Genesis 03

And here it all falls apart.

This is another of those packed chapters, but because I've only got about twenty minutes to write this morning, I'll focus on one just one thing:  the sin.  Or maybe The Sin.  It's pretty important in the grand scheme of things.




So what was it?  People love to argue about this, especially liberal theologians of every stripe.  If you ever decide you want to see a pure stream of unadulterated crazy, spend a couple of hours on the internet researching the first sin.  Again, I'm pressed for time, so I'll go ahead and tell you that it was exactly the same as every other sin anyone has ever committed.

There is, after all, only one sin.

Mankind wasn't cast from the Garden and from the presence of God for eating fruit.  It wasn't for talking to snakes.  It wasn't because Adam was henpecked.  At least, it was none of these things directly.  The core of each of these acts, though, was the same:  Adam and Eve trusted their own judgment over God's.

That's the only sin:  believing -- against all evidence, of course -- that we know better than God.  Believing -- against all evidence -- that God can't be trusted to know what's best for us.  Believing -- against every single piece of evidence -- that God is a liar.

And they fell for it.  And we fall for it, every day of our lives.  Because in our hearts, we still harbor that mistrust of God, that belief that he either doesn't really know what's going on or doesn't really care for us like he says he does.  Even within those who have surrendered to him and desire to please him, there's still a part that wants to listen to the serpent, and believes that there's another way apart from the way God leads.

Eve believed a lie.  Adam believed a lie.  We believe lies.  But no one has to.