Humans, along with creation were created very good (Genesis 1:31). We lived in the Garden for an indeterminate period of time. We were created to love God and each other, tend the Garden, and exercise freewill by choosing between good choices (Genesis 2:19). Our relationship was made possible because God loved us; He expected us to participate in the relationship. Our stance towards God before the Fall was naked/transparent/humble/obedient/healthy attachment.
One day, A&E decided to make a lesser good choice - to disobey God by misusing part of His creation. It didn't have to be eating of the forbidden fruit - they could have chosen to misuse any part of creation and suffered the same consequences. The tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was not a magic tree. The result of the Fall was the ability to make selfish choices by misusing creation for private gain. Even worse, after they were kicked out of the Garden and separated from an intimate relationship with God, they soon discovered that they were unable to make good choices! Even the most charitable behavior was tainted by a false inflation of the ego. There was no way of escaping this curse - we were slaves to sin and doomed to spend our life judging everything and everyone as 'good' or 'bad' in relationship to our own selfish desires. It took the love of Jesus to correct our focus - to teach us to escape the vain behavior of judging His creation in relationship to ourselves. The craziest part is He ended up dying at the hands of our judgment, but His love and His Spirit ended up triumphing over dualism and death and are still at work to change our hearts, renew our minds and conform our will to His own. It is through God's grace and His love that all humanity has been predestined to be in relationship with Him for all time and beyond. Of course, we have the freewill to reject His love and spend eternity apart from Him, but the exciting news is that He wishes for all to be transformed from selfish to selfless and redeemed from broken to wholeness. AMEN.
One day, A&E decided to make a lesser good choice - to disobey God by misusing part of His creation. It didn't have to be eating of the forbidden fruit - they could have chosen to misuse any part of creation and suffered the same consequences. The tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was not a magic tree. The result of the Fall was the ability to make selfish choices by misusing creation for private gain. Even worse, after they were kicked out of the Garden and separated from an intimate relationship with God, they soon discovered that they were unable to make good choices! Even the most charitable behavior was tainted by a false inflation of the ego. There was no way of escaping this curse - we were slaves to sin and doomed to spend our life judging everything and everyone as 'good' or 'bad' in relationship to our own selfish desires. It took the love of Jesus to correct our focus - to teach us to escape the vain behavior of judging His creation in relationship to ourselves. The craziest part is He ended up dying at the hands of our judgment, but His love and His Spirit ended up triumphing over dualism and death and are still at work to change our hearts, renew our minds and conform our will to His own. It is through God's grace and His love that all humanity has been predestined to be in relationship with Him for all time and beyond. Of course, we have the freewill to reject His love and spend eternity apart from Him, but the exciting news is that He wishes for all to be transformed from selfish to selfless and redeemed from broken to wholeness. AMEN.
