Okay - so we've institutionalized gender roles into the very fabric of creation - very convenient for the leaders of Israelite society.
But what intrigues me most is "knowing good and evil." This story of the "Fall" is where we traditionally believe that Man and Woman become sinners. So is knowing good and evil the same as knowing sin? And if that is the case, does God know sin (in a more than academic way)?
Is sin simply disobedience to God's will? Or is it something more intrinsic to our self-understanding and view of the world. Do we separate ourselves from God only by conscious choice? Or is there something about the heaviness in our hearts, the jaded views we all grow into, our "knowledge of good and evil" that keeps us separate from God?
I think this is what people are getting at when they talk about "the innocence of children." I've always struggled with that image - at least since I've had kids. Children are the greediest creatures on this earth. There are biological reasons for it, sure, but they are all about themselves. Different children have different personalities -and are selfish to differing degrees - but empathy is always a learned trait of some sort. No child is happy when his/her sibling is born - there is always some jealousy.
But their supposed "innocence" ties to their lack of this "knowledge of good and evil" - they aren't yet jaded, their hearts are light - and they usually prefer running about naked.
I don't subscribe to the Augustinian doctrine of Original Sin...certainly not in the pseudo-scientific way he laid it out. But I think sin is more than just individual choice. It has to do with the water we swim in, the air we breathe. Living a righteous life is like swimming against the tide - against our own selfishness, our own individual issues - and against the institutionalized evil we are a part of every day. We are swimming against our racism, our wealth, our limited view of God's creation, and so much else. Swimming against what we have done, and what we have left undone.
God is merciful, and God performs miracles. And from time to time God helps us to rise above the tide and walk on the water.
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Think about how Peter stayed walking on the water for about two seconds. In faith, he kept his eyes on Jesus. In fear, he looked at the waves and sunk like a rock (no pun intended).
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