The Bible of Bibles; Or, Twenty-Seven "Divine" Revelations

by Kersey Graves; Lydia M. Graves

THE FALL AND CURSE.

We will now notice some of the awful consequences said to have resulted from eating the forbidden fruit,—"the worldwide curse" pronounced upon the human race as the penalty for that act. Several distinct effects are enumerated as consequences of the deed. But a critical investigation of the matter in the light of the present age will show, that instead of being curses, they are blessings, and have added greatly to the enjoyment and happiness of the human family; and, consequently, we should now be in a more deplorable condition than we are if "our primitive parents" had heeded the divine interdiction, and let the fruit alone. We will look briefly at some of the consequences, and observe whether they have really turned out to be curses, or not. The first effect produced by the act of Father Adam and Mother Eve eating the forbidden fruit appears to have been that of opening their eyes so that they could see and distinguish objects around them. It certainly was a very singular way of cursing human beings to grant them the glorious boon of vision, and thus relieve them from the necessity of groping their way through life. As to the gift of sight being a curse, there are thousands of human beings now in the world who would like to be cursed in that way—those who were born blind, or have lost their sight. "The rest of mankind" would consider it to be a great misfortune or curse to be placed in the original condition of Adam and Eve in this respect. We must admit, then, that this curse turned out to be a blessing, and that we are indebted to the serpent-devil for it; and, consequently, he should not have been doomed to dine on dust as a penalty for conferring this blessing upon the human race.

The second consequence growing out of the act of eating the interdicted fruit appears to have been the acquisition of a knowledge of good and evil; that is, the power of distinguishing between good and evil. But this, so far from being a curse, was an inestimable and indispensable blessing; for, without the attainment of this knowledge, they could not have known that any act was evil, and hence would have been liable to plunge into all manner of crime, pillage, debauchery, murder, &c., until they effected the entire extinction of the human race. The acquisition, then, of the knowledge of the moral difference between good and evil was an invaluable blessing, and no curse at all; and, having been brought about through the agency of the serpent-devil, he should have the credit of it.

The third effect produced by plucking and eating the prescribed fruit was the discovery that they were naked. Why they had not made the discovery before is a mystery of godliness. The people of the present age, although presumed to be in a state of degeneracy, if not total depravity, do not require the use of their eyes to know when they are naked; but it seems, that, before the fall in a state of moral perfection, such knowledge could only be acquired through the optic nerves. Hence "the perfection of our first parents," so often spoken of and lauded by the orthodox world, must simply have been the perfection of ignorance; and it is true, if their history is true, that they were most consummately ignorant until they were enlightened by the serpent. They were too ignorant to clothe themselves. God Almighty had to forsake the throne of heaven, and come down to earth, to make garments of goatskins for them, before they could be sufficiently habilitated to go abroad, or admit company. Their two sons, however, were the only company they were permitted to enjoy at that time. And one of these turned out to be a murderer; and, having killed his only brother, he fled to the land of Nod, and married a wife, although, according to the "inspired account," his mother was the only woman then living. It seems strange, under such circumstances, that he should marry a wife when there were no women to make wives of. After he had killed his brother, and repented of it, a mark was set upon him, that "whosoever found him should not slay him." But how could this "whosoever" know what the mark meant? And who was this "whosoever," when he himself had killed off the whole human race, excepting his father and mother? And we presume they would not be likely to slay their own and only son if there were no mark set upon him to prevent it. Up to this period the conduct of the serpent-devil had been very respectful, and every act performed had resulted in a direct benefit to the human family. Even his conduct towards Mother Eve seems to have been marked by politeness; for he served her with fruit before partaking of it himself. For these good acts he deserved the use of his legs, which, we must presume, he lost by the fall, when he transgressed, fell, and was cursed; and a part of this curse consisted in taking his legs from him, and compelling him to crawl. But it appears his legs were afterwards restored to him; for, when he came with the sons of God to attend a picnic at the house of Job, and was asked where he came from, replied, "From walking to and fro in the earth." This feat of walking he could not very well have performed without legs. Hence we naturally conclude they had grown out again, or had been restored to him in some way, notwithstanding it had been decreed he should "crawl on his belly all the days of his life." The whole story of the serpent, as presented in Genesis, is a borrowed and laughable fiction; and the reader will excuse us for presenting it in that light.

We have shown that the violation of the command of Jehovah to Adam and Eve not to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, so far from being attended with any evil result, gave rise to several important benefits, and was therefore a praiseworthy act. And if they had carried the act of disobedience a little further, and plucked and eaten of the fruit from the "tree of life" also, it would, according to the context, have produced results still more important, as it would have immortalized their physical bodies, and prevented the ingress of death into the world; and we should have been spared that dreadful calamity. But a worse calamity would have overtaken us; for it is easily seen, that, in the course of a few centuries, our planet would be overstocked with inhabitants. And, as a part of Adam's curse consisted in being doomed to eat the ground (see Gen. iii. 17), it follows, that, if none of his posterity had died, they would have become so numerous in the course of time as to have eaten up all the ground (there being nothing else for them to eat), and leave not a mole-hill of terra firma for a living being to stand upon. The conception is really ludicrous, and yet a legitimate inference from the story which presents us with a series of laughable ideas from beginning to end.

We will now notice the sentence pronounced upon the several participants in this fabled rebellion against the divine government, and observe how, or to what extent, they were realized. Adam, Eve, and the snake were the culprits arraigned at the bar under charge of being rebels; and, all being found guilty, a sentence was pronounced upon each separately. We will examine them in their order. The first part of Adam's curse consisted in being doomed to die,—"The day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die" (Gen. ii. 17). The serpent, however, took the liberty to contradict and counteract the sentence, and told him he should not die, but that partaking of the fruit would make him "wise as the Gods, knowing good and evil." Now, the first question which arises here is, Who told the truth in the case,—Jehovah, or "the father of lies"? In the eighth chapter of Genesis we read, "All the days of Adam were nine hundred and thirty years, and he begat sons and daughters." It will be seen, then, that he did not die in "the day thereof," nor the year thereof, nor the century thereof; so it appears the serpent told the truth and Moses' God told the falsehood, or was mistaken. Hundreds of Christian writers and commentators have racked their brains to find some plausible mode of disposing of these difficulties. The most specious one they have resorted to is that of assigning the text a spiritual signification, and alleging that it was a spiritual death that was intended in this case. But the text does not say so; and the context shows it was not so: for it is declared, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen. iii. 19), which shows it was not spiritual but physical death that was meant; and this did not take place for more than nine hundred years after the sentence was pronounced.

The second part of Adam's curse consisted in being driven out of the garden, and compelled to engage in agricultural pursuits; that is, he was sentenced to earn his bread by the sweat of his face. (See Gen. iii. 23). But the experience of nearly the whole human race, from that period to the present time, proves that the sweating part of the operation is no curse at all, but a real blessing; for no person in warm climates can enjoy good health without perspiring occasionally; and as for labor being a curse, because said to have been pronounced upon Adam as a penalty for transgression, the experience of all who have tried it, and the present condition of the civilized world, proclaim it to be untrue. Indeed, we must consider it a very fortunate circumstance that he was driven out of the garden, and compelled to embark in agricultural pursuits, not only on account of such employments being conducive to health, but because the very existence of human life depends upon it in all civilized countries. It is the source whence we derive all our food, all our clothing, and nearly all the comforts of life. No: it is laziness, not labor, that curses the race; and the most accursed set of beings are the drones, the soft-handed gentry, who are almost as afraid of a hoe, axe, or spade, as they are of the measles or small-pox, having been erroneously taught that labor is a curse.

The third item in Adam's curse consisted in being doomed to eat the ground,—"Cursed is the ground for thy sake, and in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life" (Gen. iii. 17); but we have never seen any report of either Adam or any of his posterity eating the ground, or making it an article of diet. It will be observed, then, that no part of the sentence pronounced upon Adam turned out to be a curse, but, when realized at all, was realized as a blessing.

The sentence pronounced upon the woman was also of a threefold character. In the first place, she was doomed to "Bring forth children in sorrow" (Gen. iii. 16). And her posterity, we are told, inherited the curse, and must suffer in this same way; but the history of the human family shows that many individuals, and whole nations in some cases, have never suffered this affliction. It is well known that the mothers of some of the African tribes, also some of the tribes of Americans, never suffer in childbirth. Hence it will be seen that the curse in the general sense implied by the text is a failure in this case also.

The second punishment to which woman was to be subjected was that of being ruled over by her husband. This portion of her curse, we must confess, has not been an entire failure. Many women, even in civilized countries, are not only ruled over, but tyrannized over, by their husbands. Yet this state of things has by no means been universal. On the contrary, in many cases, woman has been the ruling party; and, in some instances, they have not merely ruled their own husbands, but all the husbands in the nation. Queen Mary, Queen Anne, and Queen Victoria, and many others, are examples of this kind; and then there have been thousands of women in all ages and countries who never had any husbands. Consequently the curse is a failure in their cases. The curse of husband-dominion, then, has not fallen upon woman as a sex.

There was to be enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (i.e., their offspring) as the third part of woman's curse; but we find no evidence that this part of the curse has ever been fulfilled. We observe no more enmity between men and serpents than between men and other noxious reptiles and ravenous beasts. How much enmity exists between the Hindoo juggler and the serpent that twines around his arm and neck, and crawls through his bosom? We may be told in reply that it is not the common serpent that is referred to here, but the serpent-devil that beguiled Eve; but we do not learn that his Devilish Majesty ever had any offspring. So this part of the curse, in a general sense, is a failure also.