IF we literally accept the account given in the second and third chapters of Genesis as a statement of facts which actually occurred, what conclusions as to the nature of God should we derive therefrom? First: that He engendered in man the capacity to sin, which presupposes a taste and inclination for sin; Second: that He made him blind to the nature of temptation; Third: that God Himself assisted in tempting man by putting "The Tree of Knowledge" into the garden and creating a talking serpent, which was the instrument for tempting man, who was perfectly innocent and quite unable to prevent being endowed with such weakness and imperfection of character. Can we believe all this of a just and merciful God? of a loving Father such as Jesus taught us to regard Him? No human parent with a trace of love would act in that way towards innocent, helpless creatures. Man's sense of justice and right would at all times and unreservedly condemn such a course of conduct. But this moral sense is a gift of God, man did not make it, it is a gleam of the Mind that was also in Christ Jesus; and thus the God-derived qualities in man would condemn God's own acts, which is impossible.
Is the God of the second account the same as the God in the first chapter, who made everything "very good"? and is the poor, weak-minded creature of the second and third chapters identical with the man created in God's own image and likeness, God-like in nature and character, and possessing dominion over all the earth? This second account becomes intelligible and presents a deep meaning when recognized as an allegorical representation of a past occurrence which is repeated in the mortal life of individuals.
Christian Scientists accept the first account as relating to actual facts, and herein they agree with the Apostle John, who, in the introduction to his Gospel, clearly acknowledges only this first account. He says: "We know that whatsoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." Numerous other passages declare like-wise that the thought of sin or imperfection is irreconcilable with the nature of God, and that these elements do not proceed from Him. What do we know of the nature of God? It was most clearly revealed through the character, the life of Jesus. Jesus embodied and expressed the highest conceivable type of love, mercy, justice, and purity; his moral standard was perfect throughout, therefore it must have been a perfect God, whose nature he came to reveal to mankind. The influence of this sinless, perfect nature upon all forms of evil, manifested itself in their destruction; his very presence annihilated them; they vanished before him into nothingness. This was the will of the Father according to Jesus' words.
