In the Beginning

So many people view the Garden of Eden story as a myth, a nice story, or a way of giving an explanation for the coming into existence of what had never existed except in the mind of the Creator.  Regardless of the viewpoint embraced, the common thread is the Creator God who acted and brought what is into the realm of the visible.  There are things about those early pages of Genesis which baffle us,  challenge us to see more than what seems to be visible, and leave us with a sense of awe and wonder.    

Before the talking serpent crept in to lure the Garden of Eden couple away from life as they had always known it, it seems that what is described through the words and implied through the images created is a life filled only with the goodness of creation.  As those brought into being by a creative heavenly Father, Adam and Eve lived without the presence of sin in their lives.  Of course, the choice they made after listening to the talking serpent and the desires of their own ego changed everything.  What was filled only with goodness became compromised with evil.    

When we give consideration to the dominant theological position of the church that men and women are born inherently evil, it might be a good thing to give pause to the Garden of Eden story.  There is more written within the fabric of the story than jumping to to the conclusion that humanity is born flawed.  Like the Garden of Eden couple, we tend to make choices that point to the presence of evil lurking around us, but the reality of choosing wrong does not make what is created in the womb evil.  Surely, we bear the imprint of the Creator from our womb beginning even as Adam and Eve bore the imprint of the Creator from their dusty origin.