When you write a weekly internet newsletter, sometimes you receive some interesting emails in return. Since Father's Day is now over, perhaps it is time to share this intriguing insight I recently received.
This email, if you are to believe it's source, comes from within the group of scholars doing research on the Dead Sea Scrolls. This report deals with the scroll that contains the first part of the Book of Genesis, specifically the fall of man, Adam and Eve in the garden.
The author said that this account of what really happened in the garden at that fateful time, has been covered up not only by Jewish rabbis but also leaders of the Christian faith up to this day. While the author really didn't say that this cover-up was instituted to maintain male dominance within the Jewish and church fraternity, there was that definite implication. What follows is the translation of that section of scroll that I received.
Eden's garden account
by Mosha Mordecai
Nisan 21, 3455 after creation
For many years I have been researching the account of the temptation and the fall of man as reported in the Book of Genesis Chapter 3. While I have not found any evidence to suggest that the biblical account is incorrect, I have been able to obtain three sources that collaborate a scenario that took place before the serpent successfully tempted Eve, bringing sin to the human race. While the time line varies in each account, all three do focus on the event with rare and singular agreement. The time line however varies, from one night to as much as one month before the written biblical account.
While the Almighty created the serpent as a very wise creature, he too as a created being, was not infinitely wise. On the day in question he confronted Adam as he was walking in the garden early one morning. My understanding from my sources indicate a dialog similar to the following took place.
Serpent: Adam, founder of the human race, what a wonderful day it is. The Almighty has told me that He created you in His image. Is that true?
Adam: Yes, serpent that is true, both myself and my helper that the Almighty created from my body are created in His image, too bad for you.
Serpent: Adam, my friend, if you are so smart, why did the Almighty forbid you from eating of the tree of life, or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? If you don't know the answer to those questions, you really were not created in the image of the Almighty. Even a lowly creature such as I, know the answers to those questions.
Adam: Well serpent, if you are so smart why don't you just tell me, then we will both know.
Serpent: Adam, Adam, my good bud, there is a whole lot more involved here than just head knowledge, to truly understand good and evil, and to understand all that life has to offer, you must experience these emotions for yourself. It's like a relationship. But you first must eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to experience it for yourself. Be a man Adam, make the choice, take a bite and a wonderful plan for your life will be revealed.
Adam: Serpent, I told Eve we were a team, a team to populate and have dominion over the earth, I really should check with her first.
Serpent: Didn't the Almighty make you the head of the family. If she gives you any lip, just tell her you are the boss, you need to be a man, not a whimp. Here is a very ripe and luscious fruit. Have a bite!
Adam: Boy, that is tasty, I should have listened to you earlier. Wait till I tell Eve about how we really can be like God and experience this form of godliness.
Later that day
Adam: Eve, Eve my darling wife, you will never guess what happened on my walk this morning. I was talking with the serpent and he gave me this godly idea on how we can be more holy like the Almighty.
Eve: Say what? You stupid man, there is no way I'm going to fall for another of your outlandish manly plans. I will definitely not eat of this fruit. Tonight you will be sleeping alone. Until further notice your best friend will be that animal you call dog. I will seek the mercy of the Almighty and perhaps he will forgive your sin and things will be like paradise was meant to be.
So as Eve sought the mercy of the Almighty, He forgave the sin of Adam as Eve requested, and paradise was not lost at this time. But the serpent also learned wisdom from his mistake, as he vowed to always get the woman in line first and then the man will soon follow.
What are you going to believe? Sometimes it is difficult to discern fact from fiction, especially if it all seems quite plausible. We judge things written down many times by how they make us feel. But are they really true, and how do you judge there authenticity.
Seldom, do we venture beyond the words we hear or read to see if they contain any truth. This is especially true if we find them enticing to our ears. On the contrary, we don't even want to consider things that we find difficult or challenging.
For example, much of the world today, while giving lip service to the Bible, really do not want to hear or understand the words the Bible has to say. Probably the truest example is found in the gospel of John, Chapter 14, verse 6, were Jesus says concerning himself. "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
If this statement is true, then all paths do not lead to God as most affirm, and Christianity by its very nature is an exclusive religion. For it is really the only religion that purports to have not just a story on how evil entered the world, but also a solution. It is found in the Bible verse quoted above, but draws its strength and understanding from the whole context of scripture, Old and New Testaments.
So the church, especially it's oppressed women, finally have the true story. However, it is not on who is in charge. That is just wishful thinking on their part. The truth of this brief description came from Adam's lips, "Well, I told Eve we were a team, a team to populate and have dominion over the earth, I really should check with her first."
In both this account of the birth of sin and the account as found in the pages of the Bible, we see that the individual acting alone can cause all sorts of problems. But both stories show that before things happened God had not only an answer but had already began the steps that we call the path of redemptive history. Each human being, saint, sinner, and pagan all play a role in that drama, whether they acknowledge it or not.
The great sin of each of us collectively and as individuals, is that we are the zenith of our own understanding. In our attempts to be relevant to this generation, we take a cutting off a branch and stuff it into wet sand and wonder why many times it dies for lack of moisture before it can develop a root system. While if we truly were as wise as we proclaim, we would graft that tender cutting into a well rooted and well trimmed tree of life, fruitful through redemptive history.
It is in that context of redemptive history, the nonsense of our present generation is pruned away, and true fruitfulness of the tree of life we first see illustrated in the garden can again begin to bear fruit in this wilderness landscape.
As another email I just received stated, quoting a more famous western figure:
"If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated."
-Voltaire
Focus your prayers this week on the contemporary evangelical church. We are not God's highest achievement, but part of a continuum of His people throughout history. While ministers and other leaders seek revival and reformation, perhaps just getting back to the basics, would be a simpler and a more productive application of resources and our gifts. Gardeners rather that creators of sophisticated civilizations to keep with the analogy.
As far as personal things. Taking care of an estate is not something that anyone does that often. Once or twice in a lifetime. So there is a learning curve into the unknown. In my mother's affairs the legal side doesn't seem to be that complicated, however there is a whole lot of just things that need to be gone through, updated, and sorted. Please intercede for wisdom and the ability to take it all "One day at a time."
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