{"id":7067817,"date":"2026-09-27T00:09:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T00:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/was-the-serpent-actually-telling-the-truth-curious-christian\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T00:09:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T00:09:53","slug":"was-the-serpent-actually-telling-the-truth-curious-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817","title":{"rendered":"Was the Serpent Actually Telling the Truth? \u2013 Curious Christian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve come across this argument from Bible skeptics and critics more times than I can remember: the story of Adam and Eve actually shows the serpent telling the truth and God lying.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At first, that sounds like a serious problem. God tells Adam that if he eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he will die. Genesis 2:16\u201317 says, \u201cYou may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die\u201d. But the serpent tells Eve, \u201cYou will not die\u201d (Genesis 3:4). They eat the fruit, and they don\u2019t immediately die.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"299\" height=\"399\" data-attachment-id=\"34233\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/curiouschristian.blog\/2026\/09\/24\/was-the-serpent-actually-telling-the-truth\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/curiouschristian.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg?fit=299%2C399&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"299,399\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"ethiopia adam and eve\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/curiouschristian.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg?fit=299%2C399&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/curiouschristian.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg?resize=299%2C399&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/curiouschristian.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg?w=299&amp;ssl=1 299w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/curiouschristian.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 299px) 100vw, 299px\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The serpent also tells Eve that their eyes will be opened and that they will be \u201clike God, knowing good and evil\u201d (Genesis 3:5). Then God himself says, \u201cSee, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil\u201d (Genesis 3:22). And God expels them from the garden so they cannot eat from the tree of life and \u201clive forever.\u201d So was the serpent actually telling the truth?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think the key is that the serpent is telling a half-truth, which is rather the point of the story. Adam and Eve do not immediately drop dead, and the serpent is right that their eyes will be opened. But being right about some of the consequences doesn\u2019t mean he is telling them the whole truth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The important distinction is between the fruit causing instantaneous death and the act bringing about death. God doesn\u2019t say, \u201cThe moment you swallow this, your heart will stop.\u201d The Hebrew phrase is emphatic, literally something like \u201cdying, you shall die.\u201d The story then portrays the consequences: alienation from God, the curse, mortality, and finally expulsion from the garden so that they cannot eat from the tree of life and live forever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Genesis 3:22 therefore makes the serpent\u2019s deception clearer, not less clear. Humanity has indeed become \u201clike one of us, knowing good and evil.\u201d But becoming like God in knowledge did not make them like God in immortality. They gained the knowledge they sought while losing access to the tree that could sustain them forever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is an irony here. The serpent presents God\u2019s command as though God is selfishly withholding something good: \u201cyou will be like God.\u201d They eat, and they do become like God in one limited sense. But instead of liberation, they discover shame, alienation and death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The serpent didn\u2019t need to tell an outright lie. A carefully selected truth was enough to deceive them. That is why I don\u2019t think Genesis is presenting God as lying and the serpent as telling the truth. It is presenting the serpent as telling enough truth to make a lie believable\u2014which, frankly, is a much more interesting account of deception than simply having the villain say something obviously false.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve come across this argument from Bible skeptics and critics more times than I can remember: the story of Adam and Eve actually shows the serpent telling the truth and God lying. At first, that sounds like a serious problem. God tells Adam that if he eats from the tree of the knowledge of good [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7067818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[228963,125790,100502,157926,103939],"tags":[1871,6250,5997,28494,5477],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7067817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eden","category-genesis","category-god","category-narrative","category-satan","tag-christian","tag-curious","tag-serpent","tag-telling","tag-truth"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Was the Serpent Actually Telling the Truth? \u2013 Curious Christian - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Was the Serpent Actually Telling the Truth? \u2013 Curious Christian - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve come across this argument from Bible skeptics and critics more times than I can remember: the story of Adam and Eve actually shows the serpent telling the truth and God lying. At first, that sounds like a serious problem. God tells Adam that if he eats from the tree of the knowledge of good [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-27T00:09:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"299\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Was the Serpent Actually Telling the Truth? \u2013 Curious Christian\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-27T00:09:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817\"},\"wordCount\":500,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Christian\",\"Curious\",\"Serpent\",\"Telling\",\"truth\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Eden\",\"Genesis\",\"God\",\"narrative\",\"Satan\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817\",\"name\":\"Was the Serpent Actually Telling the Truth? \u2013 Curious Christian - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-27T00:09:53+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg\",\"width\":299,\"height\":399},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Was the Serpent Actually Telling the Truth? \u2013 Curious Christian\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Was the Serpent Actually Telling the Truth? \u2013 Curious Christian - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Was the Serpent Actually Telling the Truth? \u2013 Curious Christian - Som2ny Network","og_description":"I\u2019ve come across this argument from Bible skeptics and critics more times than I can remember: the story of Adam and Eve actually shows the serpent telling the truth and God lying. At first, that sounds like a serious problem. God tells Adam that if he eats from the tree of the knowledge of good [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2026-09-27T00:09:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":299,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"Was the Serpent Actually Telling the Truth? \u2013 Curious Christian","datePublished":"2026-09-27T00:09:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817"},"wordCount":500,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg","keywords":["Christian","Curious","Serpent","Telling","truth"],"articleSection":["Eden","Genesis","God","narrative","Satan"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817","name":"Was the Serpent Actually Telling the Truth? \u2013 Curious Christian - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-27T00:09:53+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ethiopia-adam-and-eve.jpg","width":299,"height":399},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7067817#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Was the Serpent Actually Telling the Truth? \u2013 Curious Christian"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7067817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7067817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7067817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7067818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7067817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7067817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7067817"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=7067817"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=7067817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}