Adam and Eve were put in the Garden of Eden not just to tend it, but to exercise God's authority over it. They were the first gardeners, and ate only vegetables (these vegetables were better than any meat we have today, I strongly suspect). Everything was better. But we aren't given many details; Adam was a gardener, but was he also a tree-hugger? It depends. The modern tree-hugger stereotype is of the environmental extremist who chains himself to trees and opposes clear-cutting; he or she might or might not smoke pot, have dreadlocks, and live off the land. The stereotype doesn't always hold true, of course. But what was Adam like? First of all, if we want to see what Adam was like, we don't have many details so we have to look at Jesus. Jesus exercised authority over the elements; Adam could too. Jesus multiplied food and walked on water; I suspect Adam could too. Jesus lived a sinless life, and Adam did too until. . . well, you know the story. But Jesus also cursed a fig tree and it withered. Not exactly tree-hugging behaviour. He also told Zaccheus to come down from the tree, paying no attention to the feelings of the tree itself. However, that was in a world tainted by sin. What were trees like in the Garden? I imagine animals talked because the snake did. What about trees? Were they like the Ents in Lord of the Rings, creaking and swaying as they walked? Did they have a special energy or aura, as the "new age" people claim and, incidentally, I was never able to see? We can only speculate. But trees were God's creation and Adam knew only love before the fall. Therefore, I say he hugged trees. Why not?
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August 2015
AuthorAdrian Pelzer is a teacher and writer currently living in Vanderhoof, B.C., Canada with his wife Kristen and four children. Categories |