by Frank Baugh

Created on: September 02, 2009   Last Updated: September 04, 2009

The Temptation in the Garden of Eden was a raw deal for Adam and Eve and the rest of us as well. I say that with all due respect to God, but what happened there simply wasn't fair for mankind but it does, in a convoluted way, make sense. I've written another article covering this material so please forgive me if I repeat myself.

First let's start with the Garden of Eden. Man's first job was to name all the animals that God created. Out of all the animals Adam did not find one that could be his helper, so God put him asleep, took out one of his ribs and made Eve, the first woman meaning she was taken out of man. Into this idyllic paradise God places two things that he should not have placed there which I call

Attractive Nuisances: one was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the other was the crafty serpent. Now that we have the setting and the players let us proceed with the play.

Adam and Eve were created simple creatures. It is implied that they were smarter than the other creatures, excepting maybe the serpent, but they didn't have the knowledge of good and evil, or of temptation for that matter. They were naked and unashamed. They were innocent as new born babes. They just behaved as the higher animals that they were with Adam's job being caretaker of the Garden and Eve being his helper.

Now enter stage left the serpent and he catches Eve by herself perhaps dawdling about the Garden near the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil so the serpent says, "why don't you eat of that tree," or something like that, and Eve replies "God told us not to eat of that tree because we will surely die - whatever that means." It is implied that there was no death so how could Eve understand the threat of it. The Serpent says "you will not surely die - look at that tree. It is just like any other tree in the Garden and it has fruit like any other tree in the Garden and the fruit looks good. Why then," reasoned the serpent, "would God put a tree in a garden of edible trees with fruit on it unless it was intended for someone to eat? And besides, it conveys the knowledge of good and evil and being smarter can't be a bad thing, now can it?"

I can't imagine whatever other cajolery the serpent might have employed to get this simple minded creature to try the fruit, but as the story goes, she ate of the fruit and immediately sought out Adam to get him to eat it too. I wonder if Adam even knew what he was eating. At any rate, it must have been like a bad acid trip because

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