Opening Doors That Cannot Be Closed

This past Sunday while on our way home from the kids swim practice, my family stopped to eat out for dinner. In the establishment, there were a couple of televisions and one had two shows, back-to-back, that we do not allow our children to watch.  We monitor what our kids take in at their ages because we firmly believe that they can see and hear things that their brains are not mature enough to process.

On the drive home, this led to a discussion with our kids (who are 14 and 12 respectively) about why we do not allow them to watch certain TV shows and it boiled down to this. There are some things that are shown on TV that may well look innocent, but has adult language and content.  There brains may not be ready to handle that type of information yet, and with children today they look things up.  With the internet, everything is right at people's finger tips to get all the information they want - both good and bad.  One thing can lead to another and the next thing you know, you've gone down a rabbit whole and opened up doors to seeing things that you should not have seen in the first place.  And, once you see something, it is very hard to "unsee" it.

As the parents, we want to help our kids to avoid opening doors that can spiritually, emotionally, and physically have a negative impact on their lives. In Genesis 2:15-17, Yahweh gave specific instructions to Adam about what he could and could not have in the Garden of Eden.  He said,

(15) Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. (16) And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

This was the Father doing the same job that we as parents try do for our kids, however, we know that life is never simple.  In the very next chapter we see that temptation in the form of a serpent comes and plants doubt into the mind of Eve.  It said, "...You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:4-5).  In her naivety, Eve goes along with it and not only did she eat of the tree, but she then gave it to Adam. Even though Adam was given the instruction, directly from God, HE STILL ATE THE FRUIT!!!

Once they both ate of the tree of knowledge, something immediately happened.  Their eyes became opened just as the serpent said, but they now had to deal with things that they didn't have to worry about before.  When God approached them in the garden, Adam and Eve hid and in Genesis 3:10-11, it says,

(10) So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (11) And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

Yahweh knew what they had done because his response was, "who told you that you were naked?"  They covered themselves in shame, but if we go back at the end of Genesis 2 after God had created woman, it said,

"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."

If you gloss over the end of chapter 2, you will miss the impact that it has in Genesis 3:10-11.  You see, for us to think about walking around naked today is weird. Even when talking to our kids in the car, our daughter said how strange it would be for everyone to be naked. However, our response was that had Adam and Eve not opened that door, none of us would know any different. We went on to talk about how they hid and tried to cover themselves, but that's when my wife, in her brilliance, recognized something. She said (and I am paraphrasing) that usually when someone does something wrong, they spend time trying to cover themselves. Whether it be to find cover and hide from their actions or to cover up and hide their actions through deception or silence, time is spent doing a cover up. Why would people do this?  It is because they are aware of their wrongs!

By them eating of the tree of knowledge, it opened a single door that led to the fallen state of man today. It started with temptation, but temptation is all around us and it is upon us to recognize it.  Even as adults, it is our job to find the door that God provides to avoid temptation when it comes our way. As a parent, we are to help our kids avoid the pitfalls of life and to keep doors closed that could lead them to knowledge that they are not prepared to handle.  If we ever forget what could happen, we have to look no further than Adam and Eve as an example of what could happen. Some doors may give shiny appetizing reasons to open them, but not all doors are meant to be opened.