29. So What Happened?

Genesis 2: 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

So there we were, or here we are in the lesson on Drewidism, in the Garden of Eden.  So if it was paradise what happened?  For those of you who have sat in too many sermons, let me cut to the chase, I don’t think the original sin was anyone particular act nor was it simply disobedience.  But something happened.  Something gave this merry-go-round a shove.

          It is clear that something is amiss.  At the end of the second chapter in Genesis Adam and Eve were running around the garden nakkid.  But further, they felt no shame.  Then, after it all we have Cain killing Abel.

          It was Karen Armstrong who wrote, of Genesis, “The true meaning of scripture can never be wholly comprised in a literal reading of the text, since that text points beyond itself to a reality which cannot be adequately expressed in words and concepts.”     If the original sin, and the subsequent fall was simply around a stolen piece of fruit, and a god so vengeful that the rest of humanity is left paying the price for that misdeed; I would want nothing to do with that god. 

          There was something that happened before the fall, a precursor, something that set the whole thing in motion.  And, I think, just me, I know there are others than agree with me, but – it was our self awareness that set the whole thing in motion.  I would ask that you read Genesis 3:1 – 11 (I have included it at the bottom), and ask yourself could this conversation happen if they lacked self-awareness.  This conversation could only happen if they were aware that they were distinct from God. It is part of the inner core of Drewidic belief that it is this optical delusion that we are separate from each other and from God that is the root of all evil.

          The next step?

          The fall, the original sin – this is where I get absolutely clear that it was neither disobedience nor was it a fruit.  We ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of God and Evil. It was not apple, not a pomegranate, not a peach; as it was not a food.  It was judging, it was deciding this is right and that is wrong.

          This gave the merry-go-round a mighty shove.  “Adam, hide that thing!” Eve would have yelled at a butt naked Adam.  “Eve, letting those puppies out for air are you?”  Could have been his response – but suddenly nothing had changed except for their awareness.

          You would have read this in another entry of mine, but it was our judgement that condemned us, and everyone who followed.  We pass on our judgements like they were family heirlooms.  I listened to my mother and my father as they condemned, passed judgment on all others, and themselves.  Judgment, and when I get scriptural references I will be back, produces nothing but hate and anger.

          And then the final piece, that last push of the merry-go-round: the belief in significance.  It is my belief that somehow God loves me more than you that allows me to do all sorts of vile stuff to you.  It is the belief that I am separate that sets the stage, is it my belief that I know right from wrong, and it is my belief that I am more significant than you - that is the original sin.
            It was the competition between Cain and Abel, a desire to be better than the other, to have God love each one better that lead to murder.  It still does.  

          I have nothing more than my experience and my view of scripture to back me on this doctrine.  And you should by now know that I am always open to being proven wrong.  You would also know that I am passionate about this, that I believe that God loves us, always has, always will, and that it would take more than a friggin apple to piss him off like this.  In fact, I question the entire angry God doctrine.

          Now, to answer the questions that I would ask.  Yes, we are distinct, but we are not separate.  We are not God, but we are of him, I believe that his very essence runs through me and you and everything.  The Psalmist wrote that there is nowhere he could go that God would not be there already.

          Yes, there is good and evil, but the judgment is not ours to make.  St. Paul reminds us that when we judge others we condemn ourselves.  It is in the act of judging that condemnation is found.

          And yes, we, I am insignificant.  Although I find it hard to believe, the word did not wait with baited breath for me to be born.  And when I go, it will be noticed by only a handful of people. 

          If I am right, and I know that as a Drewid I strive to be not-wrong, but if I did manage to get it right, should we not be concerned about our churches and religious institutions.  After all, do they not teach that we are separate from God?  And while I would agree with them, I don’t think many might understand the distinction of how it is our sin is that keeps up from experiencing his glory.  Two, do they not teach a clear understanding of good and evil?  And inadvertently make lists of rules that we need to follow? Three, do not our churches teach to seek to be better than others?  I think it is quite possible that the original sin was the creation of religion itself.

          I leave you with that.

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’?”

          The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,  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.’”

          “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.

          “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

          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. 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.

          Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

          He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 

          And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”