fans. Follow Dr Jeannette Kavanagh on twitter!Hello Teresa, I came on this article by accident when I read the Searchwarp lookalikes article.Thank you for your very long explanation of your interpretation of the Adam and Eve story.On the question of punishment, I'm with Helena Kennedy the Scottish lawyer who, in her book 'Eve was Framed' examines how women have been portrayed in the Law - as victims, judges, witnesses, criminals, attorney etc. She maintains that "Transportation from Paradise is one thing, but a sentence of eternal damnation when the conviction had to be based on the uncorroborated testimony of a co-accused must surely constitute a breach of international standards on human rights. I wonder if she'd have done any better with a good defence lawyer".(p.18)BTW, you seem to place a tremendous amount of intellectual energy studying and defending the Bible. Who wrote it? How have you authenticated it as a source of unequivocal truth?Hi Jeanette, Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. First, wasn't Kacy's article great? I thought it was clever and fun.Anyway, glad it led you here. I have never heard of Helena Kennedy, so I don't know her background. But based on the line you qouted, I would say that she got a few things wrong according to the text of the Bible. The Bible is probably the oldest books around that speaks to women and Jesus was one of the greatest liberators of women. In his day, he gave them a voice and value that all the nations up until that point did not.I am not sure what she means by "Transportation from Paradise", is that the same as being sent out of the garden? As far as her statement of them having a sentence of eternal damnation, that is incorrect. According to the text, God restored them and that is the beauty of his grace and forgiveness. Coming from the perspective of a lawyer, I could see why she would think Eve was framed. In a technical sense you might be able to say that, because Satan set her up. But the bottom line is that she disobeyed a law that God put in place for their own good. So no matter what kind of defense she would have had, she still had free choice to walk away from the situation. But she gave in, not because she was forced, but by her own desires she gave in and that is what she and Adam were held accountable to.Without reading her in context, I can only answer according to the quote you gave. When you say you are with her on this quote, what does that mean at length? Do you think they were wrongly judged by God? Her statement, "uncorroborated testimony" implies that God was not witness to this event and that pehaps it really didn't happen? God as creator sees all things, so he knew the truth, he only asked Adam an Eve what happened to give them an opportunity to confess. Instead, they played the blame game which is no different than what people do today. Nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions.I appreciate your question and statement, "intellectual energy studying..". I don't believe in blind faith, especially since God, in the Bible asks us to examine and question. He says, "come let us reason together". He did give us a brain and he expects us to use it. Obviously faith plays a big part in receiving the message in the Bible and by God's spirit its words are life-changing.Who wrote the Bible- technically their are 66 books that make up the Bible with 40 authors, written over a span of 1000 years. These men wrote as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. I believe it is true for several reasons. The practical being, the mounds of external evidence by names and places being confirmed by archeologists and historical information. There are over 5000 greek and 8,000 Latin texts as well as other languages that attest to the integrity of the New Testament. Also, there is the Hebrew text of the old testament. There is a famous Historian named Josephus who confirms old testament and new testament historical events and people, he was not a believer. There are also the hundreds of prophecies regarding Jesus that have been fulfilled which could not have been made up. For Example, the Prophet Isaiah wrote about Jesus 700 years before the birth of Christ, the details of his coming. Not to mention all the other fulfilled prophecies.Then there is the spiritual reasons to believe its truth. Like I said, it is life changing. Jesus Christ is one of the most offensive names. It's no surprise that people are offended by the bible and its message because it is convicting. The Bible is historical , propheticcal , and applicational. It tells us everything there is to know about the heart of man and no one can deny it, even if they choose not to believe it. I have not met one person who has given Jesus a chance and has not come away changed. Many people run from this because they can't bear the conviction when their sin comes through. God created our conscience and he put in every person the need for him. We were made for worship and if we do not worship the creator God, we will worship something. Drugs, money, self, other dieties. Jesus Christ is the only one who can free us from sin. All other religions offer ways to live good, but they provide no answer to deal with guilt. Jesus Christ provides the answer that deals with guilt and he bridged the gap between God and man. No one can deny the change they see in a person who has invited Jesus to live in there heart and cleanse them of their sin and guilt or arrogance. This is known as being born again by the spirit of God.There are many more reasons and I would love to talk more about it with you at any time through e-mail, because there just isn't enough room in these little boxes. :-)Lastly, I don't think I defend the Bible as much as I explain it as I understand it.Thanks again. I didn't mean this to be this long.
Hello Teresa,very good article,why is it God said to Adam and Eve they may eat any fruit from any tree but not from the tree of knowledge, or something like that.why not that they can eat from any tree apart from the "Tree of Knowledge" or "The Tree of Life"why did he not mention 2 trees they couldn't eat from?and what would happen if they ate from the tree of life but never the tree of knowledge,another question what if they ate from tree of life and a year later tree of knowledge?God Bless you Teresa you truly are a person that loves the Lord.
Hello Teresa, I am just getting started reading the bible.. I have a hard time with alot of what I am reading. Lets get back to Adam and Eve.. It said that god expelled Adam east of the garden of Eden.. So the Garden of Eden was on earth.. Some people I talk to say it wasn't.. Also I still dont get what you mean about Grace.. Please help me understand. PatHello Pat. Thank you for reading and for sharing! I will be praying for you. Remember to always pray for the Holy Spirit to give you understanding. Do not get discouraged, its a whole new language so to speak. I will answer your question in much more detail later today, but I didn't want another moment to go by without responding. In short, Grace is NOT getting what we deserve. Jesus paid the price for our sin, and when we surrender our life to Him and realize that we need a Savior, this grace is extended to us. A quick example would be that you committed a crime worthy of time spent in Jail. But the judge in his kindness, says that he will do the time for you, you are free to go. This would mean the judged extended grace to you. The punishment had to be fulfilled so he did it for you. I will explain more later. I think it might help you to read some of my other articles. I am teaching a new believers bible study and posting the summary and questions on line. It is through the book of John, this would be a great companion study to what you are reading. You can find the study on the mini-site of SearchWarp called world wide bible studies. go to worldwidebiblestudies.org you will find one of the studies on the front page. You can click on my name, and it will take you to the list. I encourage you to start at chaper 1 of the book of John. Please feel free to ask any questions or share your thoughts. God be with you! TeresaHi Pat.
How are you? About the Garden of Eden not being on Earth; I am not sure how this is assumed. The whole creation account in the first few chapters of Genesis is directly related to Earth and that God placed Adam and Eve in a garden on the Earth. This place has references to rivers that still exist and share the same name in the middle East. Though its exact location is unknown.
Getting back to Grace - The technical definition is "Unearned favor" this word can be applied to any persons or situations where it fits. As I mentioned about the judge giving grace to the criminal. The criminal did nothing to earn the judge's act of kindness. There was nothing he could do. the deed was done. The only thing the person who is receiving Grace can do is reject or accept. But if rejected it is not the judge's fault. His offer still stands.
With God it works like this:
God gave unearned favor to sinful man by sending Jesus Christ to pay for the sins of man. The bible tells us that the wages (what we earn) of sin is death - but the gift (cannot be earned) of God is eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. So if you accept the gift, you will have eternal life. This is because you accepted the Grace that God offered you. But justice still has to be served. Someone still has to pay the price for sin (death) So when we accept the gift, we are acknowledging that Jesus paid the price for us. This is called redemption and justification. That despite our sin, we are forgiven because we accepted the gift.
However, if we reject the gift (which is like telling God that we don't need it) then we must pay the price for sin. This does not make God the one who sentenced us to death, we chose it by rejecting.
God extending Grace is what we see throughout the entire Bible. From the Old Testament to the New Testament. But we have to remember that while God is a God of love, he is also a God of Justice and truth. Grace is something that you will learn more about as you grow as a Christian. As you see all that you have been forgiven of, you see how much grace God has given you. Again, don't get discouraged. Keep reading and praying, asking the Holy Spirit to teach you and guide you. Anytime you come across something you don't understand, underline it, and write in your bible - what does this mean? I promise, if you do this with a sincere heart and desire to know God's truth, then it will be revealed to you. This is the promise from God. In Jeremiah 29:11-13 God tells us this: For I know the thoughts that I have toward you says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will find me when you search for me with all your heart. This promise he gave in the context of the people who turned away from him and lived contrary to his ways and rejected his blessing, then began to call on him again with commitment. God never breaks his promises - the flip side to this is his judgments are a promise as well. Be found in his grace, not judgment. Blessings. I hope to hear from you now and then. Lord bless you.
I love these Bible stories. The Adam and Eve story is one of the most confusing, and it is natural that we ponder it long. But for me, there's always some "plot hole." For example, why was there a tree of knowledge or a tree of life to begin with? Why did God make Adam and Eve "in our image," and at the very same time make Adam and Eve imperfect? If God is perfect, why the deuce would he either be unaware or allow the serpent in the garden? Maybe there wasn't one god, but the creator was sort of like Geppetto in a little Italian village, just one of many? Adam and Eve were obviously made with the capacity for knowledge, if Eve could consider the serpent's words enough to make a decision to eat the apple. So they had this brain, but weren't allowed to acquire knowledge?
For me it's a story that will never be satisfactorily answered. I think it's a story (a creation myth, really) that was made to be moralistic, and answer some questions about obedience and suffering, but if we only read it on a literal level we will always be doubtful about it because with each new question answered, new ones arise. This is the brilliance of the people who wrote the Bible, that it actually does tell the story of a deeper truth. On the literal level we can always find fault with it, and on the metaphysical level we are astounded by it.
On that other level, the Adam and Eve story is a kabbalistic one. Adam was Chockma, the 2nd sephiroth in the Tree of Life (Etz-ha-chayim), who was born of the first movement of creation, Kether. Eve, taken from Adam's rib, is the perfect representation of B'inah, the third sephiroth, which is a sort of reflection born of the second sephiroth (Adam, Chockma). These are male and female, the way the sun is regarded as male (emanating light) and the moon is female (reflecting the light). Or the male Jupiter (unbounded expansiveness, just like rays emanating from the sun) and the female Saturn ("form," a way of subjugating, containing, or controlled direction of the expansive male force). These speak pretty well to even modern people, where the male is typically the expansive, dominating one who will run over everything and anything in his path without the limiting, shaping force of the woman (probably not a PC thing to say today, I realize).
The rest of the creation story describes the descent of God's form through the remaining seven sephira or spheres of the Tree of Life, all the way down to the Garden (Malkuth, or foundation).
I'm not taking pot shots at your understanding, which is a deep way of thinking about this very mysterious and old story, just sharing another way that other people look at this story as a story within a story, kind of like the way A Midsummer Night's Dream is.
So, what is the Adam and Eve story? The story of God, or better yet, the "Holy Spirit" descending from heaven (Ayn Soph, an unknowable, indescribable place) to our material presence here on earth. It is the overriding theme of the Jewish kabbalists that since the fall, God has been trying to reunite with the Garden, which is literally "Shekinah" or the female side of God (Kether at the crown, male; Malkuth at the bottom, female); not only that, but Shekinah is also literally the bride of YHVH. This is the purpose of righteousness on earth, to rebuild the links that connect the world to God. In this view, though, God is a long, long, long, long, long ways away. Thus enters the Jesus story, which was meant to remind us of a more immediate, even instantaneous connection to God. This is why the Jews of the New Testament were seen as lacking, because they had forgotten the immediate connection to God, having been mired for so long in the observance of laws and rules and protocols (form, B'inah) that separated them from the rays of heaven that were already present in being (unbounded expansion, Chockma). In other words, too much form and observance had made them lose touch with the unbounded joy of Holy Spirit. Yes, they knew it was there, in lip service, somewhere out there. But they lost the ability to feel it for themselves.
The connection was quite literally through the "Tiphoreth", the heart sephiroth, which spanned between these two forces of moving away and coming closer. This is analogous to Christ, and the words even have similar meanings, as a crux, or cross, or an intersection between two polarities or two paths.Hi Greg. Thanks for taking the time to read and share your thoughts. I can certainly understand why so many people believe it to be a myth a just story with some great moral lessons. It's true there are so many myths, legends, and stories from every culture - all trying to find a answer for the grand thing called life. One of my favorite classes in school was mythology. It would seem that the stories of the Bible are just another bunch of them. However, because of the overwhelming historical and prophetical accuracy of the Bible, and not to mention the incredibly miraculous events in my family's and my life, I strongly believe it to be truth. I agree that we cannot only take the Bible literally. As we read and study it, it is very clear that it has a three-fold purpose. 1) History 2) Prophecy 3) Application. When all three of these are weaved together as we read the literal and historical accounts and events, then see where they were fulfilled through prophecy, added with the instructions of how to apply them to our lives, it becomes so evident the the word of God is truly alive and active cutting to the soul and heart and reveals the intents and heart of man - just like Hebrews tell us. (sorry for the run-on sentence. lol) Even today prophetic events are happening before our eyes, in the political world and in society in general. The more I see events unfold, the stronger my faith becomes. Even as Jesus, Paul, and John write in the book of Revelation, say that the closer we get to the return of Jesus, the more people will fall away from God and turn toward new religions and philosophies of old and the traditions of man - that many will turn to what they "feel" is right in their own eyes and that many Christians will begin to mix with other faiths. I think we can agree this is happening now and at an alarming rate. Churches are becoming places of entertainment rather that Biblical instruction so that the hearer can learn and chose for themselves what they will do with the information.
Sorry, didn't mean to "preach" - just sharing my heart and I do hope you know it comes from a place of sincerity and love. Seriously, if myth - in the end I lose nothing and I had a mythical God do some real and amazing things in my life. But if true, than sadly too many will have lost. This is why I am compelled to share and teach, not to condemn or act higher than thou, but so that others who are searching have something to choose from. Not that I am the only one who is sharing Jesus, but I cannot remain silent. Thanks again for sharing with kindness and sincerity. And I am so glad we got over the hump of misconceptions and misunderstandings. Blessings to you! Teresa
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