by:
12/04/2020
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When I started this series of God teaching us with questions, I
was focusing on questions God asked people, He is the original
Socratic teacher, the Original Teacher. But last time I cheated
and used an implied question--what would Adam call the
animals brought to him. This time I seem even more off-topic.
Instead of a question God asks someone, this is a question
someone asked about God.
“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the
garden,’?”
Just like God uses questions to teach, this guy was (is) also. He
was teaching Eve to doubt God’s goodness. We can hear the
shock, the sarcasm. How can a loving God say that! This seems
like an easily disproved statement. God did NOT say that. He
only prohibited one tree out of the garden full of trees. But a
seed of doubt had been planted. Is God good? And then, of
course, our friendly neighborhood serpent follows that up with
giving a reason, a malicious motive, why God banned that fruit.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the
LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say,
‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees
in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the
tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it,
or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For
God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and
you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food
and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she
took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was
with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were
opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig
leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Gen. 3:1-6, )
God was withholding something good, pleasing, and desirable.
Why? To keep mankind down, because He was afraid of man’s
eyes being opened--knowledge is power, after all. And He’s
selfish--keeping it all for Himself!!
Except: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives
out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The
one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)
And if God was so afraid, why create the fruit, the choice
in the first place? So, not only does this presume God is
not loving, but it questions His power, authority,
sovereignty.
Teaching with questions uses logic, and logic has
presuppositions. Something we reason from. The serpent
started with what we would now call human nature--the
presumed selfishness, fear, and desire for control that
mark personalities. He started with assuming that THAT
is God’s heart. We need to start our logic with what we
know about God. He is love. He is selfless. He has no fear.
(What would the Creator fear?) He is not controlling
because He already IS in control, He is Sovereign. Logic
only works if you start with truth.
So when making decisions, when thinking, start with the
Truth--God is good and He is Sovereign, in authority and
Almighty.
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