To: Humans Living in the 21st Century
From: Adam, the First Man
Re: Concerns and Admonitions
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
I do not use these terms lightly. We are truly relatives, forever connected; in fact, I am honored to say that I was the first of our kind, formed by the hand of Yahweh (the Almighty God), from the dust of the earth. Myself, along with Eve, my wife, were the crown jewels of God’s six-day creation; we were set apart from the rest of God’s creation; God spoke everything into existence (trees, animals, etc.), then God elected to make us in God’s image and after God’s likeness. WOW! We were made to be like God and to look like God. Let me tell you, Eve and I had it ALL! We had peace. We had prosperity. We had provision. But we blew it, frittered it away, in a moment’s notice; in the blinking of an eye, we forfeited it all. Before I get too deeply into the remainder of this letter, I want to formerly apologize to each of you, as well as every generation, past and present, for messing everything up for all of us. I guess I could make an excuse, as I did then, but I think it is appropriate that I simply say, “I apologize”.
I made some horrible decisions and my concern is for thousands of years and, even today, the mistakes and bad decisions I made are continuing. If these poor actions took me away from my destiny and heritage and you are doing the same things, how will your fate be any different? If it harmed me, it is harming you. George Santayana, a 19th-20th Century philosopher, essayist, poet & novelist said, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes. Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.” I was the first of us ALL…PLEASE, learn from me!
It is dangerous to know the truth, yet bargain with it and negotiate with it until the truth loses its grip on us. As plain as I can say it, the truth is the truth and the truth is not negotiable. Eve and I were hanging out when a serpent walked up to us and asked, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The serpent’s question, “Did God really say?” became our question, “Did God really say?” Do not negotiate the truth and question it by asking, “Did God really say?” The truth is the truth and God has not changed God’s mind: Do not commit adultery! God has not changed God’s mind. Do not steal! God has not changed God’s mind. Honor your mother and your father. God has not changed God’s mind. We know the truth, but the truth conflicts with what we desire, therefore we start to attempt philosophically and theologically explain what God said in a way that gives us the freedom to do what we want to. Stand on and for the truth! Call sin, sin! Let right be right and wrong be wrong! Make it non-negotiable!
And, do not walk around pretending like you’re not sure the difference between right and wrong. Sure, we ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and our eyes came open, but, since we are thousands of years removed from that moment and I have had an abundance of time to reflect upon it, I must admit that I am not so sure that I didn’t already know the difference between right and wrong before I ate the fruit. First, I was made in the image of God; how could I not know the difference between right and wrong? Second, I was so smart that I gave every animal its name; how could I not know the difference between right and wrong? Third, GOD TOLD ME WHAT WAS RIGHT AND WHAT WAS WRONG! How could I not know the difference between right and wrong? In 2013, there is Social Media, Facebook and Twitter, etc. There is the perpetual bombarding of images through the television and the big screen movies. Unlike other generations, there does not seem to be a common standard of morality. Even in the midst of all this uncertainty, STOP PRETENDING like you don’t know the difference between right and wrong. IT IS WRONG when we judge people through our prejudice. IT IS WRONG to play political games and not help the poor. IT IS WRONG to be sexually active outside of the boundaries of marriage. IT IS WRONG for children to be disrespectful to parents and other adults. WRONG IS WRONG! RIGHT IS RIGHT! I wish, OH HOW I WISH, I had simply decided that what God said is right and lived by it.
I love some of the movies that have been produced through the years. Yes, I keep up!!!! (Lol) One of those movies was called “Bruce Almighty”, starring Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a news reporter who seems to be laden with the albatross of covering all the “silly and funny, feel good” stories. Bruce complains and ultimately blames God, claiming that God was not doing God’s job. God, tired of Bruce’s complaining, endows Bruce with all of God’s power. As soon as Bruce gets the power of God, Bruce begins to act selfishly: he conjures up a new car, switches out his old clothes for some new clothes, blows up a woman’s skirt for his own amusement and takes revenge on a group of guys who had beat him up. Bruce was just getting started; he goes home to Grace, his girlfriend, walks out on the balcony, throws a make believe lasso up to and around the moon and pulls the moon from its lofty heights down until it seems to be right on top of the apartment. Bruce did it, but in the movie, it is later reported that as a result of Bruce’s actions towns were destroyed by tidal waves, earthquakes were disturbing everyone’s peace. Bruce did it, but the entire world was effected.
I recant this movie because it reminds me my own foolish error. The fruit from THAT tree looked so delicious and we ate; as soon as we ate, our awareness increased and we recognized that we were naked. Naked, not just physically without clothes, but “unprotected, vulnerable and in danger”. The bigger problem: it wasn’t just Eve and I impacted, but every generation that was to come after us would live in this world feeling “unprotected, vulnerable and in danger”. We ate and because everyone dies. We ate and everyone suffers. We ate and everyone struggles. We ate, yet everyone has been impacted and effected by our actions. I beg of you, in November 2013, please be aware that what you do has an impact upon others. In your country, The United States of America, your government has and continues to increase the National Debt and generations will suffer. The air is becoming more and more polluted by manmade toxins and generations will suffer. Technological advances are eliminating labor positions and, while it seems right, generations will suffer. Always remember: what I do impacts other people!
Here is what is really funny: I messed up right and I got questioned about it, but I DID NOT own up to anything. In fact, God called my name and when I finally decided to talk to God, God asked me, “What’s your problem?” Okay, I know your Bible does not read like that….anyway…I told God that I was naked and God me a very specific question, “Who told you that you were naked?” Then, because God wanted me to fess up, God asked me, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I told you not to eat?” Listen at God’s question: God asked me what I did, “Did you?” “Who told you?” When I responded, however, I took my plump little index finger and I pointed at Eve and said, “THAT woman you gave me”. I was not satisfied to just dump the blame on her, I even indicted God, “that woman YOU gave me”. In essence, it was everybody’s fault but mine. I am just asking a question here: how did we fix it if don’t take personal responsibility? How do I fix my marriage if I don’t take personal responsibility? How do I fix my finances if I don’t take personal responsibility? How do I raise my grades in school if I don’t take personal responsibility? How do I improve my health if I don’t take personal responsibility? How do I get into college if I don’t take personal responsibility? How do I secure salvation if I don’t take personal responsibility? Before I leave this: God will hold you responsible. I did not say it was my fault and Eve did not say it was her fault, yet God still held us accountable for our individual actions.
NONE OF THESE things compares to my greatest error, being with God became optional! The reason I was alive was because God breathed into my nostrils God’s breath; the reason that I had intelligence was because God made me in God’s image; the reason that I had a companion was because God chose to make someone especially for me; the reason that I peace, prosperity and provision was because of God, yet when God came looking for me, in the cool of that evening, I ran from God. In essence, God was momentarily an option for me. How do we make God optional? When we spend our entire days, conversing with friends and coworkers, posted our tweets and updating our Facebook status, but not find the time to pray, God is optional. When we focus our energy upon building a career and making more money, but not find time to study our Bible, God is optional. I have found out, man, no man, no woman, no boy, no girl can live without God! One of your hymns of the church says, “Without God, I can do nothing, without God, I would fail. Without God, my life would be drifting like a ship without a sail”.
It started with me and continues with you and let’s just simply acknowledge that we have made a grand mess of things. I close my letter with some good news! God is faithful! All that I have named concerning myself and you demonstrates how unfaithful we are, but GOD IS FAITHFUL! When we ate from the tree, God was supposed to kill us. In fact, God told me “do not eat from that tree for, when you do, you will die”, but, when I ate from it, he did not kill me. He gave more moments than I deserved! God could have killed me and God should have killed me, but God let me live and God me more time, gave me another chance. GOD IS FAITHFUL! I was naked (unprotected, vulnerable, and in danger), and I was in that state because of my own doing, but God is so faithful that God took the skins of animals and made clothes for us. God is so faithful that God covered us! Instead of putting God’s hand on us to whip us, God put God’s hand over us, to cover us. GOD IS FAITHFUL! Finally, in the most amazing act of mercy and grace, God put us out of the Garden. I thought God was punishing us and I was upset when I lost my trees and my fruit, but then I heard God say, “I am putting of the Garden because if I don’t they will eat from the tree of life and live forever in their state of death”. I realized, God is so faithful that God shielded us!
Now that I think about it, God is faithful and worthy of our praise. I hope that you will take a minute, put this letter down and give God the glory that God deserves. Put this letter day and give God glory: clap your hands, shout unto God, dance a dance and wave your hand…GOD IS WORTHY OF OUR PRAISE!
Keep living, making better decisions, but above all else, trust the Faithfulness of God!
Humbly submitted,
The First Man, Adam
