Myth:Adam and Eve were cursed by God.

I thought this myth had been thoroughly quashed years ago, but recently I've heard it repeated several times. It was even part of a recently children's church lesson. There are a couple of variations on the myth, but most often it seems people believe God cursed Eve in particular. Few people carry through on the point of Adam being cursed. The myth is usally broadened to include all women, but rarely all men.

In Genesis 3, the serpent comes, deceives woman. Woman eats of the forbidden fruit and gives it to man, who appears to have been present throughout. Then God comes and the couple hide in shame.

"The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel."

To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

And to the man he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, "You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

God did not curse either woman or man.

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