We've found a lot of differences between this story and the Bible chapter - some of them potentially important, others not so much...
- The Story adds in the story of Lucifer - which chronologically makes sense, but it isn't in Genesis.
- That also led me to notice that the snake is never actually identified as Satan in Genesis.
- The Story leaves out Adam and Eve making clothes for themselves
- The Story completely leaves out all of the punishment that God hands down because of their transgression
- To Eve: "You will suffer terribly when you give birth. But you will still desire your husband, and he will rule over you."
- To Adam: "As long as you live, you will have to struggle to grow enough food. Your food will be plants, but the ground will produce thorns and thistles. You will have to sweat to earn a living; you were made out of soil, and you will once again turn into soil."
- After reading The Shack it's hard to read about that side of God. The Shack gave the impression that God was deeply disappointed in us, not that he was angry or wanted revenge. I just got to Judges in my daily OT reading...I have definitely felt that God is written about very differently in the OT and NT.
oh boy, I've had a long day, and I'm very tired as I write this, so I'm sure there is more to share but I will try to post some of my main thoughts...
ReplyDelete1. Satan -- the bible actually does not contain a story about satan leaving heaven. I did research on this once and that story is written in the book of Enoch which the earliest surviving record is in some odd Easten European language. (Can't remember which). There aren't really that many references to Satan in the old testament. Most are in Job where God and Satan have a discussion about the morality of Job... but otherwise you see the serpent in the garden and references to an "accuser" in the prophetic literature.
2. The story doesn't contain details of God's punishment most likely because it is a kids book and it would be hard to explain that God loves us and yet condemned us to a life of difficulty. It's difficult to understand.
The curses of pain in childbirth and toil in labor are both curses of "knowledge" We chose a destiny of having the knowledge of good and evil. Pain in childbirth comes from having big heads (ie large brains). Pain in cultivating the land comes from living in a civilized society.
The tree was in the garden as an offering of free will. If we could not choose to love God and follow him, then we could not truly have a relationship because we have not chosen it. God, throughout time protects our free choice... I think that comes up a decent amount in the shack as well.
For me, the biggest take away from this story that stays with me is -- Sin = the lie that God doesn't love us. At the base of sin is a fear of or a mistrust in God, that he doesn't love us or won't take care of us. And so we assert our own control. As I think of sin in my life, it comes from being out of sync with God and with the re-assurance that he is in control and that he has my best interest at heart.
There's so much more to say, but I'll leave it at that. The beginning of Genesis is very heavy and theologically rich.