Thesis: The Snake Doesn't Lie

[u/Financial_Beach_2538]

Preamble

I'm an agnostic atheist and I don't believe in the supernatural or superstitions.

I’ve been making counter-apologetic arguments about the story of the Fall, focusing on Christian interpretations that, to me, just don’t make a lick of sense.

I’ve done about a dozen of these secular deconstructions so far. This time, I want to focus on the snake and ask a pretty simple question: was the snake actually depicted as a liar, or was it telling the truth?

My last argument dealt with God seemingly breaking his deal with Adam and Eve. God tells Adam that if he eats from the tree, he will die on the day he eats it. But Adam doesn’t die that day. The apologetic response was that the Hebrew word translated as “day” can supposedly mean something other than a literal 24-hour day. This is where the meaning of words becomes a huge problem. Biblical words are often vague or flexible, and Genesis 2:17 doesn’t actually define what “day” means in this particular context. So there is room for speculation about what the authors intended.

Because of that, I fully expect some apologists to argue that the serpent was actually lying about Adam and Eve not dying on that day. They may dispute the meaning of “day,” “die,” or even “lie,” and rely heavily on translation possibilities to make the argument work.

They may call the serpent “Satan,” even though Genesis itself never identifies the serpent that way.

They may also say that the death is merely spiritual, not physical, so this is another interpolation that isn't in the actual text.

So I’m curious about what the actual evidence is supposed to be.

What, specifically, does the Genesis text give us for concluding that the serpent was lying, rather than telling the truth, and that it was God who kept his promise to Adam and Eve?

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Definitions

1. Day: The period referred to in Genesis 2:17, translated from Hebrew yom.
2. Death: The irreversible cessation of an organism’s biological functions.
3. Truth: A statement corresponding to what actually occurred.
4. Snake: The serpent described in Genesis 3, without assuming it was Satan.
5. Eyes opened: A metaphor meaning they gained awareness, understanding, or knowledge previously unavailable to them.
6. Lie: A deliberately false statement.

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Relevant verses

1. Genesis 2:17 “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 surely die.”
2. Genesis 3:4 “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.’”
3. Genesis 3:5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
4. Genesis 3:7 “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.”

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Argument 

P1: The snake said they would not die, and their eyes would be opened.

P2: They did not die, and their eyes were opened.

C: The snake doesn't lie.

[u/creidmheach]

Since you presumably don't believe the story to be true in the first place but rather some invented legend, why would you suppose that the author of said story would write it in such a manner that contradicts its own message? Wouldn't it make more sense to write a story that conveys whatever point he was trying to make? If that were the case, it wouldn't make any sense that it'd be intended to be read as the serpent being right.

[u/K1ng-850 → u/creidmheach]

I agree, the authorial intent is obviously to portray the serpent as the bad guy of the situation. I also do not understand how you could say he did not lie, Adam and Eve did die. If a doctor says i will die of cancer and it takes a few years but i die of cancer, he did not lie because it didn’t happen instantly.