(a 4 minute read)  Johnny is 8 years old and loves cookies. His parents decided to place the cookie jar far enough that he cannot reach it, yet close enough that Johnny thinks he may be able to reach it.

Johnny’s parents said, “Johnny, if you go for the jar without asking, you will definitely not get a cookie, but if you ask, then you may get a cookie. So Johnny, you must not reach for the jar without asking.”

Guess what? Parents are walking by one day and there’s Johnny eating a cookie……….. Johnny’s figured out a way to get into the jar………… So the parents moved the jar way out of the way so that Johnny cannot get to them at all.

As you would imagine, Johnny got talked to.

“You should not have done that Johnny. Now we’ll have to not let you near the jar.”   Although these are printed words on paper, the image or picture of how it’s happening can be entirely different from one person to another;

One picture is a pretty strong and scornful reprimand;

While the other picture is more of a loving and gentle response to explain to him why he cannot have any possible access to the jar.

What is the picture in your mind of the Lord and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden???

Sadly, we are raised, throughout the world, to believe that the Lord had a pretty strong and scornful response of kicking them out……….. Ejecting ………. Banishing………… Expelling, and so on. WHY? Because the story is told as;

There was ONE tree ………. Adam and Eve ate from it…………… Therefore BANISHED as punishment.

The Bible is so clear in stating the Lord’s reasoning of why Adam and Eve were not allowed back into the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3:22, it is so that they won’t be able to eat from the ‘Tree of Life’, the one you’d live forever if you ate from it. And therefore, the Lord blocked their path back into the Garden of Eden, Genesis 24.

It is logical to state that while in the Garden, Adam and Eve never ate from the ‘Tree of Life’.

The argument ensues as Genesis 3:23, in many translations, uses ‘Banished’ & ‘Expelled’, yet other translations use ‘sent away’. The Hebrew word  ‘way·šal·lə·ḥê·hū’   is more like ‘to send forth’. This same exact word used four times in the Bible; Jeremiah 40:5 last sentence; 1 Kings 20:34 last sentence; 2 Samuel 3:23 last sentence; and of course in Genesis 3:23.

In Gen 3:24 it says ‘drove them out’ as in cast them away to be isolated away from the Garden of Eden. Why? Because they cannot reach to the Tree of Life and eat of its fruit.

This here is not to argue the translation of the word, rather to present the perspective and the attitude of the Lord in this story and how we all have been given the ‘picture’ of this angry God wagging a finger of incrimination, or at least that’s what I have been brought up to believe.

The answer to; Why have we been brought up that way? Because it is a whole lot easier to have people follow out of fear and not out of free will. Yet the Lord is ONLY interested in free will.

But I am freely willing to follow the Lord!!

I believe it is time to ask myself; What is the picture of the Lord that I have in my mind in the Garden of Eden? If it is the picture of an angry and frustrated God, then it is time I reexamine my motives for following and believing, and ask if it is indeed ‘free will’ or is it fear of punishment, or hope for a reward? And I should not kid myself because there is a significant difference.

Our Lord and Creator is an unconditional loving God that has never changed from the beginning and will never change till the end, and therefore there is no reason to picture this ever loving Lord as anything but that.

If I am caught up in the ‘the Lord must be JUST’, I need to remind myself that justice is all about punishment and reward, while LOVE is about forgiveness and white as snow. It is not about which is right and which is wrong, rather it is about which will I focus on? Again, it is time I reexamine my motives for following and believing, and ask if it is indeed ‘free will’ or is it fear of punishment, or hope for a reward? Changing this perspective will fill me with LOVE, JOY & PEACE unimaginable.

My Lord and my creator, I know in my daily life that perspective is everything, and attitude is the determining factor in how I execute anything I approach. May I continue to read and study to get to know Your loving and gentle nature, and expel and banish this image of You as angry and frustrated at me and at my behavior, for You are Gentle, Patient, Kind and Loving beyond measure. I love You and I thank You for Your everlasting and forgiving love. Amen.