The Fall

Temptation

Imagine the scene: your mum is out for the afternoon and she says that you can have any snack you like from the kitchen … apart from the jar of freshly baked cookies.

How incredibly tempting it would be to help yourself to one of those warm, delicious-smelling cookies, even though it was your mum’s only instruction not to.

Perhaps you cope well when you feel tempted. However, this unfortunately wasn’t the case for Adam and Eve.

The Garden of Eden

The Bible indicates that Adam and Eve had everything they could ever want.

Genesis Chapter Two tells us that God placed them into a beautiful garden with rivers and “trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.”

God only had one simple instruction for Adam and Eve. They were free to eat from any tree in the garden, except for one.

This tree was referred to as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Satan

The Bible details how God’s enemy, Satan, took the form of a serpent. He tempted Eve, then Adam, to eat the forbidden fruit with a false promise of getting even more than God had already given them.

Adam and Eve gave in. They disobeyed God’s only instruction. Christians refer to the act of disobeying God’s rules as sin.

Right from that moment everything changed. Adam and Eve lost their innocence, they hid from God because they were feeling ashamed and afraid.

God then banished them from His beautiful garden.

A path to Heaven

Christians believe that Adam and Eve’s greatest punishment was separation from God and a broken relationship with Him.

This punishment would be passed down to all their relatives. In other words, everyone!

Often called the Fall, this event means humans cannot make themselves perfect and obedient enough to get into Heaven when they die.

Many years later, Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead. The Bible states that this was God’s way of making sure people had a path to Heaven, as Jesus had taken the punishment handed on to us from Adam and Eve.

Christians believe that it is only possible for us to get into Heaven because Jesus Christ sacrificed himself.

Use your free will for good

Adam and Eve had free will, and they chose to use it negatively.

Throughout history, there have been people whose free will has led them to create weapons, start wars and commit crimes.

But everyone has a responsibility to think of how their actions will affect other people.

We know the difference between good and evil, and we can choose to do good things.

Take up the challenge! Why don’t you choose to get involved with the likes of food banks, fundraising activities, giving gifts or beach clean-ups?

Now that you know the Christian story of the Fall, learn how Jesus offered hope to people in his ministry.