Did Adam Go To Hell?

Did Adam Go to Hell? The Biblical story of creation and Adam and Eve is one of the most widely known stories in the world. It's also a story which has about as many interpretations as it does readers. Whether you take the story literally or metaphorically, there are so many details left out that you can freely read into it almost any ultimate meaning and purpose. For example, I've heard one interpretation which reads it as a kind of "Romeo and Juliet", where Adam knew his wife did something wrong, and he ate the fruit himself knowing it would kill him, as an act of love. I've also heard many teachers speculating on what Adam and Eve should have done. Eve should have told her husband, "Honey, something is wrong, we have a talking snake, and it's telling me to disobey God", then Adam should have crushed the intruder with his foot. We could also speculate on what would have happened if they had not sinned. Would everything have been perfect? Would we still be living naked in a garden? Wouldn't the possibility for the fall still have been possible for future generations, leaving that danger forever to dangle in front of the human race? It's also fun to imagine what Adam and Eve did while they weren't disobeying God. What did they talk about? What language did they speak? Did they have any pets? Did they plan to build a house? And of course, what did they look like? We've all seen those horrible Medieval paintings where Eve looks horribly fat, and Adam looks like a 60 year old caveman. I would like to think they were young and attractive. Now, there is nothing wrong with using your imagination to fill in the gaps. It's normal to want to know more than the story tells us. My only complaint is that much of what I've heard taught about the story, isn't even in the story. Here is what I'm asking you to do. Open your Bible to Genesis, and read chapters two and three. Now read the following statements and decide if they are true or false based on the text alone. This is an open book test. Satan was present in the Garden in the form of a serpent. Adam and Eve were created immortal beings. Adam and Eve were created perfect. God gave Adam a soul. God gave Adam and Eve a free will.

The Garden of Eden was a perfect place. There was only one forbidden tree in the garden. God warned Adam and Eve about hell. God said if they ate the fruit they would die spiritually. When Eve ate the fruit, Adam was somewhere else in the garden. Adam and Eve should have known that what they were doing was wrong. God didn't accept Eve's excuse. God cursed the man and the woman. God didn't tell Adam and Eve where they would go after death. Cain was the first one to shed blood. Ready to check your answers? All of the above statements are false, based on the text. Let's take a look: Satan was present in the Garden in the form of a serpent. This is probably the most common misconception about the story. The story tells us that there was a talking snake, not the devil or Satan. Nowhere is it implied that the serpent is Satan, or that the serpent is possessed by Satan. In fact, Satan doesn't even appear in the Bible until the book of 1 Chronicles. You may be thinking that in Revelation, the devil is called "that old serpent", but this proves nothing. Just because Satan is called a serpent in Revelation doesn't not mean that every time a serpent is mentioned that it refers to Satan. For example in Numbers 21:8 we read, And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. Here we have a serpent which brings healing to the people. Another example is that both Jesus and Satan are called lions. Satan is a roaring loin looking for someone to devour, while Jesus is called the Lion of Judah. They are obviously not the same lion. Are you still not convinced? Look at 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. The serpent is described as just one of the beasts which the Lord had made. This hardly sounds like the description of a fallen angel. And the penalty for the serpent is found in verse 14 Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. "All the days of thy life" implies that this is an animal, not some

immortal spirit being. Also, look at this part of the punishment, "upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat...." When we see Satan in the book of Job, this is what we find: And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 1:7. Satan is walking up and down in the earth, not crawling upon his belly as the cursed serpent. Adam and Eve were created immortal beings. Although God told Adam and Eve they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit, this does not imply that they were made immortal. In fact, we know they were not immortal because immortal beings cannot die. Furthermore, in 1 Timothy, chapter 6 we read that God alone has immortality. Adam and Eve were created perfect. This is neither stated nor implied. Adam and Eve were just two ordinary people. If they were perfect, they wouldn't have screwed things up so badly. God gave Adam a soul. Read it for yourself: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 2:7. Adam became a soul, he was not given a soul. You do not have a soul, you are a soul. God gave Adam and Eve a free will. Although Adam and Eve had a limited ability to make choices, this does not mean they had free will. Even animals and computers make choices, but this is not the same as having a free will. Nowhere in the Bible are we told that man has a free will. The Garden of Eden was a perfect place. I fail to see what is so great about two naked people living in a garden. Without shelter, without technology, and with nothing much to do but tend a garden and name some animals hardly sounds like paradise to me. Although God called his creation "good", good does not necessarily mean perfect. There was only one forbidden tree in the garden. There were two: And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. (3:14) Apparently, the tree of life was also forbidden. God warned Adam and Eve about hell. Here is what God said, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (2:17) Not only is there no warning of hell here, there is not one verse in the entire Old Testament which

supports the doctrine of eternal torment in hell. So to answer my question in the title: No, Adam didn't go to hell. But, if Adam did go to hell, then that means God lied to him, and it was a pretty big lie. God said if they ate the fruit they would die spiritually. Just as the verse above says, the penalty was death, not spiritual death (whatever that is). When Eve ate the fruit, Adam was somewhere else in the garden. No, he was with her: she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; (3:6) Adam and Eve should have known that what they were doing was wrong. How could they have known, since they did not even have the knowledge of good and evil until they ate the fruit? It was an unfair test. They hear one voice telling them not to eat the fruit and another voice says that the first voice was lying. How could they have known it was evil to disobey the first voice when they didn't have the knowledge of good and evil yet? God didn't accept Eve's excuse. Eve blamed the serpent, and it appears that God agreed that it was the serpent's fault. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: (3:13-14) God cursed the man and the woman. No, God cursed the serpent and the ground. The man and the women were judged, but not cursed. God didn't tell Adam and Eve where they would go after death. God told them exactly what death was and where they would go after death: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. That's right, they would return to where they came from - the ground. Cain was the first one to shed blood. It was God who was the first to shed blood (of an animal, that is): Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. The skins had to have come from dead animals, unless there was J.C. Penny in the garden that we weren't told about.

I'm sure there are many more misconceptions about the Biblical creation story. The next time you read this account, put down all the commentaries and forget everything you were ever taught about Adam and Eve. Then just try take the story at face value, especially if you claim to take it literally, and see what it really says, and what it does not say. Other articles by me: http://www.pdfcoke.com/jiadonisi