The greatest mistake of Adam
GENTLE BREEZE
By NELLY FAVIS-VILLAFUERTE
Nelly Favis Villafuerte
Very few of us do not know who Adam is. Even those who do not read the Bible know about Adam – the first human being on earth. Before God presented him with a companion and mate – Eve-Adam was alone in the Garden of Eden. Was he lonely? We can make all kinds of speculations on whether or not Adam was lonely. But as Bible-believing Christians, we know that Adam (before Eve’s appearance) had no children, no parents, no family, no friends.
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Life for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was perfect until they disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These were the words of our Lord God to Adam and Eve: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17). When our Lord God said this to Adam, Eve was not yet around. While Adam had complete freedom in the Garden of Eden, one tree (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) was “off limits” to him. When our Lord God made Eve from the rib of Adam, undoubtedly, Adam, who was full of wisdom, told Eve of the rules in the Garden of Eden.
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Adam’s wisdom can be gleaned from the following verses of the Holy Bible: “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air, and all the beasts of the field.” (Genesis 2:19-20). Adam is the first zoologist – namer of animals aside from the fact that Adam is our first parent. And we are his descendants.
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One wonders how come Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Considering that everything in the Garden of Eden was presumably good since everything that God made is supposed to be good. At the time our Lord God gave our first parents the “off limits rule” on the tree of knowledge, we can assume that they did not yet have any experience on something that is evil. Until a serpent, described as more craftily than any of the wild animals that the Lord God made, came into the picture and tempted Eve (not Adam) with the following words: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden.” (Genesis 3:1). The reply of Eve: “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.” Again, the serpent said: “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:2-5). After a moment of hesitation, Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit and gave her husband some and surprisingly Adam ate it too without saying anything. This act of disobedience of Adam and Eve was fatal. As a consequence, our Lord God dispensed judgments against Adam, Eve, and the serpent.
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After committing the act of disobedience, Adam and Eve hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden (as if they could hide from our Lord God). Our Lord God asked them: “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” (Genesis 3:11) Adam’s answer was: “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.” (Genesis 3:12) When our Lord God asked Eve: “What is this you have done?” Eve replied: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:13-14) This, my dear readers started the “blame game” going round and round today here and in all places around the world. Blaming others is a basic human trait that started in the Garden of Eden when Adam committed his greatest mistake (his disobedience by eating the forbidden fruit leading to his commission of sin) and blaming Eve for his sinful mistake. Do you wonder now why many of those in the male gender are blaming women (especially their wives) for follies and mistakes they commit? Do you wonder now why women are said to be instigators of sinful acts committed by men? Do you wonder now why we blame others rather than ourselves for our sinful choices? Do you wonder now why many of us never concede our faults and instead place the responsibility to others? It all started with Adam.
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The judgments pronounced by our Lord God against Adam, Eve, and the serpent were as follows:
To the serpent: “Curse are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between Your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.
To the woman He said: “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.”
To Adam, he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return. (Genesis 14:19)
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This column continues to give out copies of the Holy Bible for free to those who cannot afford to buy their own copies. If interested, please send your letter-request to Ms. Nelly Favis Villafuerte, 5233 LRV Building, Fahrenheit St., Palanan, Makati City. Kindly mention if it is the Tagalog, English, Cebuano, or Ilocano Bible that is preferred.
Be joyful and forgiving! (Comments may be sent to Ms. Villafuerte’s email: villafuerte_nelly@yahoo.com)