The Skinniest Bible in All History Part 2

Read The Skinniest Bible in All History Part 1

But What About When Adam and Eve were Expelled from the Garden?

You might be asking right now, “Yeah, but what about those times when God imposes His will on us? What about the question that was asked during your discussion, when God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden? And speaking of the garden, what about when God condemned Cain to a life of wandering?”

I appreciate you asking such a great question.

I think it’s important to distinguish between absolute free will, and how I find the way God provides for our free will to be astonishing. God absolutely does not provide for our absolute free will. Absolute free will would mean free will without consequences from God. But that’s not the way God set up the universe. There are any number of choices we can only make once. For instance, we can’t decide to jump off of the top of the Empire State Building more than once. We can’t donate a vital organ, say your heart, more than once. And we can’t decide to fly an airplane head on into a cliff, more than once.

So, it was when Adam and Eve disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit. That was something they could choose to do–once. God responded with a consequence. When Cain murdered Abel, God again answered with a consequence and Cain was forced to wander. He no longer had the choice to dwell in the garden.

I’m reminded of a quote from Drew Dyck’s book Your Future Self Will Thank You.

“Control of your life is like energy. It can’t be destroyed; it can only be transferred from one place to another. If you don’t learn self-discipline and self-control, you’ll forfeit control of yourself, and someone else will control your life for you.”

Free will works that way for all of us. That statement from Drew Dyck’s book is a law of the universe. Which brings us back to Pascal.

“Conform my will to thine . . .” Pascal prayed.

Free will is connected to the alignment of our wills with the wills of others.

In Genesis we see how Joseph’s will was beautifully aligned with the will of Potiphar and we see the result: “So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had.” This is especially compelling because Joseph was a slave at the time. But in spite of his status as a slave, Joseph’s free will within Potiphar’s domain grew. (See Genesis 39)

Later Joseph aligns his will with the will of Pharaoh, and again his free will is expanded dramatically. Pharaoh commands: “You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” Within Pharaoh’s domain, Joseph has abundant free will, perhaps more than any other citizen in Egypt. (See Genesis 41)

If a husband aligns his will with his wife, he enjoys all kinds of freedom within his wife’s domain. He is free to share her time, her energy. He’s even free to share intimate personal parts of her life. He’s even free to share her body.

But if a husband’s will drifts far enough out of alignment with the will of his wife, his free will, within his wife’s domain, shrinks. If his will drifts far enough, he’ll wind up divorced. His ability to dwell with his wife and his kids is reduced. He has a set visitation schedule for his kids and he’s unlikely to see much of his wife at all — even if he desires to.

And it’s the same for a wife who aligns (or chooses not to align) her will with her husband. Her free will within her husband’s domain grows or shrinks accordingly.

A bride whose will is aligned with her husband enjoys abundant free will in her husband’s domain.

And we are the bride of Christ. And Christ’s domain is the universe.

So, in the case of Adam and Eve, they had the greatest measure of free will in the history of humankind.

They had the skinniest Bible in history.

Do whatever you want, God said.

Just don’t eat from that one tree.

But they dismissed God’s will, and they chose to decide for themselves what was right and what was wrong. And a large measure of that abundant free will they enjoyed was taken away. Their free will was diminished. Their free will shrunk accordingly.

Who To Align To

I so appreciate that prayer of Pascal’s.

I’m with him.

“Conform my will to thine.”

If I may paraphrase:

“Conform our will to Yours Father; Grant in humble and perfect submission and in holy confidence, that we be disposed to receive whatever comes from Your eternal providence, and that we adore alike everything that comes to us from You.”

“In Jesus name we ask this of You Father.”

“Amen.”

Kurt Cameron Bennett best known for his book Love Like Jesus. After attending church and studying the Bible for most of his adult life, he was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven-year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote Love Like Jesus for himself as much as for others. He currently lives in Hillsboro, Oregon, just a few miles from his son Gabe, daughter (-in-law) Charise, and grandson Andrew. He has another son Nate and daughter (-in-law) Anastasia who live in Sammamish, Washington. His blog, God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

Featured Photo by John-Mark Smith from pexels.com