Religion: A Pastor Ponders

The Truth About God

by Pastor William Jenkins

November 12, 2005

Something caught my attention while Reading from the Old Testament book of Genesis where it tells the story of the encounter between Eve and the serpent. The serpent began the conversation with a question: “Didn’t God say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?”

The serpent was not telling the truth about God. It was the serpent’s way of painting a bad picture of God: God does not want you to enjoy life; Anything good and pleasing is forbidden; God is negative, dull and boring and wants you to be the same; God throws a wet blanket over life to prevent you from having a good time living it.

Eve set the serpent straight, “God did not say we could not eat any of the fruit in the garden. He said there was only one tree whose fruit we were not to eat.” Of the scores of trees available for tasting and enjoyment, only one was forbidden. That is quite generous on God’s part. But, what is it about forbidden fruit that gets us into so many bad jams? Forbidden fruit grabs us by the throat and says, “Pay attention to me!” All the while, the vast catalogue of good and allowable things is considered of no worth.

Unfortunately, too many people believe the lie about God as stated by the serpent in the Garden of Eden: God does not want you to enjoy life; all things good are off limits. I have read the Bible through a few times and especially find the Old Testament fascinating. In all the regulations set forth for the Israelites, the primary thing was to celebrate life. Consider all the feasts and festivals they were to observe. They had more holidays than we do in America. I wonder that they ever got any work done because of the required “parties”. The truth is that God loves a good party.

There is so much to deal with on the heavy side of live that can drag us down. God’s remedy is to “party hearty”, take time to laugh and sing and celebrate the goodness of life. That’s what Jesus and His followers were doing in Luke 5:33,34. Tough times will come soon enough.

Are there limits to our “partying”? Yes, there are, but the limits are there to safeguard the good things in life. Life is full of “fruit” to be enjoyed as a gift from God. And that’s the truth.

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the website at

HYPERLINK - http://www.lcumc.org