Another thing, KD, Do you believe that snakes talk? Actually have conversations with women about fruit, trees, wisdom and death? There was nothing in Genesis about God taking away this lofty gift, so maybe the snakes we have today are just pretending when humans are around and when we are not there they yap like no one's business?
In the story of the fall, Eve was not at all
surprised that the snake was having a conversation with her.
In fact, that story if you read it literally, is actually NOT talking about the devil AT ALL. It is talking about the animal we call a snake, hence there's nothing at all like "it was possessed", or even "it was Satan in disguise". Genesis says it was the craftiest of all the wild animals, and in God's curse, he curses the animal "above all livestock and wild animals" and not Satan anywhere.
Hence, we have God physically walking, so that the "sound" of his steps are heard by human ears; we have God engaging in physical mechanisms like breathing; We have a snake that is quite crafty, intelligent, complete with free will. I mean, this snake is positively a spiritual creature by any and all accounts
; So much cleverer is it than human beings, it actually convinces them into a rebellion; God punishes the snake by making it crawl and eating "dust" (Which snake "eats" dust?) etc etc etc. Anyone who insists that reading this literally as opposed to symbolically is the best way to understand it, and then tries to "condemn" me for a wrong interpretation...I just don't get. Hayo tu!