And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not die: For God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:4-5.
No, I don’t believe in talking snakes, but I do understand that when we try to become Gods we are heading down the wrong road. But the events of my last week have led me to think there is a part of this story that most of us gloss over. We all focus on the serpent, Eve, Adam, and that infamous apple that made them put on clothes and got them thrown out of the garden. You see we all buy into the belief that by biting into the apple, Adam and Eve gained knowledge and understood the difference between good and evil – thus the garments made of fig leaves. You see, we too, are seduced by the snake’s story and Eve’s wardrobe. We fail to see that God simply says don’t eat or you will die. It’s the snake who spins the yarn about knowledge, good versus evil, and being like gods. The apple was just an apple — not anything more.
What made me think about knowledge and this fascinating story. You see no matter how hard we try there are some things we just can’t explain. We may discover what makes up atoms, only to discover something smaller makes them up, and as soon as we discover what that is, we realize there is something even smaller to be discovered and proved. The same goes for the limits of space and the mystery of the end of the number pi. There is always something else out there. Our world is full of the unexplainable. God told us this when he scolded Job in chapters 38-39. We never have complete knowledge or understanding. It wasn’t in the apple. Adam and Eve didn’t acquire it when they took their respective bites. The serpent was a snake oil salesman. The only knowledge we should take from any snake is stay away.
There are so many things that happen in our lives that are unexplainable. We try to bring reason and logic to an unreasonable and irrational action and are surprised when we don’t have an answer. I have learned when confronting the unexplainable our only comfort is love. All faiths, all religions, recognize this one constant – love. When the unexplainable happens, and it will over and over, seek out love wherever you find it.
Seek love before knowledge, it is always ripe and plentiful.
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