gengwall

Hi Craig. It is a nice illustration but I think it errs on three points: it focuses on the created order and assumes the topic (rocks) is constant. Paul is not saying that Eve and the woman are deceived about the same thing, he is simply saying they are deceived (really, ignorant in your illustration). And the main issues isn’t created order between the two couples. At best, that is secondary. And finally, we are not ignorant about Eve’s deception. It is a know elemnet to the story that does not need repeating.

At any rate, none of that matters. The point isn’t whether or not your illustration is confusing, it only matters if the passage is confusing. Do you find the passage confusing if we put a name in the place of “the woman”? I sure don’t.

But let me see if I can rework your illustration so that it parallels the passage a little more closely.

My friend Barney and I are talking about a mutual friend Jane who is telling lies about rocks based on some internet course she took. Jane really needs to get some training before she shoots her mouth off. She is even influencing her husband, who should know better since he has some geology training. What’s worse, any time he even mentions rocks she berates him. She really needs to chill out.

Barney reminds me about another couple who are very familiar to us, saying maybe their situation can shed some light on how to both look at and handle Jane.

Here is the background – Barney and I know of a couple named Fred and Wilma. They got themselves in a little trouble a few years back. Seems Wilma got tricked into an illegal land deal by a slick con man. Fred went along with the deal even though he new he was breaking the law. Poor Wilma, not knowing anything about real estate, didn’t have any idea that what she was doing was wrong. In the eyes of the law she was just as guilty as Fred, but because of her ignorance, she received leniency from the court. Fred, on the other hand, got the book thrown at him.

Now Barney lets me in on a little insight that had not occured to me. Seems Fred took a real estate class before he was married to Wilma. That’s why he knew that the land deal was illegal while Wilma was clueless..

Anyway, Jane doesn’t know squat about rocks because that internet course was crap. As a result, she has found herself in this position where she is spreading these lies.

OK – that’s the story with a lot of exposition. Now let me see if I can paraphrase it along the lines of the passage. Remember that the background paragraph on Fred and Wilma is well know to Barney and me. Barney speaks:

Jane needs to chill out and submit herself to some legitimate geology teaching. I would not permit Jane to tell these lies about rocks to her husband and she certainly shouldn’t treat him abusively like she does. She really needs to chill. Remember Fred and Wilma. Fred took a real estate class before the were married, and Fred knew fully well that that land deal was against the law. But Jane was hoodwinked by that internet course. Still, she can straighten out by going to http://www.Jesusknowsrocks.com if they proceed with humility, mutual love, and a good DSL connection.

Make sense?