Genesis, Chapter 3, Verses 1-10

Chapter 3 of the Book of Genesis opens with the serpent’s successful attempt at convincing Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. Though most sources that I have consulted indicate that the serpent was the Devil or a reptile possessed by the Devil, I am unconvinced.

Remember that first line of Genesis?

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

The first two chapters of Genesis make it abundantly clear that God created everything, and that everything God created was good.

The heaven and the earth.

Yet the Scripture fails to mention the creation of any evil, other-worldly beings, capable of infiltrating the mind and body of a leopard gecko and convincing rationale human beings to disobey the word of their immortal, all powerful creator.

So if God didn’t create the Devil, where the hell did he come from? And how did he manage to gain access God’s perfect garden without his knowledge?

Was security that lax for the Almighty? Am I really expected to believe that the Garden of Eden would have been safer with Jack Bauer on duty?

And it’s clear that the whole fruit-eating incident was beyond the Lord’s awareness, because in verses 8 and 9, God is described as literally strolling through the Garden of Eden, calling for Adam and Eve like a mother might call for her lost son at a playground.

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Am I to believe that God can create the entire universe but couldn't locate the only two human beings on the entire planet because they were hiding behind some bushes?

Even the most ardent Biblical literalist must find this a little silly.