In the Garden of Eden,
one of the choices which faced the first humans was a choice between what is
good for the community and what is good for the individual. Adam and Eve faced
a moral choice to either obey God’s community standards or obey the voice of
selfishness personified in a snake. We know very little of the thought
processes of Adam and Eve in that prehistoric garden, only the vignettes God
reveals in the words of Genesis 2, 3, and 4, and we do well to learn what God
seeks to teach us through their lives.
Genesis 1 begins with
the Creator as a community of persons creating a marvelously interwoven
interdependent biosphere.[1]
The emphasis is on the blue planet, third from the sun in our solar system, but
of course the entire universe is God’s creation and humans are asked to care
for it all. The Creator, in his first instructions to humanity, gives them the
task of caring for all that has been created.[2]
There are a couple of clues that this is a community task and not the
individual responsibility of one couple. First, we get an indication that the
creation is so large that two would not be able to care for it all. Secondly, Adam
and Eve receive the instructions to be fruitful and multiply so that there may
be more people to join in the care of the garden, the planet, and all of
creation. There is much more that could be said of the plan God has for the
care of his creation, but most of it comes down to the fact that humans are
created in the image of God and are designed to care for what he cares about. Thus,
humans must care for God’s creation, which of course includes other human
beings. The task God gives humans is daunting: take care of a whole planet and
indeed a whole universe, but the Creator makes the planet (and the universe)
remarkably self-sustaining and self-renewing.[3]
Then, going back to
the Garden of Eden, we read of that first choice: to do what is good for the
community of humans and for the creation, or to do what enhances personal
knowledge and personal power. The temptation that is offered is devious and
enticing for any human: trust that what God has said is right for his creation
or take control and do things our own individual way. Listen in to the
insidious temptation: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in
the garden?’ … You will not certainly die, … when you eat from it your eyes
will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Confusing words
for any listener. “Wait, what did God say? What did the snake say?” Ultimately,
a choice is made between following the instructions of the One who knows how
the universe works (following the manual – so to speak) or choosing to do what
enhances the individual.
Ever since that first inflection
point of choice, we have seen humanity come to similar places of decision over
and over again. When tribal families in geographic areas face a new group of
families with similar or different lifestyles, they must decide whether they
will fight against them for the resources of that place or collaborate together
in an expanded community. When the great empires and kingdoms of the world rise
up, the individual must choose between obeying the community/kingdom laws or
choosing what is good for themselves/their small family. When democratic
governments rise to the forefront and recognize the tensions and balances
between the individual, the society, the family, and world cultures, the
individual must again make choices between personal pursuits and the pursuits
of the society at large. In current vernacular, the individual must ask, “Should
I work to ensure there is enough hand-sanitizer to meet the needs of the
community or stockpile the product and sell it for a profit?”
Keith Boag, an opinion
columnist for CBC News, recently wrote an article which describes the tension in
our world today: the right of the individual to pursue happiness and the
obligations of those who live together in society. Boag’s examples are taken
from recent incidents in the United States of America but are written as a
caution to all people and particularly to Canadians. His words are more
political than theological, but I would suggest that the roots of the tensions
go back to the moral choices of the Garden of Eden.
Boag gets to the heart
of the matter when he quotes Christopher Beem, director of the McCourtney
School of Democracy in saying that “… Americans need to challenge the idea that
everyone is just pursuing their own happiness as individuals…. When we live
together in society, we depend on each other. And therefore, we have
obligations to each other."[4] Truly,
this is a very old tension: the good of the individual and the good of the
society. The article gives several examples of the bad behaviours that can occur
when individuals take advantage of the society in which they live and pursue
their own happiness as individuals (read the entire article and be prepared to
be angry). Of course, the article also exposes our own hearts and our own
susceptibility to making the wrong choice in any given circumstance. Both of Boag and
Beem challenge us to reconsider the importance of the society or societies
within which we live. They are suggesting that the happiness of a society as
well as the individual is something to be pursued.
From the very
beginning, God knew that we would face the choices we are facing today. He
knows how societies, cultures, and planets work best and has given us his
guidance. He knows that we are susceptible to the temptation of individualism,
tribalism, and selfishness and yet he allows us to choose our own paths
forward. Like Adam and Eve, we get to choose where we will find our moral
compass.
[1] Granted, one must look
closely for hints that the Creator is a community of persons in Genesis and one
needs the larger arc of the entire Bible to understand the nature of a Creator
who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (see for example John 1:1-3 and Colossians
1:15-20) but the seeds of this theology are definitely sown in the beginnings
of our Bible and the beginnings of creation.
[2] Genesis 1:28 says, “Be
fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue (or steward)
it. Rule over (or take care of) the fish in the sea and the birds in the
sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
[3] There are many
examples of how the biosystem works in harmony. A simple example is the earth’s
water cycle as explained in the article entitled “Water Cycle” in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle
[4] “Coronavirus puts a spotlight on the moral compass of America,”
Keith Boag, CBC News, March 23, 2020, https://bit.ly/3drSMjs
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