Creation & the Fall

In the beginning....

everything has its being in the sovereign God.

Why did God look at the physical creation and call it good?
What is the basis of this goodness?

God was anticipating how you and I would enjoy all the handiwork He made, all in perfect proportion to mankind, to whom God has given a very special charge.

The intolerable compliment

The beginning of a long and growing relationship between the heavenly Father and his children is anticipated. The dominant theme of this relationship is God's love.

The relationship between the Creator and creature. Our life is at every moment supplied by Him. He has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense.

The more love there is, the more we are bothered to be loved. But God loves us and really wants us to change for the better.

The Fall
God created things which had free will. Freedom to choose or to reject. To love is the most free thing we can do. The entry to the inner sanctum of our heart is entirely ours to give or withhold. One who seeks genuine love must allow the other person the option of rejection. If there is no way to reject someone, then there is no way to love that person either. Any love under such circumstances would be illusory.
Love=Freedom

The choice to reject
Many people have misconstrued that the forbidden fruit was a kind of trap which God designed for the downfall of mankind. In fact, every significant relationship has its own built in forbidden fruit. E.g.
Husband and wife ~ adultery
Friends ~ disloyalty

These prohibitions define each relationship, provide boundary lines which the relationship can achieve beauty and provide security. Without theses, the relationship will lose their meaning and significance in our lives.

To reject someone who has a relationship with you is one of the most hurtful things that can be done. That is why any form of betrayal(a weapon only in the hands of those you love) hurts so much.

Essence of sin
The "I" problem. Which is also called pride.
Adam and Eve, they decided to serve themselves and not God. Sin is the inner desire to rule over self and play "God" in our lives.

The denial of our relationship with God is the essence of sin.

Life without God
As a result of the first sin, death entered into human life and is an inevitable reality. Death is the only unconquerable enemy of mankind but also causes us to see with greater clarity the proper priorities of life.

"You cannot understand the meaning of life so do not think about it, but live,I can no longer do it; I have already done it too long. I cannot now help seeing day and night bringing me to death. That is all I see, for that alone is true. All else is false (Leo Tolstoy).

Photo credit: philgold.wordpress.com
p.s. life is beautiful