The Fruit - Moses 4:5-12; Genesis 3:1-6

Here is where we find ourselves in the Garden of Eden with Satan facing Eve, asking her questions? It’s interesting that part of Satan’s strategy here seems to be questions, getting Eve to evaluate her own viewpoints, and then he adds his commentary in afterward, while she’s still thinking. It makes it seem like questions are a gateway for Satan, but I don’t think that’s the case. Questions are critical to our testimony, in fact, taking questions to the Lord is where most of our revelation comes from, both personally and institutionally in the church. But I guess that’s the difference, taking our questions to the Lord instead of asking other people or outside sources. That’s a really good point because I’ve been questioning things recently and I’ve been nervous that my questions will lead me to leave the Church, probably because I’ve seen almost all of my friends and family have done that. But I’ve been nervous about that and have been thinking about how to have questions and my testimony, and it appears that I have the answer here, I have to take my questions to the Lord and build on the foundation that I already have, keep what I already know to be true and rely on that while the answers come. Anyway, Satan brought up some questions, saying, “Yea, hath God said- Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Interesting here that he brings up God, not “hey why aren’t you eating the fruit of that tree?” but “why did God tell you not to eat it?” One answer leads Eve to affirm her faith, the other answer leads her to question it. Eve answers him that they can eat from anything else, but that God told them “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” We’ve talked about the purpose of giving this commandment before, in order for the fall to be just, God was required for Adam and Eve to know choosing to disobey would cause pain. Obeying God’s commandments brings peace and security and disobeying God’s commandments brings pain and suffering. God gives us commandments to protect us, He would have to give Adam and Eve (A&E from now on) the commandment to not eat of the fruit to spare them the pain of living in a fallen world. God told A&E that if they ate of the forbidden tree they would surely die, but Satan counters “Ye shall not surely die; 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.” Satan uses half-truths as one of the ways that he deceives because technically in one of the definitions, they would not surely die. If they ate of the fruit, they would experience spiritual death by being separated from God, they would also become subject to physical death and it would occur within “one day” as far as the thousand year time line of God is concerned. So technically because they wouldn’t immediately drop dead form eating the fruit, Satan was correct in his answer but he didn’t mean for it to be that. I struggle to understand why Satan would know the consequences of them eating the fruit anyway? The fact that he wouldn’t know anyway indicates to me that he wasn’t trying to “further the cause” or “enlighten them” or anything like that, he was just trying to go against God. Like I said the other day, the way it is written makes it sound like Eve made an impulsive, rash decision but I don’t think that’s how it happened at all. Even though later we learn that she was at least partially deceived, I truly think that her decision to eat the fruit took a really long time to make and even though Adam and surely God did not “approve” her eating the fruit, she probably had long discussions with both of them about the concept many times. Interestingly, it seems like there were at least two parts that convinced her to eat it, one that it would make her wise but also “that it became pleasant to the eyes.” There are a lot of people who will argue that eating the fruit wasn’t really that bad because it was only a “transgression” and not a “sin,” and that may be true, but I think that ultimately that part doesn’t matter because the atonement covers all of it, and the consequences of that “transgression” were the most severe ever. So looking at this from the perspective of “eating the fruit was a sin,” the fact that Eve “became pleasant to the eye,” is a significant statement. The word “became” means that at one point, the fruit was “unpleasant” to her eyes and that she became accustomed to the appeal of it to the point where eventually didn’t hold apprehension towards the fruit, but admiration and maybe even some curiosity. So much of our own sins are this way, at least I know that’s how it is for me. I start off thinking “no way, never, that’s disgusting,” then I think “well it’s not disgusting but I don’t want to look at it,” then “well it’s not really that bad, I’ll take part in the good parts,” then finally “it’s fine and here are all the reasons that I justify my behavior.” Maybe this is why the part about the fruit becoming pleasant to Eve’s eye is included, as a commentary on the slippery slope of temptation and human existence. Finally Eve eats the fruit, and then takes some of it to Adam. According to the scriptures, Adam ate the fruit like Eve told him to and there was no discussion between them like “oh that commandment of God’s that we’ve been obeying for the eons of time that we’ve been here in the Garden, yeah I don’t want to do that anymore,” and Adam says, “okay no problem.” We know from modern revelation that this isn’t how it happened, that there indeed was a conversation, but I love that the reason Adam ended up being convinced to eat the fruit was because he wanted to stay with Eve and she was going to be cast out. He knew what it was like to live in the Garden alone, and he would rather suffer the God’s consequences with her than live quietly alone in the Garden, as a lone man.