he argued that adam and eve were in separate places at the time of the serpent's temptation. i argued that they were together. in genesis 3:1-6 (read for yourself and tell me what you think), it states that eve was tempted by the serpent, then she saw the tree was desirable to eat because it looked good and would give wisdom, then she took some and ate it. then she gave some to her husband who was with her. now my dad thinks that adam and eve were separate during the temptation period and that the period between temptation and sin was long enough for the serpent to leave and adam to come. i think that adam was there during the temptation and failed to speak out against the serpents temptation.
anyway, that's not the point... haha. the point is, after we started talking about this, we began to debate about creation. my dad is an old earth creationist. he thinks that the earth is a few billion years old and that creation wasn't a literal 6 day event. i'm a new earth creationist. i think that God literally created everything in 6 days.
from that, we were talking about adam and eve being the first man and woman on the earth and blah blah blah... yea, you can imagine how it went from there.
i have to admit, i started getting frustrated with my dad. coming from a pretty conservative background myself, it's hard for me to hear the more liberal argument without getting frustrated. i know all of it comes from pride in thinking that only my version is right. but it got me thinking about this quote from st. augustine. and it's something that i need to consider when i listen to other people's theology.
"in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in everything, charity."
- st. augustine
it's so easy to get caught up in arguing my theology that i forget the purpose. the purpose is to show charity, or love. man. that's hard.
2 comments:
I never thought about that. On the one hand, it does say he was "with her." But if he was with her through the whole process, why didn't he say anything to the serpent as it was tempting Eve? The important thing to know is that Adam did not properly teach Eve what God had commanded him not to do (since God gave the commandment to Adam before Eve was created). I think I would lean toward thinking they were separate from one another when the temptation took place.
2 Tim 3:6 mentions those who creep into households and capture weak women, leading them away from the faith. This is language reminiscent of the serpent in the Garden. The people can only creep into the household if the husband is absent. When a husband is not with his wife to protect her, bad things like temptations can happen. So I think it's very possible that Eve did not have Adam at her side to reiterate to her what God had told him they should both not do. That's why Eve gave in.
i'm a new earth too =]
but hey - I'm glad you can even have those conversations with your dad =]
i would love to have that with my parents. i love saint augustine's wisdom dude!
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