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"Calvin Miller", A Requiem for Love, Adam and Eve, And God shouts "One day beloved world - One day!", “Every baby comes as evidence that God still dreams of Eden", expectations, the moth that trusts the candle's fire . . .
After reading Calvin Miller’s A Requiem for Love, I realized I could strongly recommend it, without reservation, to any and all.
It is Miller’s take on Adam and Eve and how they came to the point of surrendering to the Satanic temptation of disobeying their Creator’s command to not eat of the Tree of Life.
I admit that I have heard the story of Adam and Eve from my earliest memory; after all I was raised in a manse by devout parents who taught us three kids, just as they taught the members of their churches, the basics of the Christian faith as provided in both testaments of the Bible. But, in all the intervening years, I was never prodded to think about the primal parents of humanity in the fashion Miller has done it. It is one of those books I will re-read periodically, just like I do with some of CS Lewis’ works.
It had not dawned on me that Adam and Eve brought different backgrounds to the temptation. Their situations were similar, but not identical; and that is not just a reference to their genders. Adam had lived awhile as the only human in relationship with God. Eve, on the other hand, never had just a God-Eve relationship; hers was a God-Adam-Eve relationship from the get-go.
According to Miller’s take on the scenario, Satan slowly seduced Eve to value what Satan described as freedom / liberty from God, with the accompanying personal power she wanted to experience. Since Satan could present himself as a masculine figure, Eve was dealing with the dynamic of two males, both Adam and Satan, expressing “I want what is best for you” arguments. Satan’s image found its way into the echo chamber of Eve’s heart.
I admit that as the book concluded, I was with wet eyes begging God to curse Satan to the abyss now, not just in the future. But, although heart wrenching in its portrayal of the disintegration of both Eve and Adam, the story doesn’t end when Eden’s “gate slams shut.” The trilogy of which A Requiem for Love is just the first part continues with A Symphony in Sand and An Overture of Light.
I hope you can find a way to read A Requiem for Love (available in both hard copy and as an e-book at very reasonable prices). If you read it, you will find a wealth of poignant expressions like these –
- “The moth that trusts the candle’s fire is willing martyr to her own desire”
- “Every baby comes as evidence that God still dreams of Eden”
- “The greatest sin is calling love, hate. The second greatest sin is calling servanthood, ambition”
- “Beware of mirrors. They lead us not to see ourselves but love ourselves”
- “Unbridled lust: a cannibal committing suicide by nibbling on himself”
- “No serpent ever crawled so low he did not dream of thrones and crowns”
- “Life found itself alive and somehow knew its opposite was death. We are ever being born, or dying, and the thrill of choosing is ours. Only once, must we be born without our own consent. Only once, must we die without our own permission”
- “In dimensions His two children would never understand, the Father Spirit drew the blue, green planet to His bosom and shouted to the stars, ‘One day, beloved world, one day!’”
[reposted by request]
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