Temptation

I would have liked to meet Eve.  Adam, basically, is sitting on his ass, probably drinking a Bud Light.  Maybe moping.  Probably wondering when Eve would bring him another one.

Meanwhile, she's checking out the tree of knowledge.  Wondering.  Considering.  I'm not sure she would talk with the Snake, as I'm guessing that even then Eve was pretty skeptical of snakes.  Or wary.  Or alarmed.  So I'm thinking the Snake is a metaphor, unlike Eve and Adam.

For the record: my father assures me that the tempting fruit was not an apple, as they didn't grow wherever the Garden of Eden was.  He knows stuff like that, being an "appleologist" which is different than "apologist" although maybe they somehow are linked, which they are not. Oh well.  He assures me it was more likely a pomegranate.  But the "pom" was somehow I think connected to the French word "pomme" for apple.  Dad, feel free to weigh in.

I don't think Eve needed the metaphorical snake.  Bold as she was, she wanted the knowledge, and she took it (the pomegranate, that is), and bit it, and a hall of shit rained down on her.  No more lounging by the pool, naked.  From now on, busters, you are working for a living, bearing children in pain, and living with the knowledge that you would die.  Which seems pretty harsh for eating a fruit, but I'm no God.

Did she create temptation or was it offered there to her?

I'd like to think that she created it.  I'm not so confident of a God who would say: "Come on, innocent one....what's the harm of a little temptation...."

Just seeing this picture makes you want to get some, doesn't it?

It does. Or it should.  Because that's the whole point of temptation, isn't it? To give in, just a little?

When did temptation become good?  When it was useful to make money, which really is just about the oldest profession.  Think about it...how did the "oldest profession"come about if there was no money to be made? But now: check the ads.  They are all about temptation, and giving in.  Except for the abstinence only advertisements, which are about as useful as the Snake.

Me? I'm much better at avoiding the sources of temptation than the temptation itself.  Rather than saying "No thanks!" it seems easier to avoid the question entirely. Sometimes I wish that the Tree of Knowledge would have been clearcut.  But then where would that leave Eve?

And you. And me.