For Beginners

In the beginning, God created man in his own image. At home in paradise, man was meant to live forever. Because man would otherwise have remained blind to the higher reality of divine love, God gave him the choice to obey or to rebel. Adam was told:

You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die (Genesis 2:16-17).

Death was the fatal consequence to the sin of rebellion. When Adam partook of the forbidden fruit, he no longer had access to the paradise that was meant for him and his wife Eve. Thus, it is written:

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you. ... By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” ... And the LORD God said, “The man...must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken (Genesis 3:17-23).

After the fall, the bridge between creation and its Creator was severely broken. Sin separates us from the one true God who created you and the Universe. There is a spiritual death which will separate the sinner from God in heaven, as all unrepentant sinners are sent to eternal hell.

		For Serious Students
		For Advanced Students