Eve's problem, our problem

It all began in that beautiful garden. . .the first "argument" over God's words:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"    (Genesis 3:1 NIV)

The first quibbling over expression, the first manipulation of the Majesty's intent, the first questioning of his authority and goodness.

Simple, crafty, effective -- "Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?" the serpent said to Eve as he led her in the world's first Bible study.

The woman said to the serpent, "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.'"    (Genesis 3:2-3 NIV)

Eve (the woman) knew the answer to the question and the serpent knew she knew. But her knowing the answer wasn't the point. The arrow of doubt had struck its mark. Eve was well on her way to forming her own opinion apart from God, to think for herself.

And she did.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.    (Genesis 3:6 NIV)

Now everything was different, different as in nothing would ever be the same again on our planet.

Eve's focus changed as the center of her universe shifted away from God to herself; the rules of the game having been turned upside down; it was now about her.

For all of our differences -- different religions, different cultures, different sub-cultures, different ages, different geographic areas, different social status, different economic status -- we all fall for the same deception.

"Did God really say. . ."

And we allow our search for truth to become secondary to our life direction, our own agenda.

And then we wonder why things are as they are, wrong as they are, sad as they are, tragic as they are, hopeless as they are. But we shouldn't be so puzzled because things have changed from the created order.

So subtle, yet so devastating. Through Adam and Eve we shifted the glory from God to ourselves and now we are living with the results. God said it was good, but we thought we could improve on what he had done.

One simple (almost innocent by today's standards) act of defiance devastated our planet as we shifted the focus from God's glory to ours, and it hasn't been a pretty sight since.