What is the original sin?

Brad at Broken Messenger, is asking for comments on what the original sin was in the Garden of Eden. Brad asks:

Was it Eve’s pride/arrogance in thinking that she could be like God? Was it Adam’s? Was it Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God’s command? Was it their unbelief that God would not really allow them to die and/or their distrust on His command on the basis of what the serpent promised? Was it Eve’s lust of the fruit? Was it all of these? Some combination? Either? Neither? None?

My take on this: In Genesis 3, I see Eve’s first mistake as engaging a talking snake. In my opinion, Eve’s correct response should have been, “Ahhhh! A talking snake!” This should have followed by whacking the snake with the stick, or, if you share my aversion of snakes, fleeing and screaming like a little school girl. Either response would have been much better than Eve’s, which led her to eat from the forbidden tree.

Some wise commentator may point out there was no fear in the Garden, and animals talking may or may not have been a normal occurence, but the first thing out of the snake’s mouth was to question God’s word. That should be pretty good clue to anyone they are engaging evil and should turn the other direction.

I think it’s also good advice to young women: Don’t talk to snakes. Don’t give evil a foothold to speak into your life. Eve was very naive about this and her life spiraled downward from that moment on. (And for the record, Adam made the same mistake by following down the path with Eve, so this is not an indictment of women).

This post was brought to you by guest blogger Matthew Self of The Gad(d)about and the letter ‘H.’