The First And Second Sins Essays - Adam And Eve, Bereshit

The First And Second Sins Aaron Weidenhaft 2-14-00 After the first sin man no longer has to love and serve God, but can do so with the option of going against Him. The implications of the sins of Adam and Eve and Cain ultimately define their importance. Without the first sin humanity could never truly show God obedience and love, but would instead be automatons of his will. Before they eat of the tree of knowledge, they have no choice of whether to disobey God or not, save eating from the tree. God, by not allowing them to eat from the tree, also does not allow them the knowledge to know any better than to eat it. The first sin also makes the second sin possible. Man would never have been tending flocks and working to get food from the earth had Eve and Adam not eaten from the forbidden fruit. Jealousy was also a trait man would not have without the ability to tell good from bad. Cain's sin is also more than just an act of jealousy. By God giving Cain such harsh punishment, the readers of the bible are treated to just how seriously t he bible goes against murder. Had the first murder not been chronicled and dealt with, murder may not have had the baneful reputation the Christian and Jewish religions have given it. Neither sin is unimportant for these reasons, but the first sin is more important. This makes the love of God genuine as opposed to Adam and Eve being robots of God before the fall of humankind. The motives for the first sin all rely on Eve listening to the serpent. The serpent piques her curiosity in the tree by saying the tree will make her and Adam like God. After the serpent has given her a reason to want to eat from the tree, Eve makes up other reasons it would be okay to eat from it. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it, (Genesis 3:6) the reader can clearly see here that Eve makes up other excuses for wanting to gain wisdom from the tree. The other motive is also the responsibility of the snake: he said to Eve that she would not surely die, even though Eve tells the serpent that God told her she would if she ate or touched of the tree. A blatant lie like that being told to someone who cannot know the difference between good and bad should remove the blame of the first sin on Eve's shoulders. The motives for the second sin are somewhat less obvious than the motives behind the first. Cain is firstborn and the tiller of soil, while Abel, his younger brother, is the caretaker of the animals. When the two makes offerings to God from their professions, fruits of the soil and fat portions of the firstborn of the flock respectively, God looks with favor on Abel and without favor for Cain's offering. This makes Cain very angry and so God has a little talk with him telling him that as long as he does what is right, tilling the soil in this case, then everything will be alright. God then says that if he does not do what is right sin is crouching at your door (Genesis 4:7). Cain is extremely hurt by the rejection he experiences at God's hands, and God simply telling him that he will be accepted is not good enough for him. Cain is extremely jealous and desiring of Abel's favored position in God's eyes. God not favoring Cain's offering was to be expected, however. When Adam and Eve we re cast out of Eden, one of the consequences was that he cursed the ground. Naturally God is not going to look with favor on an offering he cursed himself. Therefore, the only way Cain can see to get in God's favor is take his brother's job, since his job will never be pleasing to God. A clear pattern is seen for the motivations of both sins here: desire. Eve desires to be more like