The Marvelous Message

       In the last article, we have seen Eve's response to satan's deceitful question over God's command concerning partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Somehow she managed to add to the divine warning. Being cautious over consuming the fruit was not enough. There was, at some point, an implementation of fear over even looking at it! One may think that this was a noble way of avoiding temptation, but if he were to take into acco unt the way in which Eve succumbed to the devil's enticing words, then he would understand that her added standard stemmed from a latent, self-righteous motive rather than a wholesome desire for purity. Proverbs 30:5-6 states, “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” It is imperative that we hold to the true doctrine of God's word, but it is equally important that we keep ourselves from adding to what h...

As we go back to the first garden, where deception and iniquity was introduced, we find the manner in which mankind is plagued with temptation. The serpent first causes Eve to question the command of God (“Yea, hath God said...”) and then magnifies confusion by exaggerating the truth (“...you shall not eat of every tree?”). But her response to the devil’s prodding was an interesting one: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” (Genesis 3:2b-3) You can’t touch it? Somehow, Eve took the command of God much further. God told them simply to not consume the fruit, but she had to throw in an ethereal, made up preference of not touching it! Now, someone may think that this is even better because it is more like a safeguard, but if there is anything that I know about mankind and standards, it’s that we easily manage to ...