Chapter One

God did not make us to be eaten up by anxiety, but to walk erect, free, unafraid in a world where there is work to do, truth to seek, love to give and win.

—Joseph Fort Newton



I received an e-mail one day that contained humorous stories about children in a Catholic elementary school. One child said, “The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.” This child’s understanding of the story is indeed humorous. But upon rereading the creation story recorded in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, I’ve started thinking about Eve and what she must have been thinking when she ate the fruit. First, though, let’s look at the fact that there are two creation stories.

The first one is found in Genesis 1:26–27: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” It is the sixth day, and God has been working all week long creating the world—speaking light into existence, separating the waters from the waters, and making firmament (whatever that is). Now God makes humanity in God’s own image—male and female. They both are given dominion over all things. There are no instructions about not eating from a particular tree. There is no language of husband and wife—it’s all good in God’s eyes, just be fruitful and multiply.

Then, in Genesis 2:2, God has finished working and rested on the seventh day. But things shift by