Sunday School

Yesterday I talked about how I needed a whole post about our Sunday School lesson, so here it is.


This is probably going to step on some toes and not really be the same as my "typical" posts, but I really feel like I need to post it.


In Sunday School we were talking about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. Our teacher posed the question of whether the Garden of Eden was literally a place or if it was more of a figurative illustration of the demise of man. We talked about it and all came to the conclusion that we think that it is literal. That Adam and Eve truly existed in a perfect place called Eden that was located somewhere near what is now Iraq.


We talked about how there were 2 main trees talked about in Genesis. The tree of Life and the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Several things to mention about these trees. The tree of Life was kind of irrelevant, because God had created Adam and Eve to live eternally, but the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was important. It's also important to note that it was called the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil...meaning that evil already existed before they tasted the fruit.


We also talked about the Angels. That God had created these spiritual beings to be "servants" of a sort for Him. Satan was an angel who rebelled against God. He decided that he needed to be as powerful as God and he rallied 1/3 of the rest of the angels and they tried to overtake the Kingdom. They lost. But they were removed from Grace. That's what stands us apart from the angels. We can sin, but Christ's blood has redeemed us and we can be granted His Mercy.


It's also important to talk about the fact that after Adam and Eve disobeyed him and tasted the fruit from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they were sent out of Eden. All this time I thought that it was their punishment. They had to leave paradise, but our teacher opened my eyes to see God in a different light. God knew that if they stayed in Eden they would be subjected to the temptation of eating from the Tree of Life. Since they had disobeyed him they would eventually die, but they could be redeemed. If they ate from the tree of Life after they disobeyed him they would never be able to join him in Heaven. He removed them from Eden to protect them.....from themselves.


It struck such a chord with me. So often I feel like God's punishing me or that he is out to get me, but how often are those "punishments" just his way of protecting me from myself and looking out for me? How often, when He tells me NO, do I throw a fit, not knowing that he is saving me from a worse fate than I could imagine.


I know this is kind of all over the place and again, I don't mean to offend anyone, but God is moving in my life. He is opening doors and more importantly he is opening my eyes to see things in him that I have never before discovered. I am so thankful that I serve a God who is alive and is powerful and who loves me....in spite of me!!