Reading between the lines

Please carefully read Genesis 3:14-19 before reading this post. You may not see it at first, but within these six verses of specific curses for Adam, Eve and a snake are a multitude of punishments beyond imagining. You have to look very closely to realize what is actually being said: The entire universe is cursed with countless curses because of Adam and Eve's disobedience.

Yes, that's right, because a talking snake persuaded Adam and Eve to eat some forbidden fruit everyone from that point forward will be born with sin and condemned to hell. You don't see that line? Look closer, it also says that from now on animals will eat animals and diseases will abound. Earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, famine, pestilence, floods, wildfires, blizzards, sink holes, avalanches, sand storms and cosmic collisions are all neatly tucked away behind this unbelievable passage. Fungus, mold, bacteria, mites, lice, ticks, mosquitoes, leaches and other harmful parasites were added to the earth for further punishment.

In short, everything bad was created at this point in time. All manner of suffering was now unleashed upon the earth. Certain hornets were created with decapitation claws for slicing the heads off of their honeybee prey. Sharks were given immense lethal jaws for wreaking havoc on the ocean's inhabitants. Lions and tigers were given large teeth perfect for shredding the flesh of grazing herbivores. On top of this, Earth's young population was introduced to sicknesses and disabilities that would become spread throughout all of the future generations. I won't list them all, but here are some that you have probably heard of: mental disabilities, blindness, deafness, heart conditions, polio, influenza, aids/hiv, scarlet fever, fatal allergies, multiple sclerosis, liver failure, leukemia, brain tumors, cerebral palsy, birth defects, cancers, malaria, ebolavirus, hepatitus, bubonic plague, alzheimers, parkinsons, autism, dementia, epilepsy, arthritis, schizophrenia, rickets, leprosy, diabetes, cholera, rabies, shingles, tuberculosis, smallpox, whooping cough, tetanus, well I think you get the idea.

How can a loving God allow all this suffering? Christians point to the verses I referenced above and say that it is all a result of sin entering the world. I don't know where they see this, but if I'm not mistaken the writer of Genesis left a few items off of the list. I think this is important because it's one of the most common questions Christians are asked: "Why so much suffering? and even for children and infants?" This important question is quickly answered and blamed on our free will and the curse of sin. That's a nice polished answer, but you won't find it recorded in Genesis. All it mentions are some very specific curses: snakes have to crawl and eat dust, women have to endure pain during child birth and men have to sweat and work the ground among thorns and thistles. It appears to me that Christian apologists beginning with Paul and everyone since have really stuffed a lot more into these passages then should be allowed. I think it's another example of how man-made the Bible really is and how it has been a work in progress all along, still being appended and reinterpreted to this day.