The Fall of Man is written in too legible characters not to be understood: those that deny it, by their denying, prove it. -- George WhitefieldThe Cosmos was created perfect. God pronounced it good.
Until He gave it to us.
Should any of you not know what I mean when I discuss the Fall of Man, let me recap:
God created the universe in 6 days. Created Eden (Garden Paradise). Stocked it with everything man could want. God called creation good. It was unblemished, there was no sin, and no death. Adam (first man) called Eve (first woman) good. Everyone was happy. There was only one rule: One fruit from one tree in the entire garden was off-limits. Satan, in the form of a serpent, deceived Eve, she ate. She tempted Adam, and he ate. Both now sinful, were kicked out of Eden, were cursed, and became subject to death. All of the upheaval here on Earth, and the suffering in creation stems from that original act of disobedience.
Many people find this account difficult to accept as fact. Jesus was not one of them.
The two things people have the most difficulty with, in our culture are (1) the stark contrast before / after The Fall, and (2) the severity of the judgement for the sin once committed.
Have trouble believing the mess we live in now could ever have been in perfect balance? Consider decay. Over time, that which is in order, falls into disorder unless an outside force acts upon it. This can be seen in small scale, such as a room becoming dusty, or a large scale, such as the decaying orbits of planets and collapsing stars. It is therefore quite sensible to believe that the world was once more ordered than it is now.
With an Omnipotent, All-Wise God having Created it, why would it have been made to be anything less than perfect?
So, we see the world as it is now. We have Hurricanes, Famine, War, and horror shows like this. How could it happen? Did God mess it up?
Not at all. We did.
In corrupting ourselves with sin, we ourselves became subject to death, decay, and a vast array of resulting symptoms affecting our body, mind and emotions. (Genesis 3:16-19) The corruption of sin affected the world around us, as well.
Was that a reasonable response by God?
As though God's motives needed our approval! But let's play along, anyway, shall we?
We know God to be innately and thoroughly Holy. Sin is a direct affront to His Holiness. Therefore, the only view He may hold toward Sin is hostility.
It's not like any of the excuses we usually use would fit. "They did it because of their parents. Society. Poverty. Ignorance. The law was too severe. That was the only fruit they had to eat. It's the Government's fault." They did it to be 'Like God'. They were profoundly ungrateful to the God who made them, and wanted to usurp His authority for themselves.
God instituted death as the consequence for sin. Scripture specifically demonstrates His desire that man not live eternally in his fallen state. Why? Because if death did not intervene, man would 'live' eternally, becoming more offensive, shameful, and sinful, the longer his existance continued. There would be no point of redemption, as the method of redemption (sacrifical death -- see next post) would be impossible.
Man would become the undead monster that so many horror stories evoke. A body posessed with the ability to move, a spark of reason, leaving him little more than a predatory animal, with a permanent obstinancy to the One source of True Life. Always dying, but never dead. For God to leave us in that state would be far worse than to permit the death which comes. And if sinful man could not die, since God is hostile to sin, God would be eternally hostile to man.
Or, God could have killed them instantly. He did not, but He could have. Instead, He allowed the establishing of family. Descendants, cities nations. Had he killed instantly, his highest creation would have been forever lost.
But God had a better way... (here)
