Fall of Man

Fall of Man

By ESQ

Here, a novice tries to account for his prior assertions as evident in the first paragraph of “Absolute Thoughts”…

Truly Adam and Eve in the Garden were misconceived.
By God...., it was We who did the dirty deed!
Perfection be not in pure Paradise gained.
But in the sinful life of everyman re-gained.

The fall of all mankind is generally believed to have occurred with the notion of the “First Sin” as committed by both Adam and Eve in their partaking of the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This willful choice or act is seen as done out of man’s disobedience and contrary to God’s Will leading to man’s own downfall to the very depths of sin, degradation, and removal from Paradise, then finally death.

Here, the novice asks a few daunting questions, namely:

1. Who’s really to blame for the fall of mankind and Creation itself? Is it the Serpent(Satan)… fallen Angel created by God; or Man who is created in the image of God; or perhaps even the Almighty God Himself who epitomizes Perfection (the Creator who acts without further responsibility for His own creation)?

2. Does “perfection” mean to be pure (sinless), unknowing (good and evil), and eternal (undying)?

3. What does being “human” truly mean without the concept of free choice, being purely ignorant of good and evil, not laboring (working), suffering, or even knowing what death means?

The novice wishes to advance that to become “truly human” and to achieve a proper/truthful/adequate notion of “Paradise”, Man must exercise free will/choice, boldly choose to eat of the fruit of good and evil, take full responsibility without pointing fingers at either Satan, God or Adam and Eve, intimately know the suffering of existence bound by struggle/labor, then finally and gladly die in the end with the knowledge of having truly lived the paradox of time and eternity.

The paradox which is life itself encompasses both heaven and earth at the same time, being equally adequate in the knowledge of good and evil, is able to consolidate the sinful and redeeming qualities of sin, thereby expressing oneself as the creator and creation at the same instance in the dialectical world of history (time as eternal). So that even if one cannot chose to be born ( to one's parents, place, time or occasion), one must consistently chose to live henceforth.

Let us then begin at the beginning with Genesis.

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Gen2:9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made.

Gen 3:3-7 …but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die”. But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”….she took of the fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked;

Gen 3:12-13 The man said, ”The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate”….The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me and I ate”.

Gen 3:22-23 Then the Lord God said,” Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God send him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

TO BE CONTINUED.....