Chapter 8: The Evil of Knowing Good & Evil
Like any other human discovery, if we can imagine it, we can bring it forth into physical Reality. So it is with evil. The Good News is that we can reverse the process. Same as humanity has the mental ability to bring forth evil here into Creation, we have the equal mental ability to send it AWAY. Evil comes into this world out of the imagination of MAN'S conscience.
Barney, a Mature-Christian and member of The Church of Christ asks, “How does evil come into the world simply from us having a conscience?”
Judgments.
We judge EVERYTHING in terms of “Good & Evil.” That is what it is to have CONSCIENCE. Judging ALL things (including one’s own self) in terms of Good & Evil. Inspired by NOTHING, IT is of our own handiwork. “IT is the most deceitful thing,” yet, we do whatever IT says. IT dictates how we think.
This is precisely what Jesus came to set right: The way we think. Most especially the way we think about ourselves individually and how we think about humanity collectively as a species. A mindset is based upon knowledge — the very core of our everyday thinking. To escape the bonds of a false mindset, we must know the Truth. So... let us clearly understand our disease (our change of mind).
1): The Knowledge of Good & Evil leads us directly into...
2): Cultivating CONSCIENCE. Which leads us directly into...
3): Judging, Judging, Judging.
ALL of this Judging inspires Guilt, Religion, Sin, Law and Death. Self-destruction. The Living God clearly warns us: Acquiring The Knowledge of Good & Evil brings O Death into Creation and into us. Leading not only to our demise. IT can easily lead to the demise of EVERYTHING. For, if the epidimy of God’s Creation (humanity) is found to be Evil, then Creation itself must be found to be Evil.
To the contrary, ALL things created by the Living God are VERY GOOD — as is human nature. The Holy Spirit exclaims the Absolute Truth about the nature of humanity:
“The Living God made everything in the universe ALL-GOOD, including human nature.”
The Holy Spirit likes to prove this Truth by posing a very important question about the nature of MAN:
“Did Adam and Eve’s newly-concocted CONSCIENCE reveal anything GOOD about the nature of humanity?”
Only everything. Upon gaining The Knowledge of Good & Evil (and CONSCIENCE), what sinful trespasses did Adam and Eve realize in their consciences about themselves? Adam was not afraid and ashamed of ALL the lies he had ever told Eve. Likewise, Eve was not afraid and ashamed of ALL the lies she had ever told Adam. With GOOD reason. They had never lied to each other. Prior to gaining The Knowledge of Good & Evil, they had no need nor motivation to lie. Can you imagine? Never killed anyone. Certainty never stole anything, for everything already belonged to them. Newborns come from this same unpolluted Place of Life. (Precisely why little children naturally assume that everything belongs to them.) Never a word spoken back and forth in hatred. No sins whatsoever. Grown adults, yet Adam and Eve were PERFECTLY blind to the entire concept of SIN. As a grown adult, try to imagine it. You instantly gain The Knowledge of Good & Evil and, in review of your entire Life (thus far), the only guilt your conscience can dredge up — the only *shameful deed* you become fearful you have committed before Almighty God and country is...
...public nudity.
That is an amazingly sinless and guiltless Life Adam and Eve led up to the point of gaining The Knowledge of Good & Evil — Knowledge which immediately progresses into Judging.
Think. What is Judging? Humans determining what we think is *Good* and what we think is *Evil.* ALL of humanity was PERFECT in every sense of the Word (ALL two of us) before we started judging what we think is *right* and what we think is *wrong.* ALL these Scriptural facts point to the exact same inescapable Truth: There is no natural “evil-nature” within us. On the contrary, it is remarkable how naturally GOOD and totally sinless we Truly are with no CONSCIENCE, no guilt and no fear based upon what we think is *Good* and what we think is *Evil.* Finally! These are amazing Truths for us to know and acknowledge. Only the Holy Spirit speaking through a true acceptor can make these Truths known to the world. We could have easily learned ALL these basic Truths two-thousand years ago — as early as the later part of the first century. Under PERFECT-Grace, the Holy Spirit leads us (naturally) into ALL Living Truth. Sadly, the very Lives of these basic Truths were cut short. Instant fatalities. They went down with the plane at Romans 6:16.
Although these Truths are part of the Good News, it is a swirling and difficult process for any Paul-Taught Mature-Christian to de-cheese and embrace them. Cries Paul of Tarsus:
Romans 7:18 (Original Greek) “I know that there dwells nothing good in my flesh.”
The God’s-Honest Truth? Paul is a wonderfully good bag of flesh, despite his self-deprecating, self-disclaimer (stated directly above). In Paul’s flesh lay the exact same makings found in Adam’s flesh — the GOOD work of the Living God of Light. The falsehood, “There dwells nothing good in my flesh!” comes to us not out of the God-Given soul of Paul. Rather, it comes to us from a very specific Voice of Darkness. A Voice which the Holy Spirit calls:
“Miserable-Comforter.”
Why should such noise be of any concern to you as you merrily drive down Romans Highway? Why is “THERE IS NOTHING GOOD IN MY FLESH!” exactly like a foreign chunk of dirt stuck in your water pump? Clank! Clank! Clank!
Why is the red idiot-light on?
Because human beings are made by the Living God in His Own Image. Including our flesh and everything He placed within our flesh. As Jesus says:
Luke 11:40 (NIV) “Did not the One who made the outside make the inside also?”
Idiot Paul condemns what is in his flesh. In doing so, he and every idiot who agrees with Paul condemns the Living God — the One Who created ALL of what is in Paul’s flesh. Graciously, Jesus prays for the destruction of the idiocy (not the idiots). Always beware of this specific voice of Darkness wherever and whenever you hear it. Be alert to the red idiot-light. Recognize the voice of the Miserable Comforter:
“I know that there dwells nothing good in my flesh.”
Such statements are hurtful to our wellbeing and heartbreaking to our Father in Heaven Who created every part of us. A deep cry of despair is our honest reaction. Better stated, the deep cry of despair that accompanies these inspired words of Darkness honestly comes out of us — as far back as humans are recorded on parchment.
Job, the book is the oldest in the Bible. Job, the man is one of four men (besides Jesus) whom, by his own rectitude, the Scriptures declare as PERFECT, upright and completely righteous. In response to Job’s anguish, Eliphaz the Termanite tries his best (actually, his worst) to convince Job, that Job’s level of righteousness is not PERFECT — that Job must have done something *wrong* to have brought ALL this calamity upon himself. Like Paul of Tarsus and John Calvin after him, Eliphaz (Truly evident by his outbursts) is the puppet of Darkness. Eliphaz speaks against humanity, using the most miserable of ALL voices. The voice Jesus tells us is the exact opposite voice of the Holy Spirit (the Comforter). Only a voice completely opposing the Holy Spirit would assess our very nature as wrong, perverted and depraved. For, our Father in Heaven created our very nature. Therefore... whenever you hear this miserable voice, take caution. Pull over. The red idiot light is on.
Listen to the voice of the Miserable Comforter:
Job 15:14-16 (KJV) “What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, He (God) putteth no trust in His saints; yea, the Heavens are not clean in His sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?”
Listen carefully to how Job answers Eliphaz in return:
Job 16:1-2 (KJV) “Then Job answered and said, ‘I have heard many such things: Miserable Comforters are ye ALL.’”
Contrary to what the Church-Taught teach, we are ALL God’s children. Walking in Wisdom or idiocy, we are ALL brothers and sisters. Whether we recognize our Father... or not. Allow the Words of the Holy Spirit (the GOOD Comforter) to put a cold cloth on the despair of our universal condition:
“Chill. Calm down. Cool out. Let it go. Think not of yourself nor even ‘the worst person imaginable to you’ in such a harsh way of Darkness. For, you can trace every Evil associated with any one of you back to that person gaining The Knowledge of Good & Evil as his Master. Without Master Knowledge of Good & Evil, you simply cannot help but remain absolutely sinless.”
Adam and Eve are Scriptural proof. Both of them Lived PERFECTLY sinless Lives BEFORE gaining The Knowledge of Good & Evil and, consequentially, CONSCIENCE. Why did Almighty God see Adam and Eve as “VERY GOOD”? Because Adam and Eve WERE VERY GOOD. They were entirely sinless. It should be Saint Adam and Saint Eve, thank you, please, Church. On the contrary, Judge Fleming finds Adam and Eve guilty as absolute sinners:
The first sinners.
According to Judge Fleming, Adam’s disregarding the Living God’s command and warning, not to eat from The Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil, is the first sin — Original Sin. And, yet, this action was NOT identified as “a sin” by any one of the pertinent parties directly involved.
The Living God did not consider it a sin.
Adam and Eve did not consider it a sin.
The author of Genesis did not consider it a sin.
The word “sin” does not even appear in the first three chapters of Genesis. Still, The Church and, consequentially, our “belief-system” (or is it the other way around?) teaches that Adam specifically committed “a sin” by carelessly disregarding the Living God’s GOOD council.
Every good Christian is supposed to “believe” this GUILTY-AS-CHARGED sign, tagged upon Adam’s left ear. After ALL, The Church’s judicial bench (Judge Fleming, himself, no less) has sent this decree directly down to us. As good Christians we are running about our business, calling Adam “a sinner.” “The first sinner.” Never stopping to think. Wait a second. No one has ever properly found Adam guilty of any sin. So... how about a fair trial? Perhaps The Church would prefer we not put Adam on trial.
Yeah, you had best just hold off! cries Judge Fleming. Besides, you have no authority to hold such a proceeding!
Really? What makes Judge Fleming’s collective conscience (constructed by The Knowledge of Good & Evil) so trustworthy and special? Judge Fleming considers Paul the trusty authority and, yet, clearly, Paul is the slave of Master Knowledge of Good & Evil. Consequentially (same as the church he fathered) Paul has a hard time distinguishing Light from Darkness. Paul admits (in hindsight) that “Satan himself can appear as an angel of Light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14) Thus, Paul’s advice for his students is to “Test everything.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) Paul’s reversal (Romans 6:16) does not pass the test, proving contradictory and destructive to What’s-Been-Done-For-Us-On-the-Cross. And, so... what gives The Church and its father, Paul, the right to judge Adam “guilty” for ALL these years? Kangaroo-Style yet?
Nothing special. Anyone can play Kangaroo Court.
ALL rise. Kangaroo Court is now in session. The Honorable Judge Harry S. Sanctimonious presiding. Come forward if you have business before this Court. Tune in ladies, gentlemen and distinguished others. (About time, somebody gave Adam a fair trial.) Calling the case of the People of the State of Decency versus the defendant, Adam. Come. Play along. Be one of Adam’s twelve jurors.
The Lord God gave Adam a specific command and warning: “Thou shall not eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil. For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die.” The question before the jury is plain and simple: Was Adam’s careless disregard of God’s command and warning... a sin? A sin of which you can rightfully convict Adam? Beyond a reasonable doubt?
Before making the boo-boo of finding a PERFECTLY innocent man guilty, clearly understand: When Adam bit into that fruit, he had no knowledge of Good & Evil.
Oops.
It was only AFTER taking the bite that Adam became aware of the concept of Good & Evil. See the dilemma? In order for a person to be guilty of any sin, that person has to know the difference between right and wrong at the time of the offense. That is not Kangaroo-Courtroom-Gobbledygook. That is Reality under God’s blue Heaven. It is an Absolute. Jesus affirms this Absolute:
John 9:41 (Original Greek) “If you were blind, you would have no sin.”
Adam neglected his Father’s warning and/or forgot his father’s command. Call it forgetful carelessness or just plain innocent stupidity. However, be assured of this: You are promoting an absolute falsehood if you insist upon calling it “a sin” against Adam.
Juror number 2, Stephen, a Mature-Christian Presbyterian pipes in. “If Adam and Eve did not know they had done wrong in disobeying God by eating the fruit, why then did God punish them by throwing them out of the Garden?”
He didn’t. Read your Bible as opposed to your pastor reading it to you. I am not being flippant. Try reading Genesis with a clear head, opened eyes and opened ears. You may be turning the pages and looking at the words; however, be warned and aware of Judge Fleming in your ear, defining the meaning for you. After gaining The Knowledge of Good & Evil and growing a conscience, the ONLY thing Adam and Eve felt guilty and ashamed about (actually, “afraid” of God seeing) was their nakedness. (Genesis 3:10) Period. Go to Genesis and read it. (Look it up. Once again, the verse is Genesis 3:10) Adam and Eve had no fear, no shame, no guilt — whatsoever — that they had “disobeyed God.” They hid from God because of their “nakedness,” not because of their Church-Judged “disobedience.”
Wow. Isn’t THAT an amazing Truth? Here is another one. God put Adam out of the Garden not as a punishment; but, specifically, so that now (with Adam having chosen to eat from The Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil) he could not put forth his hand and also eat from the other tree in the center of the garden (Genesis 3:22-24) — The Tree of Life, which the Living God of Light had placed, equally, in the center of the garden. (Genesis 2:9) The Serpent is the only one the Lord specifically cursed and punished. Every tragedy awaiting Adam and Eve, including their predicable demise (them eventually being consumed by Death Itself) was the direct Cause & Effect of them eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil. There is a big difference between Cause & Effect and “punishment.”
Juror number 3, Joel, a Lutheran Mature-Christian observes, “You make an excellent case for Adam not yet knowing the difference between right and wrong when he first bit into the fruit. However, by the same logic, you certainly must find Eve guilty. Her eyes were open to Good & Evil when she gave Adam the fruit to eat.”
The wording in Genesis literally reads that both Adam and Eve’s eyes became open to The Knowledge of Good & Evil at precisely the same moment:
Genesis 3:6-7 (KJV) “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of both of them were opened.”
For certain, Adam could have stopped the calamity from happening had he dependably considered God’s warning. Regardless, either way — Eve eating one second before Adam or both Adam and Eve eating exactly together — the Church-Taught and those redundantly taught by the Church-Taught find Eve legally guilty of corrupting Adam. Simply because Eve shared the fruit with Adam. Upon being asked what she has done, she honestly replies, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”
Notice, Eve does not say that the serpent... deceived... her. Eve has not the first clue as to the concept of deception — same as a two-year-old knows deception. Zero. In pure forthright honesty, Eve states that the serpent beguiled her. The word “beguile” means to charm or to enchant. The idea of Eve being “deceived” is a Judgment that comes from us; from OUR collective conscience; from OUR perspective and retrospect; seen through OUR theological assessment. Not from Eve. Eve has none of that. Keep in mind, the only “Evil” of which Eve is aware (within the depths of her own newly established conscience) is the *Evil* of having been seen with her husband *naked.* As to the *Evil* of Adam and Eve being “disobedient to God”? Truth be told, this specific perception of *Evil* is written nowhere in Genesis. It is a Judgment made by generations following and passed on to future generations (ours included).
The Church-Taught-Conscience is a collective-conscience fed by countless generations of humanity brutally infected by the multiplying effect of The Knowledge of Good & Evil. Church-Taught theologians demonize Eve’s “motive” for giving-the-fruit-to-Adam based upon their own gist of *right* and *wrong,* never once considering the transparency of Eve. The same mistake Church-Taught theologians make across the board. They see Eve as having a conscience identical to their own conscience. The same collective-conscience the Church-Taught theologian uses to Judge everyone — including himself. Actually, the Diabolical disaster STARTS with Judging SELF.
What exactly does Eve know the moment she gives Adam the fruit to eat? Dismiss what you think YOU know. Try to gain some empathy for what EVE knows. Keep the facts in mind. Prior to the eating of the fruit, Adam and Eve’s eyes are totally blind to the concept of “Evil.” Then... the first-bite. Upon eating the fruit, the Church-Taught presume that Adam and Eve automatically know ALL of what the collective-conscience of the distant “Church” has accumulated and Judged to be *Evil.* Truth be known, even after partaking of the fruit, Adam and Eve know none of that. ALL they know at first-bite (at the start of their change of mind) is the mere idea that “Evil” exists and that it is the opposite of “Good.” Their search for bad/wrong/Evil — begins NOW. Now their eyes are open and searching for Evil. Now (after eating the fruit) Adam and Eve BEGIN to Judge what they “believe” to be *wrong.*
And, thus far, the only *wrong* they have adjudicated out of the depths of their imaginations... is... *being caught-in-the-act of nakedness.* Their first Judgment. The dead giveaway that they have each, instantly, instituted CONSCIENCE. Not that they decree “nakedness” (in and of itself) as being “wrong.” Rather, this unique moment has presented a predicament. Father-God “catching” them “in-the-act” of “nakedness.” Have some empathy. Adam and Eve are an intimate couple. Look at Adam and Eve’s rush to Judgment from their perspective, from the sense of a nuptial-nature. In their search for *Wrong/Evil* (a posse led by Sheriff/Master Knowledge of Good & Evil) what... exactly... is their first Judgment?
It is *wrong* for anyone besides ourselves to see the two of us together... *naked.*
Quite an amazing moment.
Not unlike a 21-year-old husband whose parents are out of town. He invites his 19-year-old wife to get naked with him in his parents’ living-room. Two seconds after they disrobe, Mom and Dad walk through the front door. Had these two youngsters no conscience fed by The Knowledge of Good & Evil, it would be, “Hi, Mom and Dad! What brings you two home so early?”
Now... imagine the unique circumstances of Adam and Eve thrown into the living-room scene. Thirty seconds prior to “nakedness” (for the first time in their “IT’S-ALL-GOOD” Lives) the two newlyweds have grown a conscience. A mental courtroom for discerning “right” and “wrong” expands across the depths of their minds with a new prime directive written across their self-erected judicial bench: THERE-IS-BOTH-GOOD & EVIL. Which effectively erases and replaces their old status quo, soon to be forgotten (IT'S-ALL-GOOD). Even with no prior experience of “right” and “wrong,” is it plausible to presume that when Mom and Dad come through the front door, the couple’s first reaction might just be to hide behind the couch? If you agree that it is plausible (not to mention, probable) then you now have some real empathy for Eve. Keep in mind, ALL this happens in less than a minute. Thirty seconds PRIOR to eating the fruit and being “caught in-the-act” of “nakedness,” Eve is Diabolically beguiled by the Serpent’s counsel. Utterly duped into thinking that this lovely-looking brain-cancer is *Good.* Easily duped; for, what else could she think? She Lives in a world that is, literally, ALL-GOOD. Eve takes two pieces of IT from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil. One for herself and one for her husband. The two of them eat IT. Prior to eating IT (same as her husband) Eve had no knowledge whatsoever of “Evil.” No knowledge whatsoever of “Wrong.” Eve is simply demonstrating the most basic and natural expression of love. Sharing. We share what we are convinced is *Good* with the ones we love. Make an honest Judgment, juror. Beyond ALL reasonable doubt. Can you attach a *sinful* motive to Eve’s actions here?
Yes! quakes both Catholic and Protestant representatives at the jury table. It was an outright act of disobedience to God’s command! How can “Love” justify outright disobedience to God? Or be of any importance at ALL in this matter?
See? These jurors insist on Judging Eve by what is going on in THEIR heads. While they maintain total indifference to what is going on in EVE'S head. Let’s sort out this huge disparity. Having absolutely no sense of the concept of “right” and “wrong,” how can Eve think it *wrong* to proceed against God’s warning? She cannot. How can The Church judge Eve by its own accumulated sense of *right* and *wrong*? Easy as pie. Judge Fleming decrees: This is an outright act of disobedience!
Since Eve is entirely lacking in Church-Knowledge, Judge Fleming needs to time-travel back to Eden and clearly define “disobedience” for Eve. Even if his Honor could DeLorean-back to Eden, he’d have to stay there awhile. It would take much time for Eve (a person with absolutely no understanding of *right* and *wrong*) to learn the convoluted concept of “an outright act of disobedience.” One must first gain the idea of “Good & Evil” only to begin accumulating the Kindergarten concept of “*right* and *wrong.*” THEN, one may proceed onward to the Grade School Study of “Doing What You Are Told.” Proceeding, next, through the tortuous quest of gaining a Masters Degree in every advanced and manipulative notion of “Obedience.” Finally, it’s off to Law School for ascertaining “Outright Acts of Disobedience.”
“Get it, Neo?” (Says Morpheus exposing The Matrix.) The simple, horrifying Truth. Only ours is a Diabolical Matrix. The “program” is still running... full-blast. The Knowledge of Good & Evil is progressive and destructive. IT... IS... our Evil mental disease. Our Heavenly Father wanted none of this for us. Everything we do is consumed by IT. Even us, sitting here, Judging Eve. First, let us search for *Evil.* What should we Judge? What IS this wayward wife’s iniquitous motive in sharing the fruit with her bright-eyed, innocent husband? What IS this woman’s *Evil* plot?
One among our jury takes an educated guess. “Selfishness?”
I disagree. Up unto this point, Eve’s entire Life experience consists of Living in a world that is ALL-GOOD. Despite God’s GOOD warning, she has been tricked into seeing it as *Good* to eat the fruit and; therefore, *Good* to share it with Adam: What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. I find no evil on Eve’s part in her sharing the fruit with her mate. God put them together. Whatever lay in store for them lay in store for them together. The only thing Eve is being “selfish” about is Adam. That is to say, her want is to hold on to Adam. Her loving desire is to be with Adam and to share EVERYTHING with him. Is it not PERFECTLY natural for Eve to cling to the precious gift the Lord God has given to her — the Love of her Life? Even in the aftermath, the Living God decrees it Right-in-His-Sight for her to cling to him.
The Church-Taught ask: What importance does LOVE bring to this matter?
Jesus would denounce these modern-day Pharisees as outright hypocrites. Talk about shame. For shame. This matter is ALL about love. Attention, Juror Number 5 (Protestant Church). Did you forget what institution you are so desperately trying to keep “intact” in our day and age? Attention, Juror Number 4 (Catholic Church) did you also forget? You consider it “a Sacrament.” I suppose, in our day and age, it is something we seem to remember only when it best suits us. When it is convenient for us to exemplify it. Do you have any idea what institution? What sacrament?
Marriage. Adam and Eve’s beautiful, God-Given “for better-or-for worse” relationship. The two could have never continued onward as an intimate couple with Adam retaining his innocence while Eve alone possessed The Knowledge of Good & Evil. Marital-love. Togetherness. No matter what comes, they are joined in marital manifest destiny. Whichever Tree (in the center of the garden) from which they chose to eat — in Life or in Suicide — they are in-it together. Cause & Effect. For richer or for poorer. In sickness and in health. May I add, especially bonded when a couple contracts the same mental-sickness.
Judge Fleming would have us “believe” that the Lord God multiplied the pain of childbirth as a “punishment” for Eve (and for ALL of womankind). The facts? The Lord God is gracious and merciful with Eve (and consequentially with ALL womankind).
Do you really think that men ruling over women and the intense pain of childbirth were God’s “punishments” to Eve and to womankind? The Lord God refers to the intense “sorrow” accompanying childbirth as His “Great Multiplication.” We can hardly interpret that to mean “punishment” for Eve. Within the same Breath, God “Greatly Multiplied” female sexual desire: A woman’s desire shall be to the Love of her Life; in this case, her husband. I am not making this stuff up. Read it for yourself:
Genesis 3:16 (KJV) “Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband. And he shall rule over thee.”
“Punishment” is the last thing on God’s mind. As with any GOOD father, the Living God punishes His children (us) out of His great love for us — and always for the good of the child. If God’s purpose here is to teach Eve a lesson by punishing her, what can Eve possibly gain from this spanking? Eve knows nothing about the concept of “punishment,” for Eve has no conception of “disobedience.” No more than she understands the concept of getting “a nice-reward” for being “obedient.” Moreover, the idea of God “punishing” Eve as a criminal for this “horrific crime” (as in eye-for-eye-justice) is even more absurd. Why? Because our Father is not a maniacal idiot. Nor a wicked fairy-godmother: “Oh! So ya ate from the tree I warned ya not to eat from, did ya? Well, I’ll teach YOU how to act, young lady! As well as every other woman that ever comes along after you! From here on out, whenever any of you females give birth, it’s gonna hurt like Hell! THAT'LL keep you damned women in line!"
Makes Puritanical sense. Once we have their feet locked-up in the stirrups and the doctor is yelling “Push!” and the PAIN rips through ’em like a freight train... THEN they’ll ALL have the same resolution upon their lips! Yes, I admit and repent of my Original Sin, dear Lord: I submit to Your punishment for eating that fruit... “three-hundred-thousand years” ago! Sure. Like THAT'S the first thought that goes through a woman’s head as she is giving birth. Get real.
God does not have to justify anything to us. Yet, God as my witness: This is NOT God punishing Eve. More likely, our Father is “Greatly Multiplying” His efforts against the O Silent Ones — the Powers against Him that drew His children into The Knowledge of Good & Evil. God only knows:
Isaiah 55:8 (NLT) “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”
As for the rest of Eve’s “verdict,” “And, he (the man) shall rule over thee,” the Church-Taught teach that this is “further punishment” “divinely decreed” against Eve and womankind. (Buzzer Sound!) It is neither. It is a sad forecast from a broken-hearted Father. Humanity’s despicable quest to gain control over other human beings is one of the most Evil effects of the cause — The Knowledge of Good & Evil. “MAN ruling over MAN,” in ALL its forms, is not inspired by the Living God; “MAN ruling over MAN” is inspired by Darkness. The world at large has no idea what Jesus means by “FREE-Indeed.” Under the ownership of Master Knowledge of Good & Evil, even our FREEIST nation on Earth needs a police force, prisons and lethal injections — ALL necessary *Evils.* This perverted “belief” in MAN'S “ruling power” being a *Good* thing is perhaps the most deceitful symptom of our disease. At Genesis 3:16, the Living God is not divinely decreeing that a man SHOULD rule over a woman. He is revealing to humanity that this malady WILL come into being.
We did have the feminist movement. It did end the “he-shall-rule-over-thee” atrocity — certainly ended it in what we call “the FREE World.” Sadly, women take up the same hell-born trouble upon themselves — wanting to rule over others. What a way to use your newfound FREEDOM. Become a slave to the power-hungry symptom of the disease — wanting to be in whip-cracking charge of others. Epidurals de-multiply the “sorrow-during-childbirth” Multiplication (“FREE World” again). Looks like the increase in female sexual desire is the only Multiplication of the Lord God still in Active-Force upon FREE-womankind. Don’t sweat-it if you don’t get-it. Again, we ARE getting way ahead of ourselves. One must first know what the Word “FREE” means.
Same with Adam and the Love of his Life. The Church-Taught preach that Adam ratted Eve out to God, by passing the “blame” of “wrongdoing” on to Eve:
Genesis 3:12 (KJV) “And the man said, ‘The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me. She gave me of the Tree. And I did eat.’”
Ratted her out? Adam? The first guy? Do we have any idea how absurd it is for us to Judge Adam through the fog of ALL the distorted things going on in OUR heads “three-hundred-thousand years” later? Even after eating the fruit, Adam is nowhere near wholly-compromised by The Knowledge of Good & Evil — nowhere near to the degree that we are, here in twenty-first century AD. Perchance it may be important for us to know: The Knowledge of Good & Evil multiplies exponentially about every ten years of collective human existence. Even more rapidly (and collectively) now that we have the World-Wide Web at our disposal. Do the math. Where does that put us, compared to Adam?
We are nearly 100% complexly problematical in our thinking. Why? Due to over “fifteen-thousand generations” of accumulated slavery under the unbreakable whips and chains of Master Knowledge of Good & Evil.
Let’s recap. Upon eating the fruit, Adam and Eve are made instantly aware of only one action item: This thing called “Evil” is the opposite of Good. The idea of “wrong” is still... briefly... a fuzzy specter. Briefly, indeed. The birth of CONSCIENCE is at the door, waiting for ITS opportunity to arise. IT doesn’t take long. Bang. The dead giveaway. Adam and Eve hide themselves from God, having just begun their wayward journey of Judging something *wrong* about themselves. Totally uneducated and uninstructed in this newly-formed courtroom, they have the discerning capacity of a set of two-year-olds who have just had their little hands slapped for the first time. Not because they took something off the coffee table that did not belong to them. No. Because they ran into the living-room, “naked,” in front of mixed company. And, please, understand the most important Truth at play in the mix of ALL this:
It is their newly-formed CONSCIENCE that has slapped their hands. Not their Father.
Can Judge Fleming even imagine how terribly convoluted and nonsensical the thought of “ratting Eve out” would be from Adam’s perspective? No... Judge Fleming cannot imagine it. He is too sick to imagine it. As Christians, we are taught to judge Adam by modern-day Church-Standards. It is from this infected sewer of insanity we bang our gavels and PRESUME what is going on in Adam’s mind: I can get out of being in trouble with God by blaming Eve for ALL of this. Yeah, THAT'S the ticket! Eve is the PERFECT mark to snitch-out to God as the evildoer! I’ll tell God that EVE tempted me to do wrong!
How absurd. Such a scheme would be impossible for Adam to concoct. Adam has the accumulated Knowledge of Good & Evil equal to that of a child just turned two. Try explaining these seven monstrously problematic concepts (contained in the Church-Taught presumption directly above) to a brand-new two-year-old. One: “Being in trouble with God.” Two: “Blaming.” Three: “The PERFECT mark.” Four: “Snitch-out.” Five: “Evildoer.” Six: “Tempted.” And, seven: “To do wrong.”
Adam reveals the God’s-Honest Truth. He sees Eve as: “The woman whom Thou gave to be with me.” Such a statement is PERFECTLY transparent. This is exactly how Adam sees Eve: The woman God GAVE to him. Adam sees Eve as a GIFT from God. Even with God’s GOOD warning, Adam is entirely unsuspecting. Now, THERE'S an aspect of Adam’s thought process that Truly differentiates his way of thinking from our way of thinking if there ever was one. UNSUSPECTING.
Prior to eating the fruit, Adam Lives in a world that is ALL-GOOD. From Adam’s pure, undaunted perspective, ANYTHING coming to him from the woman God GAVE to be with him is just as GOOD as God Himself giving it to Adam. The same scenario applies to Adam’s “punishment.”
Our deluded “belief-system” (tragically deluded by Master Knowledge of Good & Evil) contends that God “punished” Adam with a Life of “fingers worked to the bone,” “banishment from the garden” and last, but certainly not least... “death.” Such a contention, for lack of a better word, is idiotic. Consider a parable, illustrating just how idiotic. Suppose God had warned Adam never to antagonize a certain bull that roamed the garden. One day, Adam slapped the bull hard in the face, and the angered bull gored Adam to death. Using the same logic, our “belief-system” must contend: The bull killing Adam was God’s punishment against Adam for disobeying God’s warning to never antagonize the bull. Reduced to theological doctrine: God will punish you with the horns for messing with the bull. When, in Reality, punishment from God has absolutely nothing to do with it. Adam’s demise by way of the bull comes about through simple Cause & Effect: You mess with the bull, you get the horns.
“No!” insists juror #6, Donald, a Mature-Christian and Lutheran minister. “In my mind, Adam was rightfully warned by God and rightfully punished by God!”
Sounds to me like Donald is suffering from Sunday-School swimmer’s-ear. Hey, Donald? Is that Judge Fleming you hear in your ear? If so, you had best shake him out of your head. Nowhere in Genesis does it read that God “punished” Adam. Are the Church-Taught infallible when it comes to assessing God’s punishment? Hardly. The evolutionist’s “Cro-Magnon man, baying at the moon” could do just as well. Before Benjamin Franklin discovered that lightening is electricity, those taught by The Church “believed” and taught others that lightening was God’s punishment. That’s a fact. God’s “wrath” toward Adam expressed in the form of punishment would depend entirely upon what was going on in ADAM'S mind at the time of the purported offense. Not by what is going on in Donald’s mind nor in the future collective-mind of “the Faithful.”
We are exhaustively infected.
ALL of our individual and/or collectively contrived Judgments are based upon what each one of us relatively conceives to be *Good* and what each one of us relatively conceives to be *Evil.* Moreover, we modify our individual conception of what is *Good* and what is *Evil* by collective influence.
To help us clearly assess Adam’s state of mind, the Holy Spirit can offer us endless parables. Here is another good one. Saying the Living God punished Adam with death is as false and idiotic as saying that the four-year-old was punished to death by his parents with the UPS truck. For, indeed, a UPS truck did run over the four-year-old child. Yet, it ALL could have been prevented had the child simply heeded his parents’ warning. And, what precisely was his parents’ warning, time and time again? That a truck would kill the boy if he ran out into the street without first looking both ways: “Everywhere in our great big yard you may FREELY run without first looking both ways. But, into the street, you shall not run without first looking both ways; for, in the day thereof you run out into the street without first looking both ways, you will be hit by a truck and surely die.” Even in the eye of THE LAW, Adam’s carelessness is far more justifiable than the carelessness of the four-year-old in the parable. Most four-year-olds have already had their minds (if not their backsides) opened to their first lessons of *right* & *wrong.* Not to mention the association of swift pain that goes along with “disobedience.”
If everyone in our day and age were Living on FACTORY SETTING, the idea of “disobedience” and “punishment” would have no consequential meaning to us whatsoever. Try to imagine one-step beyond that. We imagined our way into this mess, perhaps the best way to step out of it is to imagine our way out. Imagine if you had never heard of the concept of sin — never heard of the concept of right & wrong. Imagine Living in a world where there is no such thing as sin. No such concept as sin. No such word as “sin.” The entire idea of such a thing is simply not part of Reality; but, rather, that which has always remained in Never-Never Land. It should not take much of an imagination to consider such a Reality. That is our original Reality. That is our Factory Setting. Adam and Eve enjoyed this Reality continuously, until they gained The Knowledge of Good & Evil. You and I enjoyed it, too; you probably do not remember (you were so little). Our little ones enjoy this exact same Reality, continuously... until the moment little he or little she gains... what?
The Knowledge of Good & Evil.
That is the absolute God’s-Honest Truth. We. Me. You. Humankind. It is ALL about what-we-think. Our world is exactly what we make of it. You ARE what you think. The power we gain from this Truth is absolutely limitless (see also, dreadful and wondrous). Solomon, without a doubt the first psychologist, shared this Wisdom with us ages ago, long before anyone added a PsyD and/or a PhD to his name and considered dabbling into what the human mind is or what the human mind can possibly do (or undo).
Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) “For as he thinketh in his ‘heart’ (in CONSCIENCE) so is he.”
Our state of mind, twisted by The Knowledge of Good & Evil, has completely altered the basis of how we perceive ourselves and the universe around us. IT morphed our foundation. IT bent our imaginations, whispering:
“Dismiss your prideful notion of God-given PERFECTION. Seek and find evil within thyself.”
This was the fatal monkey-wrench in our thinking. Causing us to search for Evil. Upon finding no Evil outward in God’s Creation, we imagined *Evil* within ourselves. Thus... we changed the world around us. As if by rote. We changed Creation. The cold Reality. Our grimmest reaping. Out of imagination, we physically brought evil into this world, like as if we were dirty cops planting drugs on ourselves. We created the evidence, and we continue to do so. Checkmate. We chose to be kidnapped (arrested). And we CONTINUE in our choice to REMAIN kidnapped (imprisoned). Quite agreeable kidnap victims we are. Locked AWAY in a hole for so long. Senseless. We willingly accept it. We have completely forgotten our home. We have forgotten our Factory Setting.
The Desolate One says: “Bah! Forget such infantile naivety. Welcome Death!”
We continue to do so. We continue into our deaths the patsy of NOTHING. Even as we Live we are dying; for, we are poisoned. We are poisoned with the “belief” that humanity — if not ALL of us, at least some portion of us — is *Evil.* We have poisoned ourselves. And, as ANY good father would do, our Father calls The Ambulance for us... to take our sick and dying asses to the Emergency Room.
And, oh... dear Lord... what is our response? We make the world “believe” The Ambulance ride is exclusive to members of a country club. Then, we let the air out of The Ambulance tires so that no one can be taken to Emergency. Then, to insure the certainty of death — the certainty of our death (the death of the human race) — we blow up The Ambulance with a pipe bomb. Not only have we destroyed our emergency transport (thanks to ALL the ifs, ands and buts) moreover, there is no viable cure waiting for us at the end of The Ambulance ride. We have psychologically destroyed the psychological cure. Worse, we religiously insure that the cure stays psychologically destroyed. Need I speak plainly? We have made certain that What’s-Been-Done-For-Us-On-the-Cross remains killed, wrapped up and buried. Open your eyes. We are still stabbing at it. Pounding more spikes into the ground after it. Shoveling on top of it even more dirt. More ifs. More ands. More buts. More difficulties. More falsehoods.
The Holy Spirit has not left us. To the contrary, She is grabbing us... to shake us out of our nightmare. We are every bit as GOOD as the day God made us. To quote our Creator, we are “VERY GOOD.” How, once again, can we realize this wonderful Reality 100% — from the tips of our fingers and toes to the infinity of our core? By ABSOLUTELY KNOWING we are VERY GOOD... despite ALL our nightmarish evidence to the contrary. Sound impossible? With God, ALL things are possible. Not merely possible. Better than “possible.” More like stupidly easy. As in... simply taking a gift. Truly-Accepting-What’s-Been-Done-For-Us-On-the-Cross takes ALL of our nightmarish evidence AWAY. See how stupidly easy it is? We need something stupidly easy. Our stupidity demands it.
Choosing to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil was not an Evil choice. It was a stupid choice. It was an ill-advised choice. We knew nothing yet about the concept of sin. “Yet” is the optimum word. Our disease is progressive. SIN, being the further progression of our disease. Progression. Not to be confused with progress. For it would be contemptible to call IT “progress.”
Even after gaining The Knowledge of Good & Evil, Adam and Eve had not the first clue as to what our human imagination would bring forth next. Our most prolific IT. However... it only took humanity one generation (under the heavy chains and harsh whips of Master Knowledge of Good & Evil) to imagine IT and give birth to IT.
“sin”
