This 18 part series explores the main moments in the Bible. This is a long story that takes place over thousands of years. It’s the story of all the ways that God has been trying to rescue and bless and love God’s people since the beginning of time. It’s the story that has been passed down and shared with billions of people. It’s a story that was written for everyone to hear, and at the same time it’s a story written specifically just for you. This chapter of the story is about the Fall.
There is another old, old story about how the world began that would often be shared around campfires. It was a story that tried to explain why humans can become so lost. It’s the story of the first two humans and even though they lived long, long, ago, their struggles are not that different than what people still struggle with today.
Their names were Adam and Eve and they lived in a beautiful garden. They spent their days enjoying the perfect green grass, the lush foliage, the pleasant rivers and streams, and the big blue skies. Their only job was to watch after all the animals and to enjoy this beautiful world that God had made for them.
In the Garden there were many trees and Adam and Eve were invited to eat the fruit of any of these trees, except one. God told them that if they ate the fruit that comes from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil then they would die. At first this was not a problem for Adam and Eve, they happily ate from all the other trees and enjoyed their life in the garden.
But one day, a serpent tricked Adam and Eve into eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The serpent told them that if they ate the forbidden fruit then they would become like God. And it was as if those words had a magical hold on Adam and Eve. Suddenly the fruit looked so ripe, so sweet, so irresistible. And so they ate it– not because they were hungry but because they wanted to become like God.
After biting into that forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve saw the world in an entirely different way. They saw parts of themselves as bad and they saw God as someone to be feared. The Knowledge of Good and Evil had changed them; their longing to become like God had changed them; now they saw the world and themselves as divided. Gone was the paradise where everything simply existed in unity with God.
God sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden but continued to care for them. Adam and Eve ate the fruit so they could become like God, but only God can truly see what is good and what is evil. Still today, humans will call something good evil and something evil good, and this fracture, which began with Adam and Eve, continues to fracture and divide us. But, despite Adam and Eve’s mistakes; despite our mistakes; God will never tire of reaching out to heal and unite us…
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