Almost
everyone knows the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Even if you do not belong to the Christian
Faith, the chance that you know the story is extremely high. If you haven’t, however, maybe you have heard
the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box? They’re essentially the same thing in which
both Eve and Pandora are the first woman on Earth from their respective beliefs. Both illustrate human’s natural inability to
resist temptation. Eve eats from the
Forbidden Three of the Knowledge of Good and Evil while Pandora opens the box
she was told not open, for it contained all of the evils of the world in
it. But let’s focus on the story from Genesis.
After Eve eats from the Tree and
convinces Adam to snag a snack from the tree as well, their eyes are opened to
(as the name of the tree suggests) the knowledge of good and evil. Post forbidden snack, Adam and Eve clothe
themselves and soon after speak to God, who realizes that they broke the one
rule He had set down for them. It is at
this point in Genesis that the state
of human nature seems to decline, and the debated declensionist narrative
begins.
On this topic, I believe that the
narrative of Genesis does not so much
criticize all human nature and the fact that we are made to fail as much as it
just explains that no one is perfect, and that even the first humans, hand-crafted
by the Lord himself, were flawed. Instead of a declensionist narrative, it
seems like the story of Genesis lets
people know that everyone makes mistakes, and that it is only how you respond
to your own mistakes, as well as the mistakes of others. The Bible goes on to
describe how you should treat others like you want to be treated, which lends
me to believe that if you are gracious and forgiving of others’ mistakes,
others will be forgiving of your own.
After Adam and Eve eat from the
tree, the human condition worsens and worsens, until God is forced to wipe the
Earth clean and start with a clean slate, only sparing a few individuals and a
whole lot of animals in an effort to purge the world of the sin and evil that
had befallen it. Again, it seems like
this is only eluding to the fact that though God gets frustrated with his
creation, all it takes is the will to give a second chance, because everyone is
flawed and gives into temptation, but it is only those who are willing to
forgive that are truly free.
