Weekly Musing - Bonnie

Banished from Eden?

And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, “Behold, humanity has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now might reach out with their hand, and take fruit also from the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the LORD God sent humanity out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which they were taken. So God drove humanity out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden God stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:21-24).

I know what I, and perhaps you, have been taught about this. Some questions have come up for me about that teaching. I do not have all the answers. In fact, I probably have more questions. It's important to note that Eden means "delight" or "pleasure" and to read those meanings into the word.

-What if the story in Genesis 1-3 is more than the literal words and also includes allegorical themes (symbolic stories and pictures, similar to Revelation)?

-What if the separation lie clouded humanity's perception ("blinded us"), causing us to incorrectly perceive I AM as banishing (separating from) us, when I AM never separated from us?

-What if humanity’s perception and experiencing of I AM's Eden (Delight/Pleasure) is what changed (was altered and distorted) because of the separation lie, and our actual placement in Eden remains unchanged?

-What if we never left the Garden of Eden (Delight/Pleasure) where I AM is our Creator and Caregiver?

-What if the separation lie is what deceitfully portrayed and still tries to portray the lie that we "lost" Eden or are no longer in I AM's Eden (Delight/Pleasure)?

-What if the separation lie, not I AM, is what says that humanity "fell"? (Note that Scripture never uses that language in regard to humanity; it's only a title heading over Genesis 3. Jesus said in Luke 10:18 that He saw satan, not humanity, fall like lightning.)

-What if the Garden of Eden is a picture of I AM's delight in, pleasure in, and provision for us?

-What if we always have been, are, and will be in Eden? (What if Eden is now?)

-What if it was the separation lie that presented Eden as having two separate trees? Revelation 22:1-2 only describes the Tree of Life. What if that is because, through Christ, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), I AM had already made the two trees one?

-What if creation was waiting for that eternal union to be awakened and revealed in us by Jesus, who made a public spectacle of the separation lie (Colossians 2:13-15)?

-What if the Garden of Delight has never changed and is being unfolded and revealed in, to, and through us?

-What if Eden is not a place but a Person in whom we exist?

Darkness is being transformed into Light. There is no darkness or need for the sun in eternity, because the Lamb is the lamp (Revelation 21:22-25). I AM is Light, our Light, even in felt darkness. Darkness is as light to I AM, because I AM is the Light in whom there is no darkness (Psalm 139:12, 1 John 1:5). All is moving toward Light, the revelation of Glory, as we are transformed (transfigured) on Earth to reflect who we already are in Eternity (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). If Eden is God's delight, then I believe we never left Eden, because nothing can separate us from the Love of God (Romans 8:37-39), and God is Love (1 John 4:8, 16). Truth says, “You and I, we, are still in Eden together. We are one. You are My delight.” The separation lie says to strive to return to Eden when we are already here — eternally in I AM’s Garden of Delight as I AM’s delight.