Putting the record straight: the fall of Adam and Eve

Why do common representations of Adam’s and Eve’s ‘fall’ (humanity’s original sin) rely on silly stories of sexual temptation? First, the real biblical story is too profound, subtle and mysterious for it to be captured by any quick stereotype. Second, the Church (and religion generally) over the years, has been crazily obsessed with sexual sin, so content to let this misrepresentation abound. On both counts, the resulting travesty has caused immeasurable damage to people’s perceptions of God and humanity. To put the record straight, according to scripture, the joy of sex was given to us by God before the fall (Genesis 2:24), and original sin reflects, instead, humanity's over-reaching ambitions (Genesis 3). Regarding the latter, the original temptation is us wanting to ‘be wise’ (and as wise as God - see verse 6), and the original sin, following this temptation, is to know the difference between good and evil (and, as it says in the Amplified Bible, to know the difference between ‘blessing and calamity’ - see verses 5 and 22). When I was a child, none of my Sunday school teachers (and my many other moral instructors), taught me this scripture properly, as they were far too busy telling me what these differences were, and, of course, after the Pandora’s Box had been opened!  

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