MERMAIDS AND THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE
But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die." Gen. 3:4, R.S.V.
Most of us have heard the ancient myth about mermaids. The story has it that these lithe creatures, with the lower torso of a fish and the upper torso of a beautiful woman, would surface in the sight of passing ships. Using their feminine charms, they would coax homesick sailors to join them in the brine for a sporting romp.
According to the old fable, more than one sailor found the appeal overwhelming, plunged overboard, and immediately met tragic results, not necessarily because this kind of romp was labeled as "sinful" but because sailors just aren't made to live under water. To believe the mermaids was more than just an unfortunate mistake; it was deadly.
The problem with Adam and Eve in eating the fruit from the forbidden tree is not that they had offended the dictums of an arbitrary or jealous God. Their mistake was not that they had eaten a fruit that God had labeled as "sinful." Distracted by the promised enticements of the enemy, they (as did the sailors with the mermaids) ignored the fact that they simply could not live apart from union with the Life-giver.
Their mistake was more than a tactical blunder; it was a deadly delusion. Just as sailors cannot breathe under water, so God's creatures cannot live apart from their ultimate Source of Life.
For centuries theologians have suggested that God simply picked two trees in the garden and arbitrarily said one of them was good and the other was bad. Then He told His people that they could prove their obedience by eating only from the right tree. The problem with eating from the wrong tree, of course, was that it offended God, allowing Satan to just sit back and grin while an angry God unleashed His wrath on sinners. Or so the old theologians said.
The mermaid story is just a harmless old myth. There is, however, no more fundamental question in the universe than whether God's creatures can live apart from a relationship with their God. Is sin (that is, separation from God) really all that bad? Will it really produce the second death? Satan said that it would not. God said that it would. Who is telling the truth?
The answer was demonstrated in most dramatic terms on a rugged cross when Jesus showed the universe how bad sin really is.
But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die." Gen. 3:4, R.S.V.
Most of us have heard the ancient myth about mermaids. The story has it that these lithe creatures, with the lower torso of a fish and the upper torso of a beautiful woman, would surface in the sight of passing ships. Using their feminine charms, they would coax homesick sailors to join them in the brine for a sporting romp.
According to the old fable, more than one sailor found the appeal overwhelming, plunged overboard, and immediately met tragic results, not necessarily because this kind of romp was labeled as "sinful" but because sailors just aren't made to live under water. To believe the mermaids was more than just an unfortunate mistake; it was deadly.
The problem with Adam and Eve in eating the fruit from the forbidden tree is not that they had offended the dictums of an arbitrary or jealous God. Their mistake was not that they had eaten a fruit that God had labeled as "sinful." Distracted by the promised enticements of the enemy, they (as did the sailors with the mermaids) ignored the fact that they simply could not live apart from union with the Life-giver.
Their mistake was more than a tactical blunder; it was a deadly delusion. Just as sailors cannot breathe under water, so God's creatures cannot live apart from their ultimate Source of Life.
For centuries theologians have suggested that God simply picked two trees in the garden and arbitrarily said one of them was good and the other was bad. Then He told His people that they could prove their obedience by eating only from the right tree. The problem with eating from the wrong tree, of course, was that it offended God, allowing Satan to just sit back and grin while an angry God unleashed His wrath on sinners. Or so the old theologians said.
The mermaid story is just a harmless old myth. There is, however, no more fundamental question in the universe than whether God's creatures can live apart from a relationship with their God. Is sin (that is, separation from God) really all that bad? Will it really produce the second death? Satan said that it would not. God said that it would. Who is telling the truth?
The answer was demonstrated in most dramatic terms on a rugged cross when Jesus showed the universe how bad sin really is.
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