Genesis 1-3: Good and Evil

God, the Creator of all things, knew what was good.  He looked at his creation, including mankind, as it came into being and pronounced,  'It is good!'  Day and night, sea and land, animals and vegetation, even man himself, all of God's creation was good.  God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. - Gen. 1:31 NIV

God gave man a beautiful garden with all that was needed  to sustain life and withheld only one thing; the knowledge of good and evil.  We did not need to know about evil, God was protecting us from that.  All we needed to know was that what God provided was complete and good.

But, as everyone knows, that was not enough for man, or woman, as in the case of Eve.  Instead of trusting God they wanted to know it all.  They were pro-choice and look at the results,  for them in the beginning and down through the ages. 

The question that remains for me is what would I have done if I were the first one to come face-to-face with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?  Would I want the choice?  Would I have trusted God that his plan for me was only good and that I didn't need to know what evil was all about?  I'm afraid, that faced with the temptation of being able to know about evil, I would have chosen knowledge over trust as has been the case many times in my life. I have wanted to see what evil was, perhaps not be carried down to the depths with it, but I have wanted to taste it, and in doing so, I have suffered the same disastrous results that Adam and Eve suffered.  I have seen myself as I really am.  Not a pretty sight.

God loved his creation.  He only wanted the best for us.  But he also gave us free will and we usually decide that we want to be the one to make the choice. It's not so much a question of good versus evil.  Good and evil have always existed.  It's that desire to be able to choose between the two that trips us up every time.

2010 Post - Genesis 1-3:  Breath of Heaven