Genesis 3:1-11
The Fall of Man
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Matthew 7:13-14
The Narrow and Wide Gates
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
John 4:21-26
Jesus Tells a Samaritan Woman He is the Messiah
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
John 15:16-17
Love One Another
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
John 17:13-19
God's Word is Truth
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Luke 8:1-3
Women Help Support Jesus' ministry
1 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
We need the gospels and we need Jesus...The gospels help explain God of the Old Testament better for me...In the Old Testament we learn about God teaching His people, the Hebrew people, now the Jewish people how to start a country and how a nation and why a nation should follow Him...God over and over saw man sin...Sin started soon after creation...Man seems to get off-track often and sin...The road to destruction is wide and easy to follow...But to be good and kind and treat everyone as a neighbor for some reason, is much more difficult for us...This getting off-track first started, in the Garden of Eden, when we followed the serpent's temptation...It happened again during Noah's time...Sin is written about in the Psalms and Proverbs...Sin and evil were around us then and is still around today...So a lot of the Old Testament tells us about how we have sinned through the years...And today we continue...We still struggle to follow one of His Son's last commands: Love one another...And it also seems we have not learned from our ancestors and there sinning ways...
Have we diluted God in our personal beliefs...We either do not believe in God's Word as much as we used to, or time or something has fashioned our belief in Him in a lesser way...Because God's Word is Truth...
So Jesus in the four gospels and the epistles help explain God to me better, and the very relevance and importance of love...Jesus also helps the Old Testament make more sense to me, with many references and quotes He uses, as well as others, from the Old Testament...God is the center of His life...Jesus is a LOVING, helping, caring Individual who shaped the cultures, not only of His times, but continues to do so...Jesus is the Most Caring Man, I have ever read about...He would literally give you the shirt off His back if you ask Him for it...
And Jesus was born into a man's world, yet He neither favored men over women...Jesus is completely unbiased to men or women or to race...In fact, He talked and helped a Samaritan woman, and told her that He is the Messiah...Jesus did miracles just for women...And many in His ministry group were women and they helped I would say as best they could have and as much as the men did during His ministry...There was much good with the people around Him...But like life, evil got into His ministry and sold Him out for thirty silver pieces...
Jesus asks us to do to others as we would do to ourselves...Now, if this teaching is bad or One looking for fame, or One trying to gain and accrue power, then all four of the gospels are badly written and the New Testament is no testament to the good of Jesus at all...Jesus is the greatest Moral Teacher of all time, who although was not looking for fame or for power, somehow in His Teachings He has became and is the Most Famous of Men and whose power as a Man is unsurpassed...
And maybe the Holy Spirit is still clinging and nudging and trying to tell us something about Him, in the best of ways so we remember...