Genesis 2: 8 – 9, 15-17 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil… Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
The Garden of Eden was full of trees bearing all kinds of delicious fruit. And in the center of the Garden, there were two special trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Notice something: God never forbade Adam from eating the fruit of the tree of life. God specifically told Adam that he could eat the fruit from any tree, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Had Adam followed instructions, he might still be hanging around. But Adam didn’t eat the fruit from the tree of life; instead, he was sidling around the garden, tasting all the other fruit. Although men have traditionally blamed Eve for eating the fruit after the serpent tempted her, it’s quite likely that Adam was already eyeing that tree and wondering what would happen if he ate the fruit. People are strange; tell someone that something is forbidden and that is the very thing they will focus on.
These days, the term “bad-ass” has become a favorite term to describe anything of which the speaker approves. There are two things wrong with that term: first, why describe something you admire by calling it “bad” and second, why is it necessary to use the term “ass”? This term constitutes a mild form of swearing; is it necessary? Those who use this term remind me of little boys telling “fart” jokes-oh the thrill of being mildly risqué, circumventing polite language. It was likely that kind of thinking that led to Adam seriously considering trying the forbidden fruit just to see how it would taste. Adam just wanted to walk on the wild side for a bit.
At this point, you might be reacting, “Wait a minute! How do you know that the Garden of Eden-or Adam and Eve-ever existed? Isn’t this story simply an allegory? Personally, I believe the Bible story of Adam and Eve; however, no matter what you choose to believe, sin exists and people are still making wrong choices by pursuing forbidden fruit.
I came of age just as birth control pills for women and legalized abortion became available. My medical school taught us that abortion was safer than childbirth. Those two events led to a vast increase in sexual promiscuity among women, allowing them to seize forbidden fruit. Please do not misunderstand; birth control drugs have helped millions of women around the globe plan their pregnancies so that they can safely care for their children. Abortion, on the other hand, is murder because life begins at the moment of conception. The shedding of innocent blood brings curses on a land, and those of us who have watched moral degradation in America since 1973 can testify to the truth of that statement. Women who have aborted pregnancies can find themselves dealing with a host of emotional problems over their choices, particularly if they later seek to get pregnant and are unable to do so.
Sexual promiscuity destroys marriages and relationships, shredding trust. There are other bad choices that are equally deleterious. For years, gambling was prohibited in most of the United States. When gambling became available in my part of the Middle West, one farm couple rushed off to the gambling boat, where they lost so much money they lost their farm. The next night, they returned to gamble further in hopes of getting their farm back. In Louisiana one baby sitter stopped by a video poker parlor, locking the two-year-old boy she was minding in the car on a hot day. When the woman returned to the car four hours later, the little boy was nearly dead from the heat and eventually died in the hospital. Another Louisiana woman murdered her parents to cover her gambling debts. Here in Ghana we have watched in horror as Chinese businessmen have established casinos in major cities and have even sent video poker machines to small villages. In some cases, children have skipped school to play these machines.
Proverbs 4:14, 18-19, 23 tells us, “Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of evil…The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble…Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
No matter what you think about the story of the Garden of Eden, there are two inescapable facts: sin has entered the world and all of us can choose to sin or to refrain from sin. Choose wisely!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to choose Your ways and not Satan’s. Help us to hide Your Word in our hearts so that we will not sin against You. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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