One Year Bible and Talking Snakes

Well after two years off I have decided to attempt to read through the Bible in one year again. I am using a system where you read Old Testament, New Testament, and a taste of Psalms and Proverbs each day. You too should consider this. I have used the One Year Bibles in the past and I highly recommend them, but this year I am reading from the Message and using the bookmarks you can find at One Year Bible Online.

Well I am not going to take a ton of time to blog, but I just wanted to share what is on my mind. Over the past three years my inability to see through any lens other than my old fashion Baptist paradigm has begun to crumble. Now it seems that every time I read the Bible I see something differently than I had believed all my life, but I didn’t expect it to happen in early parts of Genesis.

Genesis 3:1 (The Message) says — The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?" I read it again and again. Then I searched before and after that sentence for additional information that clarifies that verse, but I didn’t find what I was searching for.

Next I looked up the same passage in another translation. My good old standby is the NAS and there I read — “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

Do you see what I am reading? Every time I have read that passage before I am sure that there was somewhere that Moses made it clear to everyone that this wasn’t just a snake, but it was a snake controlled by Satan himself. I remember as a kid thinking, “Why did God punish the snakes, they were just a victim of Satan?” I must have been taught that Satan appeared to Eve as a serpent, but I certainly can’t tell why from reading this passage.

For those of you who can’t watch or read Narnia stuff because of talking animals — throw away your Bibles, because animals talk and I am not just talking about an ass this time!

Well it is 1:19am so it is very likely that I am totally missing something. Maybe it is clear somewhere else in scripture that Satan was using the serpent as a puppet like I was taught growing up, but at this moment I am going to bed thinking about mankind being damaged and filled with shame because Eve and Adam chose to listen to a serpent instead of their creator! That serpent, better have had wings and a Mohawk or something cool!