the most common is God's judgement for disobedience ..
the snake is cursed
the woman too, in childbearing and submission to the male
and the Earth (and, by extension, the man) which, although playing no part in the disobedience, now produces restrictive troublesome hindrances to human life
the man bears the result of that in his labour to now get 'produce' for life
the other more-recent and less-told view focuses on the grace of God
whereas God had warned of death as a result of the disobedience, the humans live past the event, able to continue, and to produce offspring to boot, even though now under a troublesome environment
so, one view roots itself in judgement, the other in gracious mercy
..
as it is the first story in scripture, the attitude of the reader/hearer is bent in one or the other direction from the outset as they move forward into the other readings ..
God as Judge
God as Gracious
..
with that in mind, consider the concept of 'life' in the story
God, who is consistently expressed in scripture as the God who IS, as in without beginning or ending, as in forever God, magnanimously expresses Godcharacter by creating life outside of Godself ..
the telling of the story is full of thoughtfulness and creativity expressed in abundance through variety and plenty ..
this God, powerful beyond our conception, expressed God's nature through producing life in all sorts of forms -
flying, swimming, running, crawling
erupting from the very ground to leaf and fruit
all of it endowed with ability to reproduce itself ..
additionally, the endowment of functionality and economy is artfully adorned -
colour, trait, sound, feather, fur, tail, beak ..
vision, taste, hearing ..
soar, dive, speed, stealth ..
long or short-stemmed, purple or blue or red or yellow or pink, petal upon petal, scentuous ..mammoth or tiny, scaled or skinned,
piercing the heavy watery medium that covers two-thirds of the incredible Earth
Earth now ordered by this awesome
Being whose majesty is painted into
every glorious pass of the creative
brush, dipped in this or that spot of
blended creativity ..
the sheer variety of life evolving from that unfathomably brilliant mind is incomprehensible
imagine the consciousness of this Creator-God .. well .. it's beyond imagination ..
life unfolding in all its wonderfilled glory at the hand of this One ..
life
the epitome of this life is the creature human ..
it appears from the story that Creator is pointedly laying-out an environment for the final creation, a being created in the very image (think physical) and likeness (think non-physical) of the Creator ..
astounding
God creating Godlike creatures, expressions of God in creaturely form ..
marvelous
everything is in place for thriving abundant reproductive life in a plentitude of forms, coexisitng in wholeness, the entire Earth a self-supporting organism, a flourishing Wonder of Life, dwelling in unison, balanced
the chaotic haphazard that was there in the beginning is incredibly transformed into an incomparable work of living art, abounding in life, giving life
..
.. and then .. the concept of death is introduced ..
after all this wonderful creative expression, this outpouring of life, death is placed just there, interposed at the end, as a contrast, a potential towards the very chaotic haphazard void from which God had brought lifedeath
life
with privilege comes responsibility
and gratitude
and trust in the Privileger
..
for the Godlike humans to be truly godlike, the core aspect of God must be endued ..
love
the love of Creator - expressed in creative self-giving and sharing and opening-up and life, self-propagating life, thriving verve expressing its own creative love-sharing - could only exist in freedom, the uninhibited right to choose ..
apart from choice the human creature would be a pre-programmed being, quite un-like the Godimage they represent ..
thus the 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil' and the counsel of the Creator to not eat, "for in the day you eat you will die" ..on that very day
the 'tree of life' was there, poignantly juxtaposed to the tree that brings death ..
choose ..
choose life
why choose death ? ..
in the presence of the pervasive blessedness of such an incredible abundance of life, why would they (you/we/i) choose death ..
why indeed
if for no other reason, the graciousness of the Endower of Life 'demands' the return of loving acknowledgment from his creatures, willing respect for this God and this God's desire to not eat
it may be framed as obedience
it rather may be framed as a gratitude flowing from loving respect and adoration for the Grand Giver of life
..
the rest of this prequel is well known ..
the choice was death - not directly of course, but as consequence
the true choice was to disrespect the Lifegiver, to deliver self as autonomous authority, to ply my will of choice
exert my own sovereignty ..
death
over life
the massive undoing of Eden's glory is told in God's words to Deceit and to the human image bearers
in contradiction to God's own warning, God grants life in the new reality of encroaching death
all creation suffers the impending result of choice - atrophy into death.
by Creator's grace, life continues through propagating life, but it now inevitably ends ..
misery out of blessedness ..
perennial stormclouds now lie on the horizon for all life ..
eventually the storm always arrives
darkness ..
what madness
life given
death chosen
light out of darkness turned on its head
darkness wins
..
the Expression was there in the beginning where God was
in fact the Expression was God
all things were made by him
he was creator
life was inherent in him, and Life gave life
and enlightened humanity
the Life shines wherever there is darkness
and cannot be extinguished ..
and the Light of Life came into the world of humans
they did not recognize him ..
the Expression of God became a human
and took up residence among us ..
we see the glory of his life
glory as of the only-ever born son of God
abounding in graciousness
Expressing truth
(John 1)
the creator of the universe takes human life as his own
to shine a light on life in the ever-present all-encompassing inevitability of death
death to which we all are in bondage
to free us from the dark void of death
and translate us into the kingdom of Light and Life ..
the disrespecting distrust we invoke for the One who gave us life cannot undo the love of that One ..
the Light of Life will not be deterred by our unfaithfulness to his love and graciousness ..
he pursues relentlessly, humbly calling us to recognize ourselves in him
to live in the light of that recognition
full of grace and truth
Philippians 2:5-11 poetically portrays the mind of the Christ Expression expressed in humility for the Love of us
for the undying love of us
even to his death
the Light has shined in our darkness
bringing life
promising life in abundance
eternal life.
that life lives in us such that, even in the ugly scary face of imminent death, we can peer through the darkness at the Light that will not be extinguished
and journey, after light is lost by the eyelids' final fall, through death into Life to be with him, the Light of Life
..
nothing can death us from the love of Christ..
nothing
not trouble or persecution or hunger or want or danger or threat
not death or life
not angels or demons
not fears about now or worry about tomorrow
not the very powers of hell ..
no power in the heavens or in Earth will ever separate us from the love of God revealed in Jesus the Lord Christ
.. nothing
(Romans 8:35 ff.)
..
life out of death spells grace
grace in abundance
Creator himself dies for the life of us ..
that is the love of God in pure Expression
life in abundance is the Good News of the Gospel ..
life
not death
choose Life
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