The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-07-19
Where Are You?
Lesson for July Fl, 1863

Bible NJ a erial /: Genesis 8
through II.
Devotional Reading: Romans 5:
1921.
The Bible might very well be-
gin with an essay on sin; but
it does not. It begins with two
stories. one of Creation and the
next of Sin. Stories, not es-
says, make up most Of the
Bible, and this is a good thing.
What Christian students of the
Bible have been discovering in
their re-study of these ancient
stories is that the point is:
THIS MEANS YOU! The name
Adam means Man, and t h e
name Eve means Life. There is
something very suggestive
about this. Anyway, if we think
of these stories as only legends
out of the dim past, just stories
to tell around campfire an d
hearth, we misjudge them. If
we argue about when all this
was, and should we take these
stories literally or as parallels,
we are still off the beam, What
we need to do is take t h e
stories to heart.
One gre t thinker in the
Christian church has a d.,
Everybody's middle name is
Adam. What he meant was, the
story Of Adam is the story Of
every man. The story of Ad-
ans sin is the story Of Every
mans sin. The cause, the
course, the cruelty, the conse-
quences, and the cure Of sin
are all here. But the central
fact about sin, the really dread
full thing about it, is brought out
by that fateful question h t
God puts to Adams, frightened
Adam, silent Adam, hiding from
the God whose questions must
be answered.
Where are you? God asks.
Now it is not hard to see that
this question was not asked out
OF Gods ignorance God knew
very well where Adams was, he
knows where we all are. God
asks the question to make Ad-
am think: he had lost contact
with God. God should not have
had to look for him. He should
have run joyfully to meet the
God who had done him good
and not evil. Instead, he is in
hiding, friendless, useless and
That is essentially what sin
is: being cut off. Adam was now
from his Maker, out
Of harmony with him. He had
given up trying to do what God
wanted him to do Gods inter
ests are no longer his interests.
The likeness to God about
which we were thinking a week
ago. is beginning to grow dim
so that not long after that-and
right on up to nowhere are
descendants of the first man
who look so cruel and are so
that any one in his right
mind would say, If that's the
image Of God, l don't want any
part of it. Adam was cut off in
other words not only from God
but from himself, his best self
Further, he was cut off from his
wife. The story Of Genesis tells
Of the joyful words of welcome
when Adam sees Eve for the
first time. Paradise, for both
Of them, is complete only when
the other one, the loved one, is
there to share it. Now all is
changed. Adams only word
about his wife The woman
Thou gavest me, she gave me
the fruit" ;. It's all Gods
fault for sending Eve, or it's all
Ewes fault for tempting him, it
couldn't be his own fault, oh
no! When you get to the point
where you won't take response
bihty for your own acts, when
you blame everyone but your
self for your sins and your
troubles, then you have really
broken off relations with the
human race.
The first question God asks Of
man rings IKE a solemn warn
ing bell in the heart Of every
one some time or other. Where
are you? You are here now, at
this moment; but you are
wherever you act, you are
wherever things happen Of
fail to happen because of
you. Someone perhaps m ght
have believed in God if it had
not been for you. You are there
in that persons despairing cyni-
cal mind. Where are you? Re
suits Of what you say, what you
do never stop with the saying
and doing. Like stones thrown
into a pond they create ripples
that spread to distant shores. If
an old man could realize all the
evil that he caused during his
lifetime. the burden Of it would
be overpowering. Yet there is
another and happier side.
Gods question. Where are you?
reminds us that God does care