What should Adam have done when the serpent started talking to Eve? What would you do?
You’d scream, probably. But then you’d pray, hard. Because you’d know that only God can deliver you from a dragon.
We sometimes think that Adam should have stepped up and handled the serpent bare-handed. Perhaps; but that confrontation would have been a confrontation of faith, Adam relying not on his own strength but wholly on God.
Unfallen Adam, in short, should have cried out in faith to his Savior Yahweh to save him. To remain unfallen, he needed to be saved.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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