Naked Vegetarians Ruin Everything

We spent the morning yesterday talking about Genesis 3, also know as "The Fall". I am certainly ready for Fall, with cooler weather, lower humidity, and college football. But Genesis 3 is about a different fall, the story of Adam and Eve and the biggest screw-up in the history of the world. I asked them to name the biggest catastrophes in the past 200 years. I got the expected wars, terrorist attacks, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc. One guy mentioned Mike Dubose (former Alabama head football coach.) Then we launched in to the text:

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Gen 3:1-7 (NIV)

The first item of discussion related to the nature of the tempting. The crafty serpent went right to the heart of the matter. Before long, he had the woman wondering about the goodness of God, the truthfulness of God, and the fairness of God.

Before we had time to proceed in the text, we got into a couple of philosophical questions that seemed to be troubling folks. If God didn't want them to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, then why did he put it right there in the middle of the Garden in the first place? I mean, you don't give your child a doughnut and tell them not to eat it, do you?

Another concern: who let the damned serpent into the Garden anyway? Can God not make a safe place for his people?

I certainly don't have the answers but I have been pondering. I think it might have to do with why God created anything. Full of his own glory, he did not need anything. Out of his overflowing love he created the universe to reflect and magnify his glory. This included the creation of humans. Now what would reflect that glory best: a mindless robot unable to do anything different, or a person who could choose to worship and who could voluntarily praise, magnify and honor God? If God wants volunteers to worship him, then there also has to be an option to be independent and run off to do one's own thing.

It turns out that trying to be independent from God is not such a sweet deal. Ask Adam and Eve. As for me, I choose to be a worshiper. Lord, make me more dependent.