What are the danger of living without God?
It appears that God the Eternal Father knew something that Adam and Eve did not know: they faced dire consequences because of their separation from God. To eat from the Tree-of-Life in a condition of separation, would mean they would live eternally in a perpetual state of God-less-ness.
But what’s wrong with that? Aren’t there many people who live in the condition of being separated from God? Doesn’t it appear that they are living successful lives? Too often we equate perception with reality. Relationships can be completely broken while others around are unaware. Like a cancer growing inside an apparently healthy person, relationships can have catastrophic disease secretly hidden under the surface.
I have personal experience with this dilemma. My situation was hauntingly similar to the experience of Adam and Eve. However, the relational separation wasn’t with God in a garden. It was with my wife in our bedroom. Although the situation occurred many years ago, the circumstances still loom heavy in my mind.
As a young man, I had struggled with a pornography addiction. My wife was under the impression this had been resolved many years ago. Mostly this was true. Explicit videos, music, and magazines had long-ago been destroyed. It seemed that I was almost as innocent as Adam and Eve when they were still eating from the Tree-of-Life. But one night after a long, tiring day, my mind was on autopilot. My wife and young children were in bed, exhausted from a busy day. I should have gone to bed, too, but I didn’t feel sleepy, so I casually surfed the internet searching for a comedy show or a music video from a favorite band. Sometime during this search, the temptation attacked.
The stark nakedness was at first shocking, then alluring. I should have looked away. I should have gone to bed. But “as a bird rushes into a snare” (Proverbs 7:23), I clicked on the bait. The prison door stood wide open and I walked right back into the cage. Several hours later, when I came to my senses, I was filled with the same deep shame that invaded the garden, entered the hearts of Adam and Eve, and drove them into hiding.
The next morning, that’s exactly what I wanted to do…hide. I didn’t want my wife to know, I didn’t want my children to know. I didn’t want anyone to know what I had done. With just a few clicks, I had betrayed my marriage vows and fractured my relationship with my wife. She didn’t know it yet, but she would. Especially if I hid. If I tried to pretend that what happened, didn’t happen. If I tried to ignore the laceration inflicted to the fibers of trust that she thought were still intact. For the moment, she didn’t know that anything had changed.
That was the night before. What should I do next? If I told my wife what I did, if she learned that I broke the vows of our marriage, that I had turned to another, her trust in me would be killed. But if I didn’t tell her, could I really prevent future temptation without her help?
Article by:
Kendall R. Keeler
author of Your Last 24