Strange Story: MY ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT ADAM AND CHAVVAH

This speculative reconstruction of the lives of Adam and Chavvah (Eve) after Eden assumes that God allowed the consequence of their sin to be harsh. By this I mean that He did not prepare them carefully for all aspects of life in a cursed world; in most cases they had to figure things out on their own. I believe that the consequences of their sin turned out to be more serious than Adam and Chavvah ever imagined. This assumption fits what I have to say about WHAT IS MEANT BY KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL?

It also fits the pattern I see throughout the Bible, but especially in the Law. This pattern shows that God is like a tough coach; He is getting us ready to meet the opposition and His tactics seem harsh from our perspective. He knows that lightweight teaching methods can only teach lightweight lessons. Yet He knows what He is doing, and He is very effective at teaching us what we need to know if we remain submissive and obedient to Him. The same is true for us today because some of God’s most effective teaching tools in our lives are hardship and suffering. Therefore, I am convinced that God did not make it easy for Adam and Chavvah after they left Eden. They had to learn how to survive in a dangerous new world and learn it mostly on their own.

 However, I also assume that for a few key issues God gave them just enough information or insight in order to survive. While He made the consequences of sin harsh, He did not make their situation impossible. One example is God’s use of fire to burn the first sacrifice showed them that fire is possible and taught them a little bit about it, but there were still things they had to learn about fire through experimentation. It also taught them what God expected by way of sacrifices.

It is also safe to assume that Adam and Chavvah were very intelligent, as were most people before the flood.

The next chapter in this Strange Story is THE MEANINGS OF THE NAMES IN EARLY GENESIS ADD TO THEIR STORIES