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...Against
M
y
Better udgment
' '
by
John Ross Schroeder
How often most of us have made decisions against our better
judgment! Ironically, tbe most important decision in all
history may have been made " ... against my better judgment."
W
E KNOW
tbe situa–
tion. Others tell us
plainly a particular
course of action
can come to no good.
Our own experience-past
tria) and error- militates
against it. Sound intuitive judg–
ment tells us to say no.
But we deeply !ove or feel
otherwise obligated to the person
desiring a yes answer. So we find
ourselves saying yes, against our
better judgment.
Leaders of governments have
fallen headlong into this tempting
trap. Heads of giant corporations
have made the same mistake. Par–
ents have said yes when the col–
lective child-rearing experience of
past ages told them to say no.
Husbands have traditionally given
in to their wives against their better
judgment. Girls, especially in this
generation, give in to boys over the
April1984
matter of premarital sex, often
against their better judgment.
The Same Old Stor y
Generations of humankind have
repeated this same old story al! the
way back to our first parents. Even
the forbidden fruit incident may
have been no exception.
Coosider the narrative surround–
ing the most colossally important
decision ever made in the experi–
ence of mankind. The bare account
itself does not emphasize the
incredible import of what occurred.
But the Bible itself helps us toread
between the lines.
Genesis 3 concentrates on one of
the most critica! human decisions.
Notice verse 6: "So when the
woman saw that the tree was good
for food, that it was pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree desirable to make
one wise, she took of its fruit and
ate.
She a/so gave to her husband
with her, and he ate"
(Revised
Authorized Version throughout).
What happened to Adam? He
appears to act as nothing more than
a cipher-rather than the head of
the human race.
Was Adam deceived along with
his wife? Or did he know what he
was doing? Was his decision to eat
the fruit decisively influenc.ed by
his attraction for bis wife Eve?
God, we discover in chapter 2 of
Genesis, created Adam out of the
dust of the ground, placed him in a
beautiful garden in a land called
Eden and began to give the first
man sorne vital survival instruc–
tions. Note verse 16:
"And the Lord God commanded
the man, saying, 'Of every tree of
the garden you may freely eat; 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.' "
The timing is essential to our
understanding. Adam received this
vitally important instruction
befare
the creation of Eve. The narrative
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