Woman: Time to Relax & Enjoy the Beauty

I think that the fall has hit women harder than it has hit man. While man was created out in the wilderness and before the garden; woman was formed from man when man was in the garden. When woman was created, her very first experiences were in this perfect luxury. It was the best of every part of creation all come together. What she saw and what she knew was the beauty, the scents, the sounds, the comfort of the garden. As a result, this is one of woman's Base Experiences. This is what she was born into. This is what she knows. This is one of the main experiences that helps to define Eve as well as the entire female sex that succeeds her.

The more i look at the fall, what occurred, the more i realize how much it has affected us. Adam & Eve were driven out of the garden and into the wilderness. For the man the wilderness is where he had come from. The garden had been extra. It had been the icing on the cake. It had been the Sunday night football game relaxing in the recliner with some snacks and a drink rooting on his favorite team on a big screen HDtv. It was nice but not necessary. For woman, on the other hand, the loss of the garden was devastating. Everything that she knew was lost. It was going from the comforts and luxury of a new home, to being kicked out on the street.

Thus when woman needs a break. When she is looking for something to help ease the stresses and problems of life, she tends to look to what we would now consider luxury. The garden. The scents. The sounds. The comforts. For most woman, the ultimate getaway is a luxury spa. It is the attempt to regain that lost Garden Experience. Something that she will never have again in this world.

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Man: "You Can Take the Man Out of the Wilderness, but You Can't Take the Wilderness Out of the Man"

Everybody knows that there are differences between men and women. Some try to deny them and state that the only difference are those created by our societies in order to push women down, but it doesn't take a genius to recognize the obvious problems with that argument. Either way we're not here to argue that debate at this point. I did want to help us understand better how and why some of those diffences came to be.

As a stereotype (thus not 100% the case) women tend to seek comfort and luxury while men tend to seek mastery and experience. Believe it or not, the reason for this can be easily seen in the first two chapers of Genesis. When God created man on day 7 of creation, he was the last thing that God created. He was formed in the midst of God's other creations. As has been noted before, everything that God created on each of those 7 days relied upon what had been created before. In order for the seas and oceans to be sustained, they need heat & light or they would turn to ice. Land without water, heat, & light is just rock & dust. So on and so forth. The same thing with man. In order to survive man needs everything created before him.

What is interesting to note is that man was created in the wilderness. He was created on the 7th day after all of the water, land, plants, and animals had been created, but notice this...
Genesis 2:7-8 "And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And (after this) Jehovah God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And there He put the man whom He had formed."

Man existed in the wilderness before the Garden of Eden was ever planted. As a result, when man looks for relaxation and a break from the daily grind, oftentimes he wants to go fishing, or camping, or hunting, or he wants to be out playing sports, etc. He seeks and enjoys the challenge of the outdoors... of the wilderness. Golf for instance is all about mastery over the environment. It is man seeking to have mastery over both the land and the little ball. It is man and his simple tool (his club) proving mastery over a miles of land and a little white ball.

The comfort and luxury of the garden was created after man. It's nice, and good, and all, but it just doesn't compare to the wilderness and our need and desire to gain mastery over it. Thus deep down inside that desire and craving exists in all men. You can take the man out of the wilderness, but you can never truly take the wilderness out of the man.

... more next week!


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Men or Mice?

I've been getting a little distracted lately. I started getting back into this in order to write about marriage and marriage issues, and instead i have ended up doing a commentary on Genesis. I apologize. There are a couple of more things i want to touch on here then i need to get out of Genesis. It's turning into a crutch.

God drew Adam & Eve out of hiding after their eating of the fruit. He confronted them about their actions. So who does God confront first? He confronts Adam of course. Adam was the last one involved in the scheme, but he is the first one on whom responsibility is placed. It's interesting here because God asked Adam where he was and Adam's response was an honest response. "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked, and I hid myself." Oh that we would give honest responses to the people who asked us questions. That has to be one of the most difficult things to do. Honesty is so important in our lives, and yet so few people are. What's even more interesting to me is how few people can handle it when other people are truly honest with them. Anyways, back on task...

So God confronted Adam on the sin. Adam's reaction, like most men it seems, was to blame Eve (keep in mind, the blame game is a 2 way street). It was not unjustifiable. Eve did bring the fruit to Adam to eat, but the point is that instead of taking responsibility for his actions, Adam passed the blame to his wife. Eve in turn passed the blame to the serpent. So neither really took responsibility for their own actions. He blamed her, she blamed it, no one took responsibility.

On the flip-side, one of the least noticed / most ignored facets of this situation is that when God called out in the Garden Adam was the one to answer. He is the one who responded to the confrontation by God. In part, he did take the responsibility. That must have been one of the most difficult things to do. When a child is confronted by their parents many times it is extremely difficult to get a straight answer. How much more difficult to face the confrontation of the creator and God of the universe. Yet there he is taking the responsibility and dealing with the issue. When everything was falling apart, Adam passed the blame, but in the process he also told the truth and stood in the gap. He faced the issue and dealt with it.
So tell me. How does this reflect in your / my life. Are we being honest about our problems, or are we passing the buck? Are we, as men, taking responsibility or passing the blame? Are we standing or cowering? Are we being who we are called to be, or passing off our responsibilities and role to the one who was created to be a helpmate. Are we being men, or hiding away like mice?

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"You Can't See Me!"

What is it about us and our lives that makes us think that we can hide from God. We as humans have created so many ways to attempt to hide from God that it would be impossible to list them all. There is the "attempt to recreate God in my own image so that i don't have to acknowledge who He really is" method. There is the "try to convince myself and everyone else that God doesn't exist thereby unsuccessfully avoiding God" method. There is also the classic "worship other gods (such as money, tolerance, education, science, marriage, happiness, self, etc) instead of God" method. There is even the "drown myself in activity and or music so i don't have to think about or hear God's voice" method. That one seems to be one of the preferred methods by us, the masses, in today's society.

However, nothing can beat the original Adam and Eve method. "Let's hide in the bushes and hope he doesn't see us!" It's amusing to me because it makes me think of a little child running and hiding their face in the couch cushion thinking that if they can't see daddy, he must not be able to see them. I mean "Hello! McFly!". God created Adam & Eve. He created the garden Adam & Eve were attempting to hide in. He created the universe that allows for their life to exist. Yet somehow Adam and Eve seem to think that if they hide under some leaves and branches, God won't be able to find them!

When i read about Adam & Eve's attempts at hiding i wonder how anyone can even imagine that that would work. I just shake my head and think that it's just plain silly. What made Adam & Eve think that that would work in any way, shape, or form? Yet when i look at the ways that we, that I, attempt to do exactly the same thing it appears just as silly. We imagine that by denying God's existence, recreating him in our own image, or attempting to hide our thoughts, we can go on living as if what He says doesn't matter. Instead of hiding behind leaves, trees, and branches, we are hiding behind entertainment, busyness, and our own intellect. It's the same thing with a new face! It just seems like we never really learn.

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Naked and Ashamed?

I think it's interesting that after eating the forbidden fruit, and their eyes being open to the knowledge of the good and evil, the very first thing that Adam and Eve notice, outside of the decision and direct consequences, is that they are naked. And, that they were ashamed of it. They had been naked the entire time previously. They had seen each other naked day after day hour after hour, time after time. They talked that way. They walked that way. They slept that way. They made love that way. They lived that way. Adam, Eve, and even God had seen nothing wrong with their being naked before they ate of the fruit. There was no shame and no judgment in any way, shape, or form. They could have gone on being naked for forever and it wouldn't have been an issue. Apparently they hadn't even considered needing clothing for warmth or protection from the elements because they didn't have anything made already. They had to fashion for themselves covering and clothing from the leaves around them.

I'm wondering, who are they ashamed of being seen naked by? They had seen each other naked day in and day out. Theirs was the first marriage. There was no reason for them to be ashamed of being naked in each others presence. God Himself had made them. He knew them in and out, piece by piece. Yet the very first thing that occurs in recognizing the knowledge of good and evil is that they are naked and have need of covering.

There are a great many things that i think i understand about the Bible, God, etc. Just look at everything i've written about the first 3 chapters of Genesis alone. Yet this is something that i have a hard time wrapping my puny brain around. Why is being naked such a shameful thing after Adam and Eve ate the fruit, but not before? Why is it considered shameful now? Why wasn't it then? Obviously it is an important concept since it is set as "the" major issue after eating the forbidden fruit. I could think of a hundred different reasons, explanations, and concepts for this change. Everything from looking at how young children are not ashamed of being naked and as they grow older they build that need for modesty to how the need for covering builds and enhances the desires of and for intimacy within the relationship. It doesn't matter. I still don't fully grasp it, and i may never. For now, that's alright.

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One Little Thing... continued

Please be aware that this post is a continuation of the previous week's post.

In my mind there is no doubt that Adam recognized a difference in his wife when she offered him the fruit. One cannot go from a perfectly made human being to much, much less than that without it being clear as day. Sin creates a separation, a gap, a chasm between that which is holy and that which is not. As a result, Adam's choice to take the fruit was exactly that, a choice. He recognized that as a result of taking and eating the fruit there was something different about his wife. She had changed and not for the better. A major gap/chasm had formed between them, and he knew the source.
So i'm convinced that Adam went into eating this forbidden fruit well aware, much more aware than his wife, of the command as well as the consequences of his actions. He was not deceived into considering that the fruit was good for food. He could have cared less if it was pleasing to the eye. The desire to make one wise may have had some pull, but ultimately i believe that even that desire was overwhelmed by seeing the consequences of Eve's actions. So when Adam made the choice to take of the fruit he knowingly made the choice to turn away from God for the sake of his wife.
As a result, Eve's sin was a blind sin resulting in part from deception. Adam's sin, however, was a sin with open eyes. There was no deception. He recognized and made the choice to turn his back on God. He loved God dearly. God created him. God gave him everything he had and wanted, but he desired his wife and unity with his wife even more. So he placed his wife before God. He chose his spouse over his source. That which was created from him over He whom created him. The rest, as they say, is history.

Wow, i just realized what a comparison and contrast this incident and choice are to what happened to Abraham and Isaac when God tested Abraham; asking him to sacrifice his only son whom he loved.

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