Every time I think or hear about how painful giving birth can be, I blame God for giving women this job. I've always thought that this was just Him being unfair, little did I know that it was actually the punishment women get for what happened with the forbidden fruit.
Having heard the story of Adam and Eve told in the way in which Eve took all the blame for so many times, I didn't see what's wrong with it until I read Amelia Lanier's "Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum". It provided a brand new perspective on the responsibility and guilt for what happened in the Garden of Eden.
As a woman, Lanier argued that women should not "endure it all" (10) because Eve wasn't the only one who went against God's order. "Adam cannot be excused" for he, without hesitation, took the fruit that his wife gave him. He was "most to blame" because he didn't even face any temptation whereas Eve the woman - less powerful, knowledgeable, and significant than men - was tempted by the serpent. With greater power comes greater responsibility, with Adam as the "lord and king of all the earth" (7), how come he was not found as guilty, if not more, than Eve was?
However, there's something I never quite understand.
If the Bible teaches us to always forgive and to love our enemies, why didn't God forgive Adam and Eve for eating the fruit? Why did he expel them from the Garden of Eden? Why couldn't he love Satan?
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