Scripture: Genesis 3:23-24
So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove them out, advice he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Thought for the Day: Consider this: the story of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from paradise is a tale of psychological terror. It plays to some of our deepest and most primal fears: being punished for disobedience to our parents; knowing the difference between good and evil, cialis sale yet still choosing evil; the fear of rejection, and the fear of disappointing our parents—in the ancient world especially, nothing was worse than letting your parents down. The psychological themes in Genesis are so powerful, that they are still prevalent in the Second Testament’s Gospel of John, which plays to these same issues—in particular rejection and expulsion from your tribe. These themes of terror are so basic, that they still form the foundation of much of our fiction (and unfortunately non-fiction) terror today. Let’s take the theme of being punished for disobeying our parents first. Over the next couple of days we’ll discuss the others.

From the time we’re born, we desire parental approval. It’s in our genes, part of our survival mechanism and quite subconscious. If our parents approve of our actions, they’ll take care of us and we won’t be left in the woods to be eaten by a Lion. It’s basic, primal instinct.

We never loser this instinct. Even if we have a falling out with our parents, and on the surface continue our lives, that rift will always eat away at our souls. We want to make mom and dad proud when we catch the line drive at the baseball game, or have our first music, dance, or art performance. We want our parents to approve of the boy or girl we love, the career we choose, the decisions we make. While different people feel the need for parental approval with varying intensity, most of us, at some level, desire our parents’ approval, and when it is either not available or, worse, taken away, we are devastated. Our world ends, we are kicked out of paradise.

The Book of Genesis plays to our primal fears. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the Genesis view of good and evil.

Prayer: Remind me, most holy God, that I am accepted, loved, and forgiven. Amen.