Sometimes I dislike theology, or maybe just certain theologians or maybe just how certain theologies are stated. Here’s one that talks about how sometimes people act like Satan acts, in this case, Adam.
[He Lied]
The serpent was a liar (Genesis 3:4) and a deceiver (Genesis 3:1, 13). Likewise Adam, when asked by God, “Have you eaten from the tree of the which I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:11), does not answer forthrightly. Adam replies, “The woman whom you gave me to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12). Adam was deceptively blaming Eve for his sin, which shifted accountability from him to his wife, in contrast to the biblical testimony that Adam, not Eve, was accountable for the fall (e.g., see Romans 5:12–19).
I dislike this phrasing with a passion. Adam didn’t lie, not even in the most remote sense of the word. Now some theologians would come and say, oh but you don’t really understand blah, blah blah… what the word “lie” means, how mixing in other messages that elude the question (even if the truthful answer is in place) could be a “lie,” and so on. (Seriously, I’m trying to think of any excuse for them to use such terminology but I really can’t.) Adam didn’t lie.
“The woman whom you gave me to be with me,” – This is a true statement.
“she gave me from the tree,” – This again is a true statement.
“and I ate.” – Answers the question truthfully, “Have you eaten from the tree.”
So the last thing Adam did was lie. In fact, he did nothing but tell the truth and nothing but the truth! Now on to the word deception. To deceive means “to mislead by a false appearance or statement.” Hence, Satan was a deceiver because he “misled by a false statement” that “You will not surely die” against the true statement of God that “You shall not eat of the fruit… lest you die.” Now tell me which word of Adam’s response was a deceptive statement? Every single word that he uttered in Genesis 3:12 was true. Did he try to imply that blame rested on Eve? Yes. But did he try to deceive, or “mislead by false statement” to God? No, because sure he shift the blame to Eve by answering a question that was never asked, but he did 1) answer the question truthfully and 2) didn’t falsify information AT ALL.
Against Theologians
Fact of the matter is, the truly deceptive statements, such as the false statements that Adam lied to God or that Adam deceived God, are written a lot more often in theology than I would like. Sometimes I find that theology really pushes the envelope of logic to the point that it’s illogical. They want to try and make certain connections so much, in this case how Satan and Adam are synonymous in their “lies” and “deceit,” that they end up completely changing what “lies” and “deceit” really mean or expand the meaning of such words to include anything and everything that they want it to.
But what bothers me MORE than such practices is the fact that me pointing such things out almost always means a certain rebuttal. I’m simply trying to be logical in my understanding of the word. I understand logic doesn’t trump scripture, that logic is meant to be used within the guidelines of it and that an illegitimate and ill-advised way of using logic is to use it to go against scripture. In this sense, and in the example that I have in this entry, I would think that I’m completely being rational and logical and truthful, and I would like to think that many people would agree with me. But more often than not in such instances, some pastors and professors would more than likely execute a combination of red herring and ad hominem attack on me and my interpretation of what is rational and logical and truthful and that I have a misunderstanding of how to be so. It’s MY eyes that haven’t been opened. It’s MY spirituality that they need to patiently wait for until it’s mature enough to understand. At this point, I just shut up and give up, which, unfortunately, leads the other individuals to believe that they’re right because they got the last word.
I am more than willing to be proven wrong. But if they’re so right, why attack me and my reason, rather than the statements themselves and helping me see HOW I’m wrong? For example, why not say something like “well, perhaps you can understand the word deceive, when used in the following example, could mean what the author meant here.” Then they could give me an example, and I would say, you’re right, I’m wrong. But attacking myself and not my ideas, to me, is not only wrong, it hinders me greatly from engaging in any point of theological discussion with the said persons in the future. That, to me, is true deception, because it neither tackles/answers the question on hand and because, to me, it misleads greatly by a false statement of attacking the “misuse of logic” rather than showing me how it was misused. (I’m using the word “false statement” here to mean whatever I want it to, like the words “lie” and “deception” to drive in the point.)
Which is why this just may end up being the last entry on such matters. This is an extremely frustrating part of my studies, and I find myself more and more retreating to myself than in theological discussions with Christians because I find atheists and agnostics to be much more reasonable in such regards than Christians and theologians. Yes, many atheists do exercise ad hominem and red herring to make personal attacks to dispute truth claims. But let’s be reasonable, should I expect more than that from an illogical ideology of atheism? And should I not expect more from Christians?
All the more, if you ever find me being hypocritical in this regard, please point it out to me. I know I’ve probably done the same in the past and may end up doing so in the future. But I expect more from myself.