The serpent plants the first doubt: “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
It wasn’t just about disobedience. It was suspicion and distrust.
Maybe God is holding out on me.
Maybe He’s not as good as He says.
And this moment is all of us as we grow up out of childhood.
We start off as babies trusting completely. We rely on caregivers for survival. But when we become 2 or 3, we begin to lie. Not because we’re taught, but we discover it somehow.
As we grow, we begin to sense what we can or cannot do. We find out the boundaries.
Will I be punished if I do this? Can I bend the rules and get away with it? If I tell the truth will I get hurt?
The Eden moment repeats.
“Did God say…?” becomes “Do I really have to tell the truth?”
We doubt God’s word and promises. We crave autonomy and want to be God.
And when we get caught, we shift blame like Adam:
It wasn’t me. It was her. It was You. You gave her to me.
Unapologetic and protecting ourselves.
And if the Fall changed us and our nature toward self-preservation, autonomy, and suspicion, then we’re invited by God to come back.
To relearn how to trust. Trust that truth leads to life, not punishment. Trust that we don’t need to hide, or spin, or cover ourselves anymore.
A few days ago, my husband donated $10 to someone who knocked on our door asking for money. Said it was for charity. He checked it out, deemed it legit, and handed over the cash.
I immediately rebuked him.
“You WHAT? How did you know it was legit?”
“What website was it?”
But it wasn’t about the money.
It was about trust. My lack of it.
What does it say about me that my default assumption is that people are lying?
I’m not even mad that he gave. Not really. I’m mad that I couldn’t. I would never.
There’s the idea that everyone’s probably out to trick me.
That person in the street walking up to me is probably going to sell me something I don’t need.
But what kind of person have I become, if I can’t even believe people?
And maybe that’s what the Fall really was.
“Original sin” sounds so banal, so boring but what if it was not about eating the forbidden fruit?
What if it’s about the moment we stopped trusting? The moment we traded the innocence of a child for the suspicion and distrust.
And here I am repeating what Eve did.
Defending myself with logic, skepticism, and reasons to withhold.
But maybe being human isn’t about protecting ourselves with doubt.
Maybe the braver, riskier thing is just to believe.
Like Fulton Sheen, knowing there’s risk but choosing to hope anyway.
To give, and let God decide if the recipient did good with your gift.
Even if it occasionally funds someone’s KPods addiction.
Even if it stings to know I might be cheated.
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