The temptation in the Garden of Eden was not just some silly lesson about not stealing an apple. The temptation to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was motivated by an illicit desire to be like God, to take over His sovereign rule over right and wrong, good and evil, for man to determine the relationship with God, the rules of that relationship and of life itself, and, therefore, the nature of God Himself. It was an attack on truth, authority, and the nature of determining reality.
The challenge to God's method of determining good and evil was scientifically motivated, that is, it was Adam and Eve's desire to "test" by experience and decide for themselves what's right and wrong. The tempter's assurance that there were no consequences - "Ye shall not surely die" - was immunity from consequences so they could enjoy and appreciate all experience with no limitations. As with the nature of reality and of good and evil, it was an attack on the truth that there are consequences to disobeying God, both short term and for future generations. Man apparently doesn't want to think that is so.
It was also a personal attack. It denied the goodness, the faithfulness, the honesty of God in His person. It was a choice to believe the serpent and assert God was not trustworthy, a judicial determination that God was a liar. It was a use of the circumstances into which God had placed man for the cynical purpose of the pursuit of power. God allowed Adam and Eve the power to turn on Him. They agreed with the serpent that power is more important than the trustworthiness of God, the ability to trust their Creator, the importance of friendship with the greatest, most loving being of all. It was the denial of their origin, the betrayal of their maker, the undoing of themselves. All for power - "Ye shall be as gods!" They lost all to gain an illusion.
Here's the point at which man is most hardened. A person can be the nicest, most righteous person you've ever met. He could be an expert in theology, having thought through all the implications of human behavior, religious writings, and be able to counsel you on all your problems you've ever faced. But if that person can't say to the God who created him, who sent His Son to die for him: "You are the God I've offended personally, the personal Creator to whom I owe all my life and breath, and the Judge before whom I will personally stand and give account one day," that person doesn't understand who His God is.
No matter how wise that person appears to be, how could that person claim to be a judge of other men in this life? Will they replay the Garden of Eden? Will that judge seek power at the expense of that small thing called truth? That small thing called integrity? That small thing called law? That small thing called the appropriate relationship between the branches, the states and federal government? Or will their agenda overrule your just cause because it just doesn't rank very well with his or her priorities in their agenda? This is what is at stake when choosing a judge? When deciding whether the liberal with an agenda is fit to be a judge.
But they're so wise, so intelligent, you say. I say, "So what." How foolish of God to give us such power! But "the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." I Corinthians 1:25. It's the simple loyalty to truth and law that is more important even than intelligence. The intelligent can fleece you more effectively than the moron can.
The judge who misuses the judicial system to advance their agenda will be judged by the Judge of all. It's not just some political powerplay that is at stake. Jesus issued some of His most scathing rebukes and warnings to the lawyers of His say for "adjustments" to God's law for the sake of their convenience, power, or wealth accumulation.
The loss of the doctrine of creation to evolution results in the following according to R.J. Rushdoony:
"First of all, man is no longer viewed as created in the image of God. According to scripture, man was created in God's image, and, although fallen, is strictly under God's law. Man cannot be reduced to the level of an animal. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Man is called to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, and the world is man's dominion under God. But the evolutionary theory views man as a product of the world rather than a destined lord over it in Christ. Man is seen as having evolved out of the fortuitous concourse of atoms and out of primeval slime. Instead of being set over nature, man is set under nature as a product of it. Man is reduced to the same slavish status as existed during antiquity in ancient Egypt and other states which to an evolutionary model. Man's liberty is a product of Biblical faith; the concept of evolution produces slavery, and it was welcomed by Marx as the necessary foundation for socialism. When man is a product of nature, as he is according to theories of evolution, he is passive in relationship to nature; his being is determined by nature, and his psychology is passive, conditioned, reflex action rather than governing action. When man knows himself to be created by God, and his faith is basic to his thinking, man is a product of God's creative work and is therefore passive in relationship to God but active towards nature. He is determined by God, not by nature, and man is then active towards nature and governs it. Man is thus free from nature, not a slave to it, because man is created and governed by God, not by nature. Man's calling is to exercise dominion under God over nature, to rule it, develop and exploit it, under God and to His glory. Only the regenerate man in Jesus Christ can do this. The fallen man is in captivity to his own nature and to the forces around him. As a result, liberty rapidly declines when Biblical Christianity declines. Where men are not ruled by God, they are ruled by tyrants. And the rise of evolutionary thinking has produced a worldwide rise of totalitarianism. Since man is no longer seen as God's creation, he is becoming a creature of the total state, and the total state is determined to remake man in its own image. In consequence, man is now the primary experimental animal. People are alarmed at the use of animal in scientific experimentation. But the grim reality is that the primary experimental animal is man. Not only the mental health experts, but also virtually every agency of civil government is today engaged in trying to remake man. . . . When men set aside God as Creator, they then set themselves up as man's recreators, as the new gods over an and the universe."
R.J. Rushdoony, "The Mythology of Science," (Ross House Books, Vallecito, CA, 2001), pp. 67-8.
As with science, so with judging. There is no appeal beyond man to God if man was not created by God. Under the evolutionary scheme, it is those who think they are smarter and stronger than all other men who seek to rule over us for their ends, and they will do so without God in their thinking to limit their scheme. Thankfully, the sovereign God rules in the affairs of men and will defend the righteous. See Psalm 82:4.
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