Some time ago a friend of mine asked me, 'What is the great crime that Eve committed that God should punish, not just the first pair, but the entire humanity in such a horrible manner?' Of course, the whole thing was subject to Bible being truthfully the Word of God. Presuming that the matter reported in the Bible is the truth, which I believe firmly, this remark made me go into the depth of the first disobedience, to analyse and see what was the motive behind the whole affair and was whether the punishment was excessive or not.
Was Eve attracted only by the wholesome fruit or was there something more than that? Genesis 3:6 tells us that she contemplated regarding the proposal of the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, and took the decision to to disobey God's command and eat the fruit and also give it to her husband, who accepted her decision and ate it, based mainly on three reasons. One, the fruit was good for food, it did not look poisonous or bitter; two, the fruit was pleasing to the eye, it was neither crooked nor gruesome, and third, it was desirable to gain wisdom. The third reasoning must have clicked the deal. Even so, after all, they just desired to gain wisdom. Surely that cannot be a major cause for banishment and punishment! Then what was it, that made God take such a drastic measure? What was the ultimate motive of the first human pair?
The clue lies in the proposition of the serpent. Satan, who used the serpent to approach Eve, said in Gen.3:5, 'God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' He further assured them that they will not die if they ate the fruit, as God had warned them. That seems to be the crux of the matter. God was all powerful, had created the wonderful universe and the earth and all the living creatures in it, including the first human pair, so effortlessly, through His word. He spoke and it happened. Awe inspiring power and majesty! Instead of just standing there gaping at all these and worshiping that God for what He is, wouldn't it be wonderful if they had similar power? Then they could be Gods and need not worship any body else! May be somebody else or something else will worship them! That was the temptation and both succumbed to it.
Three truths to be grasped here. One, God's first command to children of Israel, whom He rescued and brought out of slavery in Egypt, was "I am the Lord God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." The next one was, "You shall have no other gods before me." Exodus 20:1 & 2. God does not have any rival and does not entertain such claims to be equal to Him. He is the Creator and the creatures better not try to usurp that position, for it will end only in disaster for the creature, and not for the Creator. It is for our own good that we accept our status as creatures and stand in awe of the Creator, who made us in His likeness.
Second truth to be grasped here is that Satan himself was a victim of such grand designs. In Ezekiel 28:12 onward what is written is taken as referring to the Fall of Satan, from his prime position of the archangel, created by God. "You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering; ...You were the anointed cherub...you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you." And what was that iniquity? Isaiah 14: 12-14 explains thus: " How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!...For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit." Satan then, had ambitions to be God himself! What a pity, he lost his seat in Eden and was flung to the deepest of the pits. Having now become nothing, with enmity in heart, and vengeance to wreck any good work done by God, Satan approached the first human pair and sowed in them the same ambition to become God themselves. And the Fall happened. Because they were duped by the enemy by his clever words, God did not destroy His fallen people, but sent His only Son Jesus Christ and through his work on the cross, recovered those who believed in Christ to be His own again.
Thirdly is some thing that I discovered while I was researching for my PhD. While God of the Bible said that there shall be no other God and punished people for aspiring to be God, the writings in Upanishads say just the opposite. Upanishads are the Vedanta, belonging to the Vedic corpus of the Hindus, and this has given rise to a specific philosophy known as Advaita philosophy. Today's New Age teachings in the West are based on many of the tenets of this philosophy, popularized in the West by the Gurus from India. Here the teaching is, "I am Brahman," Brahman being the Supreme Self, the First Principle in the world, the God. The human soul, 'atman,' is being declared by the sages that it is God. In Sanskrit it is "Aham Brahman Asmi," mentioned in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.10 & 2.5.19. Then again it is said that "Thou art That," in Sanskrit, "Tat tvum asi," in Chandogya Upanished, 6.8.7. That is 'You are God,' namely Brahman (God) is atman (man) and vice versa. There is no need to go in search of God somewhere, because you yourself are God. And when you realize this truth you become whole and attain deliverance from this horrible cycle of births and deaths and merge with Brahman, which is called Mukti or Deliverance by a Hindu. So which is the truth, that there is no God but the Creator or all humans are gods? When Moses, who brought the Israelite from Egypt, asks for the name of God, God of Bible says, "I Am Who I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: "I Am has sent me to you." See the difference! First, how do we even think that we could be gods and second, how do we even suggest that all religions are the same and all religions are different roads leading to the same God? Both "I Am Who I Am" and "I am Brahman (God), cannot be the truth. They are different as east is different from the west and far apart as heavens are from the earth.
Now can you see the real motive behind the disobedience of the first human pair and that the punishment was not really excessive? However God is merciful to His creation and is awaiting us to acknowledge that He is the Only God and return to Him in repentance, awe and wonder.
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