Eat and Die

Man, as created, was good. God created man in His own image and likeness, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Well, then, if God created man good, how comes it that all men now are bad? How did sin pass into all mankind? What caused this stupendous change from good to bad?

God created Adam, the first man, and Eve, the first woman, and placed them in a perfect home, the Garden of Eden.  In fact, everything about Earth was perfect at that moment in time. God put two important trees in the garden: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Adam's duties were clear.  God told him to tend the garden and not eat the fruit of those two trees, or he would die.  Adam passed that warning on to his wife.

Instead of believing God, Eve believed Satan.  She ate the fruit and gave some to her husband to eat.  Scripture says "the eyes of both of them were opened." (Genesis 3:7, NIV)  They realized they were naked and made hasty coverings from fig leaves. 

That view of the matter becomes more explicit in certain important passages of the New Testament. In the latter part of Romans 15, in particular, the Apostle Paul makes it plain. "Through one trespass," he there says, "the judgment came unto all men to condemnation" (Romans 5:18). "Through the one man's disobedience," he says in the next verse, "the many were made sinners." In these words and all through this passage we have the great doctrine that when Adam sinned he sinned as the representative of the race, so that it is quite correct to say that all mankind sinned in him and fell with him in his first transgression. There is a profound connection between Adam and the whole race of his descendants.

Christianity teaches that human beings are unable to overcome their fallen nature on their own and must turn to Christ as their Saviour.  The doctrine of grace states that salvation is a free gift from God and cannot be earned, merely accepted through faith.

The contrast between the world before sin and the world today is frightening.  Disease and suffering are rampant.  Wars are always going on somewhere, and closer to home, people treat one another cruelly.  Christ offered freedom from sin at his first coming and will close the "end times" at his second coming. 

The Fall of Man shows I have a flawed, sinful nature and can never earn my way into heaven by trying to be a good person.  Have I put my faith in Jesus Christ to save me?