Irresistible Lies
Genesis 3:1-7
There has been a trend I have noticed in the ongoing news coverage of the war in Ukraine with Russia. Well, I should say Russian leadership. On multiple occasions, Russia has offered a ceasefire to Ukrainian citizens to allow them to leave--but still continued to pummel Ukrainian cities with rockets even after the announcement of the ceasefire.
To be human is to lie and believe lies. We lie to our loved ones. We believe lies we are told by people in power. And I also think we can have the tendency to believe certain kinds of lies that are comforting to us as well! Whether it's propaganda, confirmation bias, or the voice within us that tells us its ok to have one more of the thing we should not have--there is a deep tragedy in how we can fall into believing some lies due to the truth being harder.
For Eve in the Garden of Eden the truth wasn't necessarily harder, but the lie was more powerful over her. "You won't die! God is threatened by you receiving the wisdom that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will give you!" Who doesn't want to know more? And how easy is it for us to think of God in human terms with human fallibilities? This story of Adam and Eve in the garden is a challenging one to take in if we really read between the lines.
There are some worthy questions to ask our selves in light of this story! Why would God even create a tree whose fruit would lead to death in the first place and make it such a "delight to the eyes?" And wouldn't it be a GOOD thing to know the difference between good and evil? What are the intentions of the serpent? We assume that the serpent is Satan or the Devil--but the story makes no mention of Satan!
I think these questions, and our desire for scripture to fit into how we want to world to work has led to some lies that the church tells about Adam and Eve.
And the biggest lie? Well, it victimizes women and has been at the root of profound evils against women committed by the church throughout its history.
Join us on Sunday as we go deeper and explore "Irresistible Lies," how lies are leading us to the violence and devastation we are seeing today, and how we can be vigilant for the truth as a part of our discipleship.
