I don’t like to think in terms of “failure” but I do like to think about “learning opportunities.” No matter how bad I screw up there is always a chance to learn something and do better in the future. I certainly figured out a lot from my first marriage about not only how NOT to pick a husband but also what things I SHOULD be focusing on in one. I made plenty of mistakes with Mini Pink Model 1, I made different mistakes with Mini Pink Model 2, and I will make yet more new mistakes with Mini Pink Model 3 (and since there will be no #4, I’ll pass the wisdom from THOSE mistakes down to the first kid when he has kids of his own.
Even paying attention to our religion (meaning those of you who share mine) we have failed God over and over and over and over since we hit the ground running in the Garden of Eden and yet he doesn’t give up on us. He has continued to give us chances to learn and be better and enjoy eternal reward.
Failure I think is NOT an option.
But learning IS.
“we have failed God over and over and over and over since we hit the ground running in the Garden of Eden and yet he doesn’t give up on us.” Mz Pink
Since you mentioned the Garden of Eden, may I make an observation regarding a part of the story?
Here’s the part I wish to discuss:
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 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.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
22 ¶ And the Lord God [King of gods] said, Behold, the man is become as one of us [gods], to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
The serpent for the most part told the truth. He told Adam and Eve that they would be like gods. In that he told the truth.
Further, it was the man that will become one of the gods (note: become as one of us), Eve is not mentioned at all.
The serpent’s lie: “Ye shall not surely die.” It was the serpent’s only lie (Maybe). Had Adam taken “also of the tree of life, and eat” he would have lived forever, just as the gods.
Now, isn’t it interesting that the gods would deprive Adam and Even of possessing an attribute of theirs (to know good and evil), and then seek to expel them from the Garden once they gained that attribute, and to deprive them of yet another attribute–eternal life–which the gods enjoyed?
The serpent’s truth:
1. Their (Adam and Eve) eyes shall be opened
2. They shall be as gods.
3. And They shall know good and evil.
4. There are gods.
It’s hard to deny that this story of creation is about gods, not just the Lord God. So the serpent’s crime: He told one lie, but in a sense he didn’t. Adam and Eve, except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, were not forbidden to eat from other trees in the garden. Had they eaten from the tree of life they would have been like the gods–to live forever and to know what the gods knew: good and evil.
For their disobedience, the Lord God took that (eternal life) from them upon their eating from the tree of good and evil.
So Adam and Eve’s crime: They wanted to be like the gods. Who gave them the knowledge to do so? The serpent.
Who kept this knowledge from them, and expelled them once they learned about it–the Lord God.
The potential for Adam and Eve to be gods was in their midst. The serpent revealed that potential, and know-how, but the gods were opposed, and exercised their power to expel Adam and Eve from the Garden, and to punish the serpent:
And the Lord God [King of gods] said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life….
Interesting story, no?
Namaste