A Philosophical Morning

I know it probably wasn't an apple that Eve plucked from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but the apple has become the symbol of temptation. It represents the fall of humanity.

As I sat at my computer this morning, mourning the cancellation of Bible study due to bad weather (which doesn't really look that bad to me, but school cancellations rule the day), my mind drifted into my limited view of the garden of Eden. Is it possible for me to even imagine what the garden of Eden looked like?

I closed my eyes and started wandering through the trees, admiring their ripened fruits. I glanced over at a beautiful bush, filled with plump, red strawberries. I wondered if Eve knew she could eat the clusters of broccoli bursting through the center of the wide, protective leaves. (Without Ranch, was it really that good anyway?)

It's a sad attempt at imagining perfection. I do much better imagining Joseph's brothers beating him and throwing him in a pit or Rachel sitting on her dad's idols and feigning illness.

You see, I understand sin.

I can hardly imagine perfection.

So, here's my thought today: If Eve started with a perfect brain and then she sinned, though I believe sin completely corrupted every aspect of her (body, soul and spirit), she was still closer to perfection than I am. It's like this - if there is a room full of children with filthy, dirty hands and a towel is handed to one child, that towel gets dirtier as it is passed along to each child, so that by the time it gets to the last child, it is completely covered in dirt. The first child had a clean towel, the second child had a relatively clean towel and so on, until the towel was nearly all covered.

If Eve was exposed to sin (her choice) and then passed her nature on to her children, and so on and so on, doesn't it make sense that sin increased and corrupted the mind more and more as time passed?

Take television for another example. Where have the "Father Knows Best" shows gone? Do you really think that "The Office" would have been acceptable television in the 1950's? I can remember when "Three's Company" first aired - two women and a man living together. It was pushing the limits and they weren't even "sleeping" together. Now? Cohabitation is expected and accepted.

And the flip also works - would "Gilligan's Island" even have an audience today? "The Brady Bunch" would not necessarily be cutting edge material.

So, what's happened? I think sin is increasing. It's like a cancer that spreads from generation to generation.

Why did my mind go there? Because I so desperately want to imagine Eden. I want to walk with God and hear His voice, but my sin-encrusted mind can hardly even attempt to imagine it.

The solution? Walk by faith. The sight-walking is coming in eternity, but for now, I have no choice but to walk by faith - to put my trust in the Word of God, to battle my flesh, to savor the blessings, to rely on the Holy Spirit, to talk with my Father, to imitate the Son and set my sites on eternity. It's do-able and it lessens the effects of sin.

One last thought, why is the Apple logo an apple with a bite taken out of it?