The Lord created the earth, and all that is in it. This obviously includes man. He also made it a prerequisite that man could not survive on his own (Eve must have been quite a talker for those first few days—then again, what could they talk about, both being adults and just created?) Human nature takes a spill later, and that social aspect of us grew. We thrive off of being with others, and while that could and does produce many wonderful things, there is also a lot that happens when people are together that could be avoided. Sociality in itself is important, but because of being social, and not on our toes, the Adam and Eve complex began. C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “just as all bodies are governed by the law of gravitation, and organisms by biological laws, so the creature called man also had his law – with this great difference, that a body could not choose whether it obeyed the law of gravitation or not, but a man could choose either to obey the Law of Human Nature or to disobey it.” What does all that mean?
The Law of Human Nature is what we live our lives by, our morals—or governing concepts. He is also saying that we can choose to either obey or disobey these Laws.
This is not a case as to where morals came from because as Christians we believe that our morality has come from the Lord who is holy and perfect. My question of the day is: If we [Christians] all share the same morals, and we are to live like the lord would, then why is it that we break the easiest of commands to follow? Are we choosing to do this? Or is the social aspect of being human causing us to fall into that paradoxical pattern of failure—the Adam and Eve complex.
What is the Adam and Eve complex exactly? Think back to Genesis, Adam and Eve were walking around and here comes Satan. He tricks Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, she gave some to Adam all was well until it hit them—they made a mistake. This is usually the typical thing that happens in our social situations today. Everyone is gathered together, there are taboos that everyone knows about, one person makes a comment the rest follow suit, and before we all know it we have mayhem. [Okay, maybe not mayhem but we may not know what each other is struggling with] Hence, we have Adam and Eve complex: a social disorder affecting millions of Christians daily.
How does this apply to morals? God gave us free will to choose His way or our way. More than often we choose our way, but he imprinted us with his guide book, his right and wrong manual. I know this can be distorted by sin, but there is a general code that even the lowliest know. If Christians are so much more in-tune with the Lord, walking with him (I hope you are) then why is it that when we gather together we put ourselves in a social complex and start making crude comments, and offense gestures that at the time seem okay, but in reality are not? Eve thought it was okay to eat the fruit, but really it wasn’t. We think it’s okay to make crude comments in mixed company, but it’s not.
The point is, is that when in small groups we tend to catch our mistakes because we are looking more for them, but when in a slightly larger gathering we lose our bearings on what is acceptable for a Christian, and enough is enough. This Adam and Eve complex can easily be solved by caring what we say and how we act. It should no longer be an excuse that we were around “close friends” when we did something inappropriate we all struggle on a daily basis with different things, and we never know what comment might make someone fall. It should be our hearts desires to see our friends grow. This paradox of wanting to be the “cool-funny guy” should no longer have to be done the way it is. Sometimes it’s a little ridiculous at what happens when we are in a social gathering. We all act like idiots at some point, but enough is enough. We can have fun and joke without being crude and useless, so it’s time to put to rest our moral disability and pick up our mature game.
