What Has Happened to Our Innocence?

 

What Has Happened to Our Innocence?

 

Have you lost the innocence that Adam and Eve had

Before they looked and tasted the Tree of Knowledge?

Beware of the contamination from the message that comes from evil

Isaiah said it this way

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,

who put darkness for light and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Isaiah 5:20

Is this not the message Satan gave to Adam and Eve?

Is this not the message we are exposed to every day, encouraging us to take a bite?

Be careful what you eat today

It may cost you your innocence

 

 

 

What Has Happened to Our Innocence?

 

In the center of the Garden of Eden

was a tree called the

“Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”.

 

Around the tree were many

other trees and the Tree of Life.

 

The knowledge of these trees

was sweet and enjoyable.

 

They embodied the understanding of Paradise.

 

Now the tree in the center of the garden

was also good looking and produced fruit.

 

It was not necessary to eat from this tree

because of all the other trees in the garden.

 

This Tree of Knowledge did not get

recognition until Satan began to speak.

 

Satan had a message and his audience was Adam and Eve.

 

The word message means…

 

A message is a discrete unit of communication intended by the

source for consumption by some recipient or group of recipients. 

 

A message may be delivered by various means,

including courier, telegraphy, carrier pigeon and electronic bus.

A message can be the content of a broadcast. Wikipedia

 

It was the consumption of Satan’s message

that had more power than the bite of the fruit.

 

This was true then and true now.

It is the message that imparts knowledge.

 

From birth, you and I have

consumed billions of messages.

 

Each one of those messages

with the potential of bearing fruit.

 

Sometimes we bear that fruit

without even knowing it.

 

The thing about messages is when they are received,

they then become shared by the receiver.

 

Whether the message is a truth or a lie,

soon millions are sharing the same message.

 

It would be hard to follow the trend of messages

 from the beginning, but for us,

we can look back on our life time.

 

In less than 2 years, I will be 70 years of age.

 

I remember the days of Black and White TV

with only a couple of channels.

 

 Those channels went off the air at midnight.

 

At the start of this new way of communicating,

 we received messages that supported family and good morals.

 

Through out the years, it all

changed and changed quickly.

 

As a boy, there were bullies and gangs and there

were more guns in the hands of hunters

and self-protection than in the hands of criminals.

The 60’s did open the door for free love

and the rate of teenage pregnancy was

increasing and abortion was illegal.

 

There was division racially, with

gender, groups and politically.

 

There were problems 60 years ago.

 

Those problems grew from the time

of first bite of the Tree of Knowledge.

 

Yet, I felt more innocent 60 years ago than I do today.

 

I find I know more about evil than ever before.

 

In the last 60 years, TV and the WEB

have opened the flood gates for knowledge.

 

Knowledge of good and evil.

 

Sadly, the message of evil has increased.

 

Our knowledge of hate and

violence has flooded our movies.

 

The knowledge of sexual impurity

is accepted like never before.

 

The list of racial divides has increases

making acceptance not on the value

of a person, but on race or gender.

 

We blame guns, we blame lack of protection

of birth control and support of sex workers.

 

What has changed in the last 60 years?

 

I wish I did not know the swear

words I hear in the movies.

 

I wish I did not see the

sexual immorality I have seen.

 

I wish I was not exposed to the hatred

and violence in the movies and media.

 

I wish I could have my innocence back.

 

But I am blessed with the knowledge of evil…

 

The messages were not as great

in my youth as they are today.

 

But what about our children?

 

They are born into a world of lost innocence.

 

Some of the first words they learn are

curse words spoken freely by parents.

 

Drugs are accepted and approved of even

more than alcohol was 60 years ago.

 

Violence is a daily occurrence in the movies

and video games, being observed by the hours.

 

Young people are shamed if they are not

having sex, like in the movies and by friends.

 

So what is the problem?

 

It is the same problem that was in

the center of the Garden of Eden.

 

But now it is in the center of our lives

and where we live.

 

It is the message of the Tree of Knowledge.

 

   We have been bombarded with the message of evil.

 

Knowledge that leads us to death.

 

Knowledge that gets us farther and

farther away for our innocence.

 

We may not do all the things we see…

 

But i our silence an approval of those things?

 

There is a better message.

 

The message of the Tree of Life.

 

Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life.

 

His fruit brings love, joy, peace, gentleness,

patience, goodness and faithfulness,

kindness, and self-control.

Galatians 5:22

  

We do not have to settle for

a loss of innocence and guilt.

 

We can be washed and cleansed.

 

Accepting the message of Jesus

Christ bears a responsibility on us.

 

A responsibility to go and preach the Good News.

 Matthew 28:18ff

 

News that the Tree of Life is available to all.

 

You will have to overcome the world to get to it.

 

The fruit of this Tree of Life will give you

the innocence by the forgiveness of your sins.

 

Take a look at your day.

 

How much of the Tree of

 Knowledge are you exposed to?

 

How much have you accepted?

 

Have you lost the innocence that Adam and Eve had

before they looked and tasted the Tree of Knowledge?

 

Beware of the contamination from

the message that comes from evil.

 

Isaiah said it this way…

 

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,

who put darkness for light and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Isaiah 5:20

 

Is this not the message Satan

gave to Adam and Eve?

 

Is this not the message we are exposed to every day,

encouraging us to take a bite?

 

Be careful what you eat today.

 

It may cost you your innocence.

 

 

Scripture Reading NIV

 

Genesis 3:1-9

3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

 

2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"

 

4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

 

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

 

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

 

 

Galatians 5:22-26

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

 

 

Isaiah 5:20

20 Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil ,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter.