At my 25th law school reunion, one of my good friends told me about her pastor's sermon on Jacob and Esau and how God blessed the second son (not the first) who just happened to be a trickster. So, thinking this fellow might understand the Bible, I looked him up on the Internet and listened to several of his sermons. I was not disappointed! He proclaimed that, when Adam and Eve sinned, God clothed them with animal skins, a better covering for their shame than what they had made for themselves--a garment of leaves. He preached that, even though God had said that they would "surely die on the day that they ate of the tree," God let them live, and indeed the woman was named "life." He then showed how God allowed Cain to live even though he was a murderer. So, God favors life over death for mankind. God is gracious to sinners--even murderers. In one of his sermons, he pointed out that, sometimes, discipline from God is the kindest thing that He can do. So, God is gracious, but also just. His justice in the form of discipline is usually, if not always, for our benefit. This is brought home most beautifully in one's understanding of the curses which God ordained in response to the Fall.
In response to the Fall, God ordained that man would encounter thorns and thistles in man's tilling of the field. So, man's agricultural efforts (his means of sustaining his and his family's life) would now be filled with difficulty. With respect to women, God ordained that women would have pain in childbirth. What gives? Neither of these curses sounds like "good news." But, is it true that God's discipline is loving?
The measure of God's love in ordaining these curses was confirmed by my taproom conversation with two divorce attorneys. I told them that, once I learned that God was a god of love and not condemnation,
I began to read the Bible differently. We discussed the various curses in Genesis including the two in response to the Fall. I told them my belief that God cursed work, because man is inclined to place his work above his family, God, and everything else. I told them that I believed that God cursed childbirth, because women tend to put their children above their husbands, God, and everything else. The two divorce attorneys looked at one another, and one said: "that is brilliant." They both then began to discuss how, in their practice, the women always complain that their husbands are wed to their work, and the men always complain that their wives are wed to their children. So, both sexes are guilty of putting other matters above God and their spouse. God's curse, therefore, was gracious. God gives men difficulty in their work, and gives women difficulty in child-bearing and rearing, so that they won't find their ultimate identity in those endeavors. God's curses are designed to open us to the possibility of relationship with Him, and thereby with our spouses, children, and everyone else in our lives.
To me, the profundity of Genesis confirms its divine origin. How could the writer of Genesis have thought that working too hard in growing food for his family was a bad thing? How could the writer of Genesis have thought that placing too much emphasis on the children (when children were everything to the Jews) was a bad thing? The book of Genesis is "simply brilliant."
P.S. One of the divorce attorneys grew up in a SBC church. She is now an agnostic. She said that, while she loved the Jesus described in the Gospels, she did not like St. Paul. I told her to focus on Jesus, and to read the Bible for herself, rather than relying upon what she had been taught in the IC. Presumably, for her, Paul was a "bearer of bad news," as he had been for me until I truly began to understand God's character.
P.S. One of the divorce attorneys grew up in a SBC church. She is now an agnostic. She said that, while she loved the Jesus described in the Gospels, she did not like St. Paul. I told her to focus on Jesus, and to read the Bible for herself, rather than relying upon what she had been taught in the IC. Presumably, for her, Paul was a "bearer of bad news," as he had been for me until I truly began to understand God's character.
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