Many CULTural and UnBiblical teachings about the genealogy of Adam, highlights the sin nature of humanity. It talks about, because of Adam's sin, we are all sinful. This concept develops hopelessness and guilt, which leads to striving and lies of religion.
Hopefully, you haven't opened your Bible yet to Genesis 5, because I want you to think about who were Adam's two surviving sons. While you think about that, I want to recap what I have presented so far.
In The Original Sin, we looked at the heart of the enemy and how in the filter of his own desires for greatness, he convinced Eve that, she too, would do good to become like the Most High. Coveting the relationship Adam had with God, Eve saw then that the fruit was good to eat. Post-surgery Adam was faced with a commandment from God that he was to leave the One(s) who had birthed and raised him, to join with his wife. Not understanding how to balance that new relationship, he took of the fruit that his woman had handed him, and their eyes were opened to the results of the fruit of the tree.
Gnostics, philosophers, and intellectuals are, by definition, lovers of wisdom - yet without an eternal interpretation of information can often judge things incorrectly. In The Tree of Knowledge, we came to realize that knowing good from evil without eternal perspective make us very fallible, mortal gods. With poor judgment, we start playing a blame game which makes us unfit to manage God's "good" creation. So, God placed man over the woman (not the original intent) with pain in child bearing - so that they may think twice before spreading seeds of judgment. To Adam, God had compassion, and cursed the ground so that he would need to work for what had previously been given to him - because he listened to his wife instead of God.
Although I did not write any article about the exodus from Eden, for sake of sequence, I wanted to point out that Adam and Eve were escorted from the Garden of Eden in order to keep them from eating from the Tree of Life. The details of this have little application in our lives - and seems a bit too mythical at this point. However, I often consider what would have been the ramifications if they had eaten from the Tree of Life after eating from the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. Conversely, what if they had eaten from the Tree of Life first? Just something to ponder.
Two stories from the first family were discussed in The X-rated Bible. We started with answering the question "Who told you that you were naked?" In a CULTured world view, the Biblical answer was taboo, and you were probably surprised that it was not God.
The second story has become a focus of complacency and acceptance in today's world, and it is highlighted by another question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Without someone else to blame, Cain acted like his planned-out, jealous rage induced murder was no big deal. Although God had given him an out, Cain gave into his desire to dominate over his brother, Abel, and viciously murdered him in a field. It was through this response that, unlike Adam, the blood line of Cain was cursed - with Cain being protected so he would have to live out his life with regret.
At the start of this article, I asked you who Adam's two surviving sons were. Most would have said it was a trick question because Abel was murdered by Cain. Yet, at the end of Genesis 4, we see that Adam and Eve had another son.
"For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed." The second surviving son of Adam and Eve was named Seth. We would never know what the line of Abel could have become because of his untimely demise. But through the Seth came Enosh, whose name means, "Then men began to call on the name of the Lord."
Unlike some of the specifics that I've brought up so far, this is not a hidden one-liner in the genealogy of Adam, but Chapter 5 explains, with name after name the "sons of god" through Seth. The descendants of Seth, after many generations, wind up with Noah.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. "
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859)
Although Dickens novel, "A Tale of Two Cities" focuses on politics and revolution thousands of years later, the first sentence really expresses the contrast of the life and fate of the two sons of Adam. Although the Bible clearly explains that the survived line came through Seth's line, our CULTural experience and dogma makes us believe that it was the line of Cain that set sail on the Ark.
After each of the first five days of Creation, God saw it and it was "good". God created man in their own image, and said it was "very good". Yet, God, in eternal wisdom, realized that a simple ingredient of free will was not sufficient in creation. So, He made man a little lower than the angels (who, through free will caused a separation of a third), said, "It is not good for man to be alone." Thus, adding another ingredient - the need for relationship.
There is a void of details of the many discussions that Adam and God had before the fall. Many CULTural Christians, with a belief that Adam's sin was passed down to us - fill the void with a concept that Adam was perfect. However, the Biblical account shows that perfection only came through the relationship with God - which defined the line of Seth and the line that survived the flood.
Before the Tree, Adam was guided by God in his dominion over the earth. The Fall came when the relationship turned to another imperfect person. Understanding this, the principals of unity, judgment, dominion, and godliness reveal that only through and with God can we accomplish the perfection of the Creator. Otherwise, we make up laws of men and vain interpretations that lead us further from the dependence of our Creator - and far from the mark of the sons of god who "began to call on the name of the Lord." This is the concept we call "sin".