Punishment or Consequence?

Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." -Genesis 3:21

Not fair!  Adam and Eve sinned and now we are ALL punished; generation after generation for millennia after millennia? What happened to grace and mercy and love?  Is this God's wrath?  Was he so angry about his creation wanting to become like God himself that he cast them out of paradise?

God's wrath.  I've always felt that what we call "God's wrath" is really "human sin."  If we leave a candle burning by the curtains, it isn't God who burned down our house.  The house burning is a consequence of our carelessness. So what is it about eating from the wrong tree that led to the consequence of being cast out of paradise?

The result of eating from the tree was to give them the knowledge of good and evil.  This took them from doing everything God tells them to do, to making choices every day.  Although they now had the knowledge, they still had to learn how to use it.  And it is taking us a long time.  We make wrong choices every single day even though we know the difference between good and evil.  Our life is now spent recognizing that difference in a myriad of examples each day. That is what life is about... a sort of perfecting that godliness Adam and Eve thought they could obtain with just one bite.  It was only the beginning.

It was mankind who threw themselves out of the garden.  Not God.  God gave us the gift of redemption even though we don't deserve it.  He is allowing us the opportunity to grow more and more like him.  Eventually, I believe, we will all succeed, but probably not in this life.

Compassionate God,
Help us to use our time here on earth to continue what Adam and Eve started... becoming more like you. Amen.