Her curiosity was aroused, and she was flattered by the words of the serpent. Instead of fleeing, she argued with him, and attempted to decide in her own mind between right and wrong. But God had told her what was right. That moment of indecision, of doubting, was the devil’s opportunity.
Unable to reach the soul of man by direct means, Satan approached it through those outer channels, the senses. He had everything to win, and proceeded cautiously. If man’s mind could be gained, his great work would be accomplished. To do this he used a process of reasoning—a method the reverse of that used by the Father in his instruction at the tree of life. The mind of Eve was strong, and quickly drew conclusions; hence, when her new teacher said, “If ye eat, ‘ye shall be as gods,’” in the mind of Eve arose the thought, God has immortality. “Therefore,” said Satan, “if ye eat, ‘ye shall not surely die.’” The conclusion was logically drawn, and the world, from the days of Eve to the present time, has based its religious belief on that syllogism, the major premise of which, as did Eve, they fail to recognize as false. Why?—Because they use the mind to decide the truth instead of taking a direct statement from the Author of wisdom. From this one false premise comes the doctrine of the natural immortality of man, with its endless variations, some modern names of which are theosophy, Spiritualism, reincarnation, and evolution. The sons and daughters of Eve condemn her for the mistake made six thousand years ago, while they themselves repeat it without question. It is preached from the pulpit, it is taught in the schoolroom, and its spirit pervades the thought of every book written whose author is not in perfect harmony with God and truth. Now began the study of “dialectics,” so destructive to the Christian’s faith.
Eve was deceived because she depended upon sense perceptions
Having accepted the logic of the serpent, and having transferred her faith from the word of God to the tree of knowledge at Satan’s suggestion, the woman could easily be led to test the truth of all his statements by her senses. A theory had been advanced; the experimental process now began. That is the way men now gain their knowledge, but their wisdom comes otherwise. She looked upon the forbidden fruit, but no physical change was perceptible as the result of the misuse of this sense. This led her to feel more sure that the argument used had been correct. Her ears were attentive to the words of the serpent, but she perceived no change as a result of the perverted use of the sense of hearing. This, to the changing mind of the woman, was still more conclusive proof that the words of Christ and angels did not mean what she had at first thought they meant. The senses of touch, smell, and taste were in turn used, and each corroborated the conclusion drawn by the devil. The woman was deceived, and through the deception her mind was changed. This same change of mind may be wrought either by deception or as a result of false reasoning.
A change in the mind of Adam
Eve approached Adam with the fruit in her hand. Instead of answering in the oft-repeated words of Christ, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” he took up the logic of the serpent. Having eaten, his mind was also changed. He who from creation had thought the thoughts of God, was yielding to the mind of the enemy. The exactness with which he had once understood the mind of God was exemplified when he named the animals; for the thought of God which formed the animal passed through the mind of Adam, and “whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”
Evidence of a changed mind
The completeness of the change which took place is seen in the argument used when God walked in the garden in the cool of the evening. Said Adam, “The woman gave me to eat. Thou gavest me the woman. Therefore Thou art to blame.” This was another decidedly logical conclusion, from the standpoint of the wisdom of the serpent, and it was repeated by Eve, who laid the blame first on the serpent, and finally on God himself. Self-justification, self-exaltation, self-worship,—here was the human origin of the papacy, that power which “opposeth and exalteth itself above all that is called God.”
Spiritual death the first result of sin