A teenager once came to me much perplexed. She asked me if Adam and Eve were cavemen. I know the problem she was struggling with. How do you fit science and the Bible together? I told her, “Don’t think of the story of Adam and Eve as being a story about some people long ago. Think about it as a story about you.” Here face brightened immediately. “You mean it’s like drama,” she said. “Yes,” I replied. That solved her problem.

So often we get befuddled reading the Bible because we start with the assumption that everything in Scripture is either history or science when it is revelation which may very well use story, poetry or symbolism. Truth can’t be confined to a few ways of communication.

I have found it very helpful in reading the Bible to ask myself what it says about my life. For example, the Adam and Eve story causes me to think about things like what does it mean to be created in the image of God? What things tempt me to turn away from God? What are the consequences of my choices? How often do I blame someone else for my own bad decisions?

Approaching the story from the vantage point of what it says about my life can be an interesting subject for a group discussion. As much as I value formal Bible study, there is a lot to be said about a group of people just talking about how God speaks to them in a particular passage. Give it a try.

Read Genesis 3:8-14  and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne