Serious point: The Serpent Never Lied!?

Question

I see people saying how the serpent lied.

this is utterly untrue, th way the text presents the situation in genesis... the serpent did not lie once.

Genesis 1:17: "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.'"

this really quite clearly presents it as god saying that they would die, like it being poisoned. that they would eat it, and they would die. this does not infer some sort of spiritual death, but physical death.

Genesis 2:3-4 : "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, G-d hath said: Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.' And the serpent said unto the woman: 'Ye shall not surely die; for G-d doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as G-d, knowing good and evil.'"

(finishing in a moment)

now, two parts here.

the serpent said that she would not die. .... now, in the way that it initially presented the "death" penalty for eating from the tree... well... they didn't. they did NOT die.
it does NOT even say that they had any form of spiritual death! let alone the actual physical one that it DOES say.

then it says about being as God, knowing good and evil. ... this was true as well. before this, they had no concept of the distinction, as everything they knew up to that point, was Good,

they were in essence, as beasts, having no wareness of anything remotely against God or imperfect. eating from the tree gives them this rebellious experience, and makes them aware of the distinction, which, compared to the beasts and their perfect Naivete before that point, they, in fact, DO become "as God"

the EXPLICITLY GIVEN penalty that is deemed after they actually eat, against EVE was painful childbirth, and subservience to her husband.
and to Adam was given that he would have to labor to subsist, (as opposed to there being an abundance of food and such for the picking in the garden)

and for both, they were expelled from the garden, to prevent them from taking from the tree of life and gain eternal life. again, this is not said to be spiritual life, but physical life.

heres the book from these quotes, btw,
http://www.breslov.com/bible/Genesis.htm

and as a final summarization,

where is the lie here? where does it say in the old testament or REALLY, in the text, give this idea of it being spiritual death, or any of the inteperetation that makes the serpent look evil.

or give the idea of the serpent being this "devil" figure. it does not say devil. it does not even say satan!

yes, I know its not literal. I don't think they are, but even metaphorically I think the point stands.

Skip, the text says "for IN THE DAY THAT THOU EATEST THEREOF thou shalt surely die." dying 900 years later or whatever, does not count.

if you want a simpler question, why do people think the serpent lied? and where do they get the "hes evil and the devil!" thing?

D2True, I have never once heard a jewish person inteperet that as spiritual death, it really simply doesn't make sense to inteperet it that way.

and to say that it means separation from God, well, yes, in the sense of having contact with God like adam and eve. sure. .... but not entirely separated or distanced at all.

and even if that is not disputed, its still SEVERELY different than how most christians inteperet/belive the text to mean.

Highly, yes, actually, God DID say they would die right away. as I emphasized above.

Answer 1

So where do Adam and Eve live today?

Answer 2

The text also implies that Adam and Eve will never die, UNLESS they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were self-aware creatures so to compare them to thoughtless beasts isn't accurate. They were self-aware and had no knowledge of good and evil. Eve was tricked. Yet, still, they were severely punished because they disobeyed God. I take this all to be metaphor. There was no Adam, Eve, Garden, etc. but the point of the story is that there was a time when man was at peace with God, was tricked, and was separated from God. Whether or not this is historically accurate is another discussion. Why don't a lot of people get that a lot of the Old Testament is folklore? We forget that these stories were taken from nomadic tribesman thousands and thousands of years ago. These stories were told around camp fires way before they came to print. I know if I wanted to tell a story around a campfire I would make it as interesting and easy to remember as possible, esp. if I was trying to teach a principle.

Answer 3

I am a Christian who also believes in science and evolution. Some thinkers believe that when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit they became human, that is above the animals, at that point.
Also, the Bible never speaks of the "fall of man".
Adam and Eve did die a physical death as everyone does. But Christ has conquered death. The Bible says people are in bondage fearing death until Christ came.
It gets more complicated and requires much study as I don't know all the answers.

Answer 4

Most people interpret the Serpent as Satan so going with it for the moment, the scriptures never said that Satan did anything wrong it says iniquity was in him. He was kicked out for having Ego and if he lies it's in the form of being over dramatic because as we see in Job his job is to accuse so he's prone to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
If this sounds like someone you know please don't make a big deal about it.


Blessed Be!

Answer 5

Okay..where should I began...First of all they did die...are they alive today? No! So that means that the serpent did lie. God intially created Adam and Eve to live forever. When they disobeyed him, this allowed the curse of death to come upon mankind. God didn't say that they would die right away...or when they were 200 years old. He said that they will surely die. It also did mean spiritually as well...this fall...caused mankind and God to be seperated. If you read the beginning of Genesis, before Eve, Adam had a relationship with God. That's why God sent His son Jesus to die for us so that we can be reconciled back to God and gain life (spiritual life).

I hope this helps!

Answer 6

When Adam and Eve were created, they would have lived forever. They were perfect.

Once they disobeyed God, they started to die. Eventually they did die, just as God said they would. Satan said they would not die.

So who is the liar?

Romans 5:12 That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.

Adam sinning by eating of the fruit that God told him not to eat from is what caused death to enter the world. Adam and Eve could have lived on hte Earth under perfect conditions forever if they had not listened to Satan's lie.


Oh I get it. All of the people that use the Bible to show Satan lied, get a bunch of thumbs down. You asked and you were given your answer. You used the Bible to try and prove your point. It failed and the truth sayers get the thumbs down. Well Jesus said the world hated him first so I shouldn't expect anything less because a slave is not greater then his master.

Answer 7

If they did not die can you show me Adam and Eve?
Death in sin entered the world through disobedience to God.
Now If you want to understand how it all happened in one day we will discuss this.
The wages of sin is death.
All sin and all die.
A day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.
God's Millennial kingdom is called the day of the lord and is one thousand years. It is also the Sabbath and the seventh day.
Adam died at the age of 930 years in the first day of the lord.

Question What does the tree of knowledge of good and evil represent?

Answer 8

now back up your brain and con - figure all the possibilities as you are leaning way too far towards a concrete truth whern there is no concrete truth unless you were the very first or near the first born of and on or in this earthly world .

Answer 9

Jesus confirms your observation when He gives His own account of these events in The Apocryphon of John. Be smart, believe Jesus, not Moses.

Answer 10

In part you are right he didnt tell them a complete lie, he mixes true with false information they died or begab to died that day cause they began to grow old, and you are right, christianity says that we live after dead the same lie that the serpent told to Eve.