Repetition, repetition, repetition...

Genesis 3 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain

1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast

of the field which the LORD G-d had made. And he

said unto the woman, Yea, hath G-d said, Ye shall

not eat of every tree of the garden?

2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat

of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the

midst of the garden, G-d hath said, Ye shall not

eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye

die.

4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall

not surely die:

5For G-d 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.

6And when the woman saw that the tree was good

for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,

and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she

took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave

also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.


This is a familiar story. It happens every day.

We still listen to the voice of temptation.

'...ye shall be as gods...' is still too much to

pass up, even though we can see that it never

works out that way. When I was a youngster, I

used to ask my parents all kinds of questions.

The questions would be about things that I saw

going on around me. Why did they do that? As in

the passage above, there are always choices that

confront us. It seems obvious enough what the

best choice is, but all too often focus on the

allure of doing that which we want to believe

will provide autonomy. That's the selfish

choice. It's the temptation to be like gods,

self directed and self determined. Another word

to describe it is vanity. Even now, I'm still

asking myself the same kinds of questions that I

asked my parents all those years ago. But now, I

know the answer, at least to a degree. I now

realize that what happened in Eden, is the same

thing that goes on every day, day in and day out.

It's just too hard to resist the temptation to

play G-d. Often the answer was 'you're too

young to understand'. Now, I know that's not the

case. I wasn't too young to understand. They

just weren't able to answer the question in a way

that made them comfortable with themselves. The

explanation is found right here in the opening

pages of the book of Genesis. It explains alot

of things about human behavior and the history of

the world.


Let me see if I can be a little more explicit.

There are examples close to home. Look in the

newspaper and the front page displays the story

in full color. I'm looking at the local paper

front page right now. The headline story is a

murder. It's a Cain and Abel kind of story, but

with a twist of romance. Another love triangle

gone sour. Just like when I was a youngster, I

ask myself the question, Why would they want to

do that? A married man wants another woman, who

happens to be married. Nothing shocking there.

Other woman fails to stop episode before it goes

anywhere. Obsessed man, is now spurned obsessed

man. Since man has no sense of honor or

obligation or fidelity to G-d's law, he becomes a

law unto himself (plays god) and shoots woman.

The Ten Commandments are being violated all over

and again. The result is another long way

further down the road from Eden. It'll take more

than fig leaves to cover this up. Ye shall be ass

gods.


We shall be ass gods? Did I mispell a word

there? Some folks are stubborn as mules.

Stubborn isn't so bad, if it's a stubborn refusal

to accept what we know is an error. Trouble is

that the stubborness is often the symptom of an

advanced case of rejecting G-d's plan and his

laws. We never tire of the self deception that

we've figured out a better way of doing things.

Just look at the front page of the newspaper and

it should dispell all doubt. But the other side

of that street is the rest of us thinking that we

are better than they are. Depending on your zip

code, maybe you wouldn't entertain the thought of

exacting revenge against your offended ego with a

six-shooter. But I'd imagine that there's more

than one way to skin a cat. What we see on the

local front page, the way that persons interact,

isn't much different than what goes on at larger

scale events. The same passions are in play.

The same unwillingness to confront those who get

out of line. The same avoidance of fidelity to

God's law. (Homer's Illiad comes to mind here as

well. Was Homer just a keen observer of human

nature and events, or was he aquainted with the

text of scripture as well?)


Funny, that on the same page there is a picture

of MLK Jr. You have to wonder why these guys who

try to set things straight end up on the short

list of those waiting to meet their maker.

Personally, I don't have any political heros.

Partly because I don't understand politics.

Partly because I believe that when the time has

come for an idea to give birth, it doesn't matter

how many people get shot, the idea's going to

hatch. Writing the idea in martyr's blood, only

makes it that much more swift and certain in it's

course. It's another example of the tireless

ambition to play god.


Whether you say history repeats itself, or

history rhymes. All the same, the passage from

Genesis 3 goes a long way to explain things that

we see happen every day. Folks never seem to

tire of repetition.