#evecore

There is a certain ambiguity inherent in the account of the Fall, which has troubled many readers through the ages. God says to Adam: ‘But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die’ (Gen. 2:17). The serpent says to Eve: ‘Ye shall not surely die’, and guarantees her that ‘the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil’ (Gen. 3:4–5). Taken at face value, it would seem that the serpent’s words come true after the couple have eaten the fruit: Adam and Eve do not die, at least not instantly, and their eyes are opened in accordance with the Tempter’s assurance. It might thus appear as if God has lied to man, while the serpent’s promise is kept. The serpent’s implied suggestion—that God’s prohibition stems from fear, envy, and despotic tendencies—may not seem so far-fetched. However, most readers will have been fully convinced of God’s benevolence beforehand, and historically this has made such a reading unreasonable (with the only prominent early exception appearing in the exegesis of certain Gnostic groups). Of course, things began to change when the rebellious attitudes of the Romantics and Enlightenment thinkers towards the Bible started spreading in the late eighteenth century. This new and subversive outlook made the serpent seem less self-evidently the villain of the story to some.

I needed some positivity, so I gathered more Evecore

Pink blog gang rise up 🤝