From
“The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst
12
November
We
humans are doomed to screw up. I’m reminded of the old Groucho Marx line: “I would
never join a club that would consider having someone like me as a member.” In
the Genesis story of the Garden of Eden the Lord puts what the Bible calls the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden. Mind you, He doesn’t put it
at the far end of the south 40, but RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the garden. Then He tells
them they can eat the fruit of every tree in the garden - except this one.
This
is NOT going to end well - humans being wired as we are, that’s the very tree
any of us would be interested in. And having it close like that gave Adam and
Eve the chance to check it out carefully – they probably noticed how really
attractive it looked. In fact, I’ll bet the more they studied it, the more it
seemed to offer the promise of great things. Ok, if we disobeyed the Lord by
eating it we’d surrender the innocence thing, but maybe we’d be like gods. Hey,
maybe that’s why the Lord said we couldn’t - if we did we’d discover that we
were real competition. And even if we did “know evil” afterwards, well, what's
so bad about that? Isn’t knowing evil the same thing as checking out what’s on
the other side of the next mountain? Isn’t life meant to be an adventure?
Having that tree Right There and not trying out any of the fruit is for
fuddy-duddies. If He didn’t want us to eat of it, why put it so close? Etc.
And
with that kind of mindset, all it’d take is a little nudge here, a little
suggestion there from the right serpent and the thing’s a done deal.
Get
it? Doomed to screw up!
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