Does God Punish?
Often we think, God was punishing Adam and Eve when He sent them out of the Garden of Eden. We also think, God was cursing them when He said to man "you will live by the sweat of your brow," and to the women "you will suffer the pain of labor." God did not cast them out of the Garden. They distanced themselves from God when they sinned. This distancing is the natural result of sin. Nobody can come into the presence of God without holiness. We see how Adam and Eve hide themselves behind the bushes. We see them trying to cover themselves with leaves. That’s what sin does to us. It distances us from the presence of God. Sin is not an act but a condition – the condition where man loses his capacity to know, love and serve God, and also his neighbor, even if it is not lost completely. The acts we commit are the fruit of this condition. Are we not then confessing only the fruits and not the condition itself! We also see how God covers Adam and Eve with animal ski...