The Bible is the primary source document and code of ethics of western civilization. Many of its verses, proverbs, and passages emerge as core values spanning multiple cultures throughout history.
The first chapters of Genesis establish the context of the entire scriptures.
I’ve discovered a few fascinating and not-so-obvious truths in these ancient texts that I didn’t learn in Sunday School or theology classes. I call them “Eden’s Easter Eggs.”
If your theology or perspective of God and the Bible is fragile or sensitive, this might not be for you. My intention is more like the first line of the Humpty Dance by Digital Underground. “Alright, Stop whatcha doin ’cause I’m about to ruin the image and the style that you’re used to.”
Free your mind and enjoy!
The scriptures referenced are from the New International Version or the New American Standard Bible.
CONTENTS:
Easter egg 1 – God wants a bride.
Easter egg 2 – Time and preparation precede the bride.
Easter egg 3 – Natural mate selection reflects how humans select God.
Easter egg 4 – The days of creation were different than 24-hour days.
Easter egg 5 – Humans are spirits outside of time and space.
Easter egg 6 – In the likeness of God, humans are also a trinity.
Easter egg 7 – The irreversible contract.
Easter egg 8 – Made in the likeness of God, humans also create serpents.
Easter egg 9 – The original form of the serpent in Eden was a dragon.
Easter egg 10 – The REAL original sin.
Easter egg 11 – The morality problem.
Easter egg 12 – Eden turns woke.
Easter egg 13 – The first coping mechanism and a life sacrificed.
Easter egg 14 – The roots of marginalization.
Easter egg 1: God wants a bride.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” But why? The last few pages of the Bible tell us. There’s a wedding between Christ, the Logos or Word of the Godhead, and a collection of humans comprising a collective bride. Can this really be the entire context of all of the pages between the two events? Well, what if it is?
If God wants a bride, then He is the literal Divine Masculine. And humans are both literal and symbolic in their genders. Something magical happens when humans are unified, and it’s in that unity that God desires to dwell. Matthew 18:20, For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst. Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus replied:” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 2 Corinthians 3:17, Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (naked and unashamed?). Genesis 2:24-25, For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.
The Divine Feminine Bride is not us individually. On the contrary, the Divine Feminine is the unity, love, and belonging we share between us, even though there cannot be a perfectly whole Bride without the individual parts.
Easter egg 2: Time and preparation precede the bride.
Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you will be also.” Everything has to be in place before the entrance of the bride. It’s reflected in multiple cultures.
In some cultural traditions, the man goes away to build the house. He then finally brings his Bride, usually celebrated in a special ceremony. In most Judeo-Christian weddings, the Bride is the last to enter. Even then, she is veiled until the appropriate time to show her face.
In Genesis two, it is apparent that Adam spent much time with the Creator before Eve came along. God put Adam in the Garden. The Garden grew up around him – possibly decades. God had the conversation with Adam about not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’s fruit. Then, God said that it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone. “Oh – but let’s wait even more. You’re going to go out and name all of the animals first.” When everything else was in place and in perfect order, God created the woman from the man.
Suppose the scientific evidence is factual that the universe is 13.8 billion years old and the Earth is 4.5 billion years old. This final humanity event is only a blip at the end of this timeline. Isn’t it consistent with God’s preparation pattern? And would it be any problem for a Creator outside of time-space to accomplish this?
A valuable psychological principle is that delayed gratification fosters mental health and success. It appears that this principle is etched into the cosmos as well.
Easter egg 3: Natural mate selection reflects how humans select God.
The woman was last to be created because, as the feminine, she is the symbolic Bride of Christ. I The woman was last to be created because, as the feminine, she is the symbolic Bride of Christ. I believe that the creation of the woman intentionally puts her at the top of the value hierarchy – literally and symbolically. In natural birthing, every human on the planet has passed through a woman’s vagina. Throughout history, women have determined mate selection to preserve and propagate our species.
It’s fascinating that at the end of the Biblical story, the Bride’s individual parts are represented by humans who choose God, the Divine Masculine, just like the natural pattern of mate selection. Logically, those who do not choose God are not included in the Bride’s representation. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Easter egg 4: The days of creation were different than 24-hour days.
Genesis 1 is an epic ballad of the creation account, and as a ballad, there is a refrain capping each day’s events. “And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day (and each day after).” Although the book of Daniel also mentions “evenings and mornings” in a prophecy, Genesis 1 is the only text in the Bible that describes this kind of “day” in two statements – “and there was evening, and there was morning.”
The theme of Genesis 1 is that chaos is turned into order, emptiness is turned into abundance, and obscurity is turned into clarity. The original Hebrew word for “evening” is the same word for “mix.” It describes the appropriate yet obscure mixture of day and night when objects might be unclear or confusing due to lack of light. The second statement, “and there was morning,” contrasts the evening as the clarity of the bright new-day sun. This is much more consistent with the nature of Genesis 1 and God’s creative activity – obscurity to clarity. The context is about the transformation, not the time frame.
Evening to morning is 13 hours of darkness at best, and the moon represents the night. A day is daytime represented by the sun as established on the fourth day.
As in many other languages, “day” is also a period of time such as saying “someday” or “back in the day,” or in the speech by Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” It’s not a specific day but an era when something different will be the norm, such as Genesis 2:17 stating, “for on the DAY that you eat from it you will certainly die.”
If all days of creation were 24-hour days, why did the Creator wait until the fourth day to establish the standard of measuring days?
Easter egg 5: Humans are spirits outside of time and space.
Each creation event ascends a hierarchy pyramid of complexity and value. At the end of the sixth day is the account of the final living being’s creation – humans. Genesis 1:26-27. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them.”
Does God have bones, a stomach, or eyelids to block His view? John 4:24. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” So how are we the image or likeness of God? We are also spirits. “Spirit” is in a group of synonyms that include psyche, mind, and soul. By prevalent influence, the definition of “consciousness” is also evolving to be in this collection. Can I measure my consciousness in a spoon, cup, or barrel? What does it weigh? Does it require sleep? Apparently not.
The human spirit exists beyond the third dimension of space. But is it contained in time? Our minds can recall dozens of memories in one second and relive those memories on demand. We envision our plans for tomorrow or the future like they already happened. We may accomplish our dreams and fantasies, but they existed in our minds sometimes long before we took action. Is your current consciousness different from what you had as a child, or what it will be tomorrow?
John, one of the disciples of Jesus, wrote the Book of Revelation. He wrote it in the past tense as revealed in visions given to him by the Holy Spirit. There was no difference between the inspiration of Revelation and the inspiration of Genesis given to Moses. The divine Source sees it all outside of time and space like it already happened. And that Source chose to provide us with that same part of His nature – consciousness and spirit. We are God’s image-bearers.
Easter egg 6: In the likeness of God, humans are also a trinity.
“Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…”
The ancestral self (the Father):
There’s the immediate impression of the ancestral lineage as the established and perceptively foundational part of us. It is the highest ideal of self. Yet, it is also the most inherently undefinable, unknowable, and unnamable. “Who AM I?” “Who ARE you?” “Really.”
There are more than 100 Hebrew names for God the Father. My name is Eric Riley. But am I more than my name? Of course, I am. I’m much more than my name. So are you.
Self as the virtuous living word (the Son):
Out of the unknowable ancestry emerges an aspect of us designed to be fully known. It is who we are as the “logos” or word. It speaks the truth, gives thanks, forgives, and creates. It cooks food, produces art, participates in music, punches a time clock, and shows up to meetings. It is our integrity, commitment to truth, and truthful actions.
Self as spirit (the Holy Spirit):
The “pneuma” is the “breath, wind, or spirit” part of us. It is the inspiration that animates us and moves us forward with hope and anticipation. It is also described as our psyche or soul and our experience of life at the moment.
The Bible mentions all types of sins, but there is only one that is unforgivable. Discovering that we are also a type of trinity sheds new light on this verse.
Matthew 12:31 – “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men (all humanity), but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.”
Blaspheming or cursing a person is common. Just look at most social media feeds. You can blaspheme my foundation and ancestry and your perception of me. You can curse my integrity, words, and actions. I’ll probably forgive you. But if your nihilistic worldview curses, vilifies, and crushes my passion or dreams, we both have hell to pay.
But that’s not the unforgivable part. Convincing someone to kill their own future – extinguish their flame – smash their hopes into tiny pieces themselves. THAT is, indeed, unforgivable. The only possible redemption you have is sacrificing or offering your life to battle that dragon you unleashed on someone else. Then, just maybe, redemption will find you and set you free.
Easter egg 7: The irreversible contract
Genesis 1:28-30. “God blessed them (Adam and Eve) and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.’ Then God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth—everything that has the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.'” And it was so.” YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING – NO TAKEBACKS.
In the first sentence, the word “blessed” denotes delivery of authorization or commissioning like a quality check. It’s not a blessing like a hug or pat on the back or, “Hey, good luck with that.” How do we know? Because the day before, God said the same thing to the fish and the birds. “Then God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.'” But God augmented the blessing on humans. Verse 28: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.'”
God didn’t give the planet Earth to humans. However, He did give everything that breathes, grows, swims, flies, or crawls on it. Yet, it’s all of those things that sustain the health of our living planet, and we humans are responsible for every part of it. There’s an old church chorus I learned as a child. “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” But, unfortunately, that’s not necessarily so according to the original agreement. WE have the world in OUR hands, and we can’t pretend to be victims or blame God when we see how much destruction our species does to it.
Inside this initial contract with humans, there appears to be another principle. God holds back his hands, as it were, to act in our world until we ask. Therefore, it is upon us humans to petition, intercede and call upon God.
2 Chronicles 7:14. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Notice that focused intention and action follow the humble prayer. This principle works whether you believe that there is a God who hears your prayer or not.
Matthew 6:9-10 “So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.'”
Even Jesus pleaded to the Father to rescind the coming crucifixion. Matthew 26:39. “Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.'” And three verses later, Matthew 26:42. “A second time He went away and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it, may Your will be done.'” God’s will was done.
If you don’t believe in a God who hears your prayers, begin by practicing gratitude and see where that leads you. If you do believe in God, thanksgiving is not an option. 1 Thessalonians 5:18. “in everything, give thanks…” Philippians 4:6. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Easter egg 8: Made in the likeness of God, humans also create serpents.
I grew up learning that the serpent in the tree tempting Eve to eat the fruit was Satan. Most of us did. The concept of a personified evil called Satan already showed up in the book of Job written before Moses wrote Genesis. Satan was a primary character in that story. God allowed Satan to try to break Job with intense suffering and grief and make him curse God. Satan failed.
But the direct association between Satan and the serpent in the Garden of Eden didn’t appear until the book of Revelation written nearly 1,500 years later. Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” And Revelation 20:2 “He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”
Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and it makes perfect sense that the words spoken to Eve elevate the serpent to the status of pure evil – Satan. And how convenient it is that we can play the victim of God’s ultimate adversary with every temptation we face. “The devil made me do it.”
Indeed, the vision of the dragon and serpent given to John in Revelation was Satan’s symbolic embodiment, just as the woman symbolized Eve in the same vision. But that’s not the story of Genesis. The first part of Genesis 3:1 says, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.” In this text, God did not create Satan.
It’s crucial to understand that the serpent was not an animal possessed by Satan. The snake played the role of itself as created by God – crafty, subtle, cunning.
Several of these easter eggs require that we consider the profound impact of being created in God’s image and likeness. And like God, we also use language to create just like he did – not on the scale of Genesis One, but still, we do it every day.
In the same manner as God, each of us creates a more crafty and cunning wild beast in the middle of our paradise. Thus, our internal dialogue – the clever, always anxious, offended, complaining, entitled, oppressive fear-identity demanding our full attention and determined to be “as God.” It is truly artful in its deception and persuasiveness. And yes, we patiently and meticulously create this serpent fear by fear, lie by lie, and regret by regret in reaction to countless traumas.
Translations of the serpent’s first phrase spoken to Eve are, “Did God really say…?”, “Is it true that God said…?”, “Can it really be that God said…?” It is a provocative proposition of disbelief in the form of a question to elicit surprise. Surprise and disbelief with the susceptibility to fear are primary elements of the disgust response, including taking offense always making you the victim.
There are 27 books in the New Testament. The apostle Paul is attributed to writing nearly half of them. He wrote this about his internal struggle. Romans 7:14-17 “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good. In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” It’s a familiar paradox to which each of us can relate.
The point is that when you can realize you are the creator of your fear-identity and internal dialogue, you are no longer a victim of it. Of course, you can pretend to be a victim out of convenience and laziness, but what kind of life is that? Is there any gratitude? Do you experience peace? Are you free from your addictions? Are you connecting intimately with anyone? Do you find God?
For the apostle Paul, this was his conclusion. Romans 7:24-25. “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Easter egg 9: The original form of the serpent in Eden was a dragon.
In our collective mythology illustrated abundantly in art, dragons are standard elements to many stories. Our high school mascot was a dragon. If art imitates life, the existence of dragons at some point in history is undeniable. But what happened to them? What changed that made them disappear as we imagine them?
The conversation between the crafty beast and Eve resulted in a cosmic shift. Suddenly, humans adopted an identity that didn’t align with their Creator. As a result, Adam and Eve felt shame and quickly covered their newfound nakedness.
The first consequence was a punishment on the serpent with a radical change of appearance. Genesis 3:14. “So the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life.'”
Whatever it was before, now it slithered on the dusty ground.
The order of transformation in Genesis 3 is:
- The undetermined pre-serpent form before punishment.
- Punished by being cast to the ground, destined to “eat dust.”
- Transformed into the familiar serpent form.
The same passage in Revelation 12, equating the serpent with Satan, contains an intriguing order of events. Revelation 12:9. “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth…” This was part of the vision when God cast Satan out of heaven and hurled him to the earth as punishment.
Since this ancient text is our primary reference equating the dragon/serpent with Satan, can it reveal even more of the story?
The Greek words for dragon and serpent are not typically interchangeable. So let’s assume that they are not synonymous in this context either.
The order of transformation in Revelation 12 is:
- The pre-serpent state is a dragon before punishment.
- Punished by being hurled down to the earth – also defined as ground.
- Transformed into the familiar serpent form symbolizing Satan.
So in its original state, the crafty beast in the Garden of Eden was a dragon, possibly as fantastical as our myths allow us to imagine.
Easter egg 10: The REAL original sin
In Matthew 5:21-22, Jesus spoke to an audience on a hillside, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.” Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Jesus argued that the diabolical motives of evil are equal to the actions of evil and incur the same judgment.
The action of the original sin in the Garden of Eden was disobeying God’s command not to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. But what induced the sinister trance that compelled Adam and Eve to disobey?
Genesis 3:4-5 “‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. (In other words, “You’re the victim. God lied to you. You can’t trust him, and here’s why. He’s withholding a secret truth from you that I’m going to share with you right now because I like you.”) ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'”
How could Eve help but fixate on this new revelation? Even though the serpent didn’t invite Eve or Adam to take action, they now had convincing information that cast a spell on them. This temptation was too great to resist. God created Adam and Eve in His image. They DESERVED to be part of this divine enlightenment called “knowing good and evil” – whatever it was.
Genesis 3:6 “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. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
When you have a cup of desire and add a tablespoon of attachment, you create a potion that yields entitlement. In this story, entitlement manifested as FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out.
Is FOMO a sin? It could be. I don’t know. But I do know that entitlement is a manifestation of fear. For however long humans have been around, entitlement has never produced love, forgiveness, or intimacy at any level.
Entitlement belongs to another list of words like betrayal, divorce, resentment, hate, war, and genocide. If you notice, it is also the source of every complaint.
So the sinister motive behind Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience was entitlement – the REAL original sin. Could this also be humanity’s “sin condition”? It seems logical, but I believe there is more to it.
Easter egg 11: The morality problem
“Hey Siri,” I addressed my iPhone. “What is the definition of ‘morality'”?
“Morality means principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.”
The original sin in the Garden of Eden was to eat a forbidden fruit and participate in knowing good and evil (bad). Genesis 2:16-17 God told Adam that he could do anything he wanted, but “in the day” of partaking in morality, he would experience absolute death. Using the word “day” in this context can also refer to an expanded time period like Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of the word.
As God’s image-bearers, Adam and Eve were primarily spiritual. Their physical bodies were an afterthought, as evident in Genesis 2:25, “And the man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”
But at the moment of eating the fruit of morality, they sank into the abject horror of their shocking nakedness. Nothing changed in the construct of the community. It was still just Adam and Eve. But suddenly, they didn’t belong to each other like before. Their nakedness exposed their individual identity, and covering up was critical.
From this story, there is a direct correlation between morality and identity. For Adam and Eve, they couldn’t manage it. Not only did they use fig leaves to make something similar to aprons to cover their genitals, but they also ran and hid behind trees when they heard God coming. And when God confronted them, they each denied responsibility for their actions. Something about identity was going to be the curse of humanity for all time.
Most societies have drinking age laws. There is the assumption that children must be protected from the pressures to consume alcohol. Yet, there is an agreed age when it’s permissible. Not to suggest that God drinks alcohol, but he revealed at the end of the story that Adam and Eve “have now become like us, knowing good and evil.” However, we weren’t ready for it. We were not equipped to handle the kind of identity or morality we chose. Only God is, and I believe this is humanity’s fallen condition.
Our feeble efforts to be responsible for the God-identity leads only to fear, shame, and entitlement. Our bankrupt morality crumbles into the debris of vanity, victimhood, prejudice, lies, and self-marginalizing.
Every bit of our morality is a function of and in service to our identity.
Easter egg 12: Eden turns woke
In many illustrations and works of art depicting Adam and Eve’s encounter with the serpent, the serpent is physically elevated above them, wrapped around the branches of a tree.
This superior position reflected the instructional setting suggested in the opening statement of Genesis 3:1, “the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field that the Lord God had made.” It had something important to say to the humans, and the class was in session.
“God” is mentioned 14 times in Genesis chapter three. All refer to a personal God, “Yahweh Elohim,” except three times during the short conversation between the serpent and Eve. Suppose we were at a workplace and I talked about my boss Gloria – “my boss Gloria” this, and “my boss Gloria” that. You would understand the context of my personal work relationship with my boss. However, if I referred to Gloria as merely “the boss,” she would become an impersonal and potentially oppressive authority figure.
In brilliant Socratic form many centuries before Socrates, Professor Serpent opened the dialogue with a provocative question. It was a negative proposition in the form of a query designed to elicit an opposing position. The clever snake employed a deconstructionist strategy many millennia before Jacque Derrida made it famous and intended to topple Eve’s fundamental viewpoint. Theology became political, and the topic of that day’s lesson was “class struggle.”
“Did God (the boss) really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden'”? True to its crafty nature, the serpent immediately presented God as oppressive and opaque.
Eve responded predictably. “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God (the boss) did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'” Eve omitted the reference to the personal God used the other eleven times in Genesis three. She followed the crafty instructor’s lead and submitted that God was indeed oppressive and restrictive.
Yet, the serpent appeared to be empathetic, generously focused on Eve. After all, she represented humans, the most disadvantaged class in this scenario between them and God, “the boss.”
An empathetic collective is the primary principle of socialism. The call to arms is entitled social justice. In this exchange, the serpent exposed a profound inequity that required reparation.
“‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God (the boss), knowing good and evil.'”
Paraphrased: “God’s lying to you. You will not die, but don’t worry. You can trust everything I’m telling you because we’re in this together. God (the boss) wants to monopolize enlightenment and hold you down like the lowly citizens you are. But I have good news. The moment you eat this fruit, your eyes will open, and you will rise up and be equal with God. No one should be oppressed like you are now. You deserve this. Can you imagine how perfect the world would be? Eden would be a brand new utopia that you control.”
Eve took the bait and ate the fruit. Adam was with her, and he ate too. The serpent’s promise of utopia and equity rapidly collapsed into fear, desperation, and shame.
If you think that modern socialism is less than 200 years old, think again. Or, if you believe that an entitled socialist mindset is the origin of most evils in the world, you might be correct.
Easter egg 13: The first coping mechanism and a life sacrificed
In discussing shame and coping with my sister Teresa via text messages, she sent this response. “A bit about coping: I’m finding that coping, AKA managing, is all I remember doing. As shame became the outcome of my childhood, I found myself putting on behaviors and personas I believed would minimize the shame.”
Teresa’s insight to describe coping as “putting on behaviors and personas” was deeply insightful. That’s precisely what Adam and Eve did to fix their nakedness. They made belts of fig leaves to cover themselves.
I’ve never made a belt of fig leaves, but I’ve seen coverings made of palm fronds or banana leaves. With care, I’m sure that they last a few days before becoming unraveled or parts of them falling off. So I can imagine that part of the daily chores for Adam and Eve was fig-leaf maintenance.
Genesis 3:22 says, “The Lord God made garments of leather for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” A principle emerged from the trauma of realizing nakedness that required covering. This principle would be etched into eternity’s cosmic plot of redemption. The fig-leaf reaction to shame was insufficient, so God provided a longer-lasting solution requiring blood sacrifice.
The comparison of covering with vegetation versus covering with leather also foreshadowed Cain and Able’s conflict, the next generation of humans. Blood sacrifices to cover the shame of sin and disconnection from God became a crucial part of the Hebrew nation from that time forward.
Later in Genesis, God tested Abraham and told him to sacrifice his innocent son, Isaac on a mountain altar. When Abraham was obedient without question, God stopped the sacrifice of Isaac and provided a ram stuck in nearby bushes to sacrifice instead. God supplied what was necessary to cover sin just as He did for Adam and Eve to cover their shame.
A synonym of “sacrifice” that appears many times in the Old Testament of the Bible is “making atonement.” The Hebrew word for atonement is also “to cover” – the type of cover that requires a sacrificed life.
The prophetic nature of this principle pointed to a climactic event. God would provide the blood sacrifice of His Son and the Logos of the Godhead, Jesus. This sacrifice would forever cover human sin and shame and restore the best of personal responsibility.
If you remember, the serpent event in the Garden of Eden ended with complete denial and loss of responsibility and, therefore, the loss of meaning. But the crucifixion event of Jesus and the second intersection of good and evil involving a type of tree restored human responsibility and fearless access to the Creator.
To this day, Eden’s lasting legacy is clothes. Not only do they cover us, but clothes often project our chosen identities and enhance the personas we use to cope with our shame.
Easter egg 14: The roots of marginalizing
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines “marginalize”: to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group.
You belong to various communities. Each has a code of acceptable words and actions to ensure and preserve membership.
Your workplace or gym might allow cursing and jokes that you can’t say around your family. Yet, you could be kicked out or fired instantly for any actions that violate safety. You can shout mockery from the stands at a sporting event that you can’t yell in a classroom or church service.
It’s easy to see why we often don’t measure up to our community’s moral code. The results are embarrassment or shame.
“Shame is a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.” – Siri’s dictionary.
The experience of shame is always in relation to the affected community we’re trying to impress, whether real or perceived. The usual cast of characters are villains, victims, and observers.
Yet, being the villain or perpetrator is often a burden too heavy to bear, and the narrative flips, arguing that the perp is the real victim. Thus, the role of the perpetrator is reassigned to “the system” or society that created them. Now everyone is a victim.
The victim’s language is to deny responsibility with complaints and excuses. Every complaint and excuse acknowledges disconnection and loss of personal power.
For Adam and Eve, they were seduced by their entitlement to disobey God’s direct command. The result was the shock and shame of realizing their nakedness and like any human caught naked in public, covering themselves was urgent.
Adam and Eve actively participated in the idea that they could level the playing field with God. When it backfired in shame, their newfound identities made them victims, not of the serpent but victims of God – the oppressive tyrant. Their shared condition of shame identified them. Genesis 3:8 says that they hid among the trees from God together.
My sister Teresa related a personal incident that caused her the pain of shame. When she sent me this text, it reminded me of Eve.
Imagine a reality show of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. After they run and hide in the trees when they hear God coming, a cutaway shows Eve talking into the camera. “My initial response to realizing that I had inadvertently hurt someone by my actions is that I was ashamed. I believed there was no good in me and withdrew from the connection.”
Although this was my sister’s recent confession, its roots extend deep enough to include Eden.
God didn’t marginalize Adam and Eve. They did that to themselves and then made God the perpetrator. Genesis 3:12 “the woman YOU put here with me gave me some fruit…” Paraphrased: “God, if you think about it, it’s really your fault. I’m just a victim of what you put together. You caused us to be the first oppressed and marginalized identity group”.
Of course, there is a potential for rejection from our community that originates from others. But the nature of shame is to run and hide before anyone else notices. WE run. WE hide. And then blame others for marginalizing us just like Adam and Eve did.
Notice that every perpetrator/victim analysis always leads back to Adam and Eve. It’s never an intelligent argument. Learn from Eden’s story and assume responsibility.
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