CHAPTER 14

Paradise? Eden? (Even before ‘adam?)

Genesis 2:8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

“Should the LORD plant the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?” I asked myself.

I had never thought of the connection of my sins to this (really) or of any alternative.

What if man never knew sin?

(Of course God and I knew what Adam and Eve would do IF the LORD planted this tree.)

What would I advise?

Should the LORD GOD set this one tree in the midst of the garden – a tree to be used by the tempter, that serpent whose name is Satan?

What IF the LORD did not give Satan this chance at original sin?

“LORD,” I asked, “If you withhold temptation of man to know good and evil would it not be better for Your Kingdom on earth?

Yet as I asked the LORD my foolish question, I knew the answer:

THEN THE MAN IS NOT FREE TO LOVE ME.

THE MAN WOULD SERVE ME BECAUSE HE MUST.

I understood God’s dilemma: One tree; then One Command.

Obedience to God’s Command is love given freely to God. Disobedience to God’s One Command would be putting our own will ahead the loving ALL-KNOWING will of God.

I nodded, and THE LORD commanded the tree to grow. The tempting fruit of knowledge blossomed from its branches before my knowing eyes.

To be continued…

A Temporary Throne is an original work of Roger Harned,

© Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved by the author.