Unpicking the story of Adam and Eve to work out what really happened.

2. The Human Fall

3. Hell on Earth

4. The human condition
People
Conscience
Evil mind
Goodness, joy
Evil, guilt
Struggle

5. “I do not understand my own actions. For I
do not do what I want, but I do the very
thing I hate. For I know that nothing good
dwells in me, that is in my flesh. I can will
what is right but I cannot do it. For I do not
do the good I want, but the evil I do not
want is what I do.”
Romans 7:15-19

6. God would not create us
with opposing purposes
Good
Inclination
Evil
Inclination
2 contradictory
purposes
Like a broken
cup
Evil Good

7. The mystery of evil
 If everything God created was good,
where does evil come from?
 If God is good, almighty and knows what is
going on, why does He allow people to
suffer?

8. The story of Adam and Eve
Adam Eve
Serpent
Fruit
Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil
Tree of
Life

9. Biblical language
Much of the Bible is written in metaphor and symbol.
We need to understand how the people who wrote it
understood it.
E.g. A tree is a symbol for a person
“For the vineyard of the Lord is the
House of Israel, and the men of
Judah are his pleasant planting . . .”
Proverbs 11:30
“I am the vine, you are the branches.”
John 15:5

10. What was the serpent?
Serpent
Symbol?
Literal?
“Now the serpent was more
subtle than any other wild
creature that the Lord God
had made.” Genesis 3:1

11. “And that great dragon
was thrown down, that
ancient serpent, who is
called the Devil and
Satan, the deceiver of
the whole world; he
and his angels were
thrown down with him.”
Revelation 12:9
Serpent = Devil = Angel Lucifer

12. Did God create Satan?
 Everything God created was good
 Evil did not exist from the beginning
 Lucifer was created as a good angel
 He became an evil being
The Principle rejects dualism
Good and evil ‘gods’ always existed
Spiritual is good; physical is evil

13. Where do angels fit in?
 Created by God
 “You, Lord alone made heaven, the heaven
of heavens, with all their host, (angels) the
earth and everything.” Neh. 9:6
 How were they created?
 Praise ye him all his angels,
Let them praise the name of the Lord, for
he commanded and they were created.
Ps. l48:2,5

14.  When were they created?
 Where were you when I laid the foundations of
the earth? When the morning stars sang
together, and all the sons of God (angels)
shouted for joy? Job 38:1,4,7
 Helped God with the creation of man
“Let us make man in our image . . . .” Genesis 1:26
 Servants and messengers of God
 Take care of Adam and Eve
 To be servants of Adam and Eve
 “Do you not know that we are to judge the
angels?” I Corinthians 8:3

15. God’s commandment
“You may freely eat
of every tree of the
garden; but of the
tree of the
knowledge of good
and evil you shall
not eat, for in the
day that you eat of it
you shall die.”
Genesis 2:16-17

16. What was the fruit?
Fruit
Symbol?
Literal?
“Here and understand: not
what goes into the mouth
defiles a man, but what
comes out of the mouth,
this defiles a man.”
Matthew 15:10-11

17. Fruit in the Old Testament
“As an apple tree among the
trees of the wood, so is my
beloved among young men. With
great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my
taste.”
Song of Solomon 2:3-5

18. “A garden locked is my sister, my
bride, a garden locked, a fountain
sealed. Your shoots are an
orchard of pomegranates with all
choicest fruits.”
Song of Solomon 4:12-13

19. “Let my beloved come to his garden,
and eat its choicest fruits.”
Song of Solomon 4:16
“Under the apple tree I awakened
you. There your mother was in travail
with you.”
Song of Solomon 8:3

20. Eating - a metaphor for sex
“And to him who is without sense she
says, ‘Stolen water is sweet, and bread
eaten in secret is pleasant.’ But he does
not know that the dead are there, that her
guests are in the depths of Sheol.”
Proverbs 9:16-18

21. “This is the way of the adulteress, she
eats, and wipes her mouth and says,
‘I have done no wrong.’”
Proverbs 30:20

22. The meaning of the fruit
Trees multiply through fruit
People multiply through love
represents sexual love
The fruit was good and necessary for God’s plan to be realised

23. The Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil
The tree could produce either
good or evil fruit depending
on whether love was
God-centred or self-centred
‘To know’ a woman - a Biblical metaphor for sex

24. When should the fruit be eaten?
The fruit
Mature and married
Immature and unmarried
Goodness
Evil
God gave the commandment
to protect Adam and Eve

25. Our highest values –
realized through sexuality
 Love
 Life
 Lineage

26. What should have happened?
 Adam and Eve should have achieved
individual maturity – the First Blessing
 Then God would have blessed them in
divine marriage – the Second Blessing
 They would have had children and
established a happy family

27. Spiritual maturity
Do not “eat”
Period of
Growth
A E
G
C
Adam Eve
Free to “eat” Blessed in marriage

28. What did happen?
 Adam and Eve had children – Cain and Abel
 It was not a loving family – Cain murdered Abel
 Adam and Eve did not have a happy marriage
 Adam and Eve had a sexual relationship without
being blessed by God in marriage
 Adam and Eve did not fulfil the First Blessing
before they had a sexual relationship

29. Spiritual
Perfection
Fall
A E
G
C
Adam Eve
Free to “eat”
Do not “eat”
Adam Eve

30. What happened at
the fall?

31. What was the sin of the angel?
“Remember too the angels, how some of
them were not content to keep the
dominion given to them but abandoned
their proper home; and God has reserved
them for judgement on the great Day, . . .
Remember Sodom and Gomorrah and the
neighbouring towns; like the angels, they
committed fornication and followed
unnatural lusts; . . .”
Jude 6-7

32. What was the sin of Lucifer?
Lucifer committed
fornication – illicit
sexual relationship –
with Eve

33. What does the Qur’an say?
When they tasted of the tree, their private
parts became uncovered to them and they
began to cover themselves with the leaves
of paradise. Surah 7:22
Children of Adam! Let not Satan deceive
you in the manner he deceived your
parents out of Paradise, pulling off from
them their clothing to reveal to them their
shame. Surah 7:27

34. Possibility of sexual relationship
between humans and angels
• Records of substantial interaction between
human and spirit beings
All the emotions and sensations
felt between a person and
a spirit are exactly the same
as those felt between
earthly people. EDP, 63

35. What was the sin of Adam and
Eve?
Before the Fall:
“And the man and his wife were both naked, and
they were not ashamed.”
Genesis 2:25
After the Fall:
“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they
knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig
leaves together and made themselves aprons.”
Genesis 3:7
 Adam and Eve had an illicit sexual relationship

36. Other evidence that the fall was
an illicit sexual relationship
 ‘Picking a fruit’ - euphemism for sexual love
 God is love yet sexual love which is holy and
wholesome is often thought of as shameful
 Sexual immorality led to the downfall of great
men and nations
 Many social problems traced to broken homes

38. Immorality the worst sin
“Shun immorality. Every other sin which a
man commits is outside the body; but the
immoral man sins against his own body.
Do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which
you have from God?”
I Corinthians 6:18-19

39. Why did the fall
take place?

40. God
Lucifer
Angels
Universe
God
Lucifer
Angels
Universe
God
Lucifer
Angels
Universe
Adam & Eve
Children
of God
Adam & EveI Cor. 8:3
What should have happened?
Closest
to God
Servant of God

41. Adam was a child, not yet having his
understanding perfected. It was
necessary that he should grow and
so come to perfection.
Saint Irenaeus (130-200)

42. Lucifer’s responsibility
 Love Adam and Eve
 Receive love through Adam and Eve
 Serve Adam & Eve
 Multiply goodness with Adam and Eve

43. The process and motivation
of the fall

44. How did it all start?
God loved his children much
more than he loved his
servant Lucifer. God’s love
for Lucifer did not change.
It was the same before and
after the creation of human
beings. When Lucifer saw
that God loved Adam and
Eve more than him, he felt
as if there had been a
decrease in the love he
received from God. EDP, 63

45. What was the motivation
for the fall?
Lucifer, feeling as though he was
receiving less love than he
deserved, wanted to grasp the
same central position in human
society as he enjoyed in the
angelic world, as the channel of
God’s love. This was why he
seduced Eve and this was the
motivation of the spiritual fall.
EDP, 64

46. Rebellion in heaven
“How you are fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
Dawn! How you are cut down
to the ground, you who laid
the nations low. You said in
your heart, ‘I will ascend to
heaven; above the stars of
God I will set my throne on
high; . . . I will make myself
like the Most High.’”
Isaiah 14:12-14

47. What does the Qur’an say?
 We said to the angels: 'Prostrate before
Adam.’ They all prostrated except Iblis: he
was not one of those who fell prostrate.
 Allah said: 'What prevented you from
prostrating, when I commanded you to do
so?' He said: 'I am better than he. You
created me from fire, and him You created
from clay.’ Surah 7:11,12

48. Origin of the fall
Lucifer
Closest
to
God
God
Adam
Eve
Felt less love
Jealousy
Wanted to
rule humans
Parable of Labourers
in Vineyard Mt. 20:1-15
The fundamental motivation . . .
lay in the envy the Archangel felt
towards Adam, the beloved of God.
EDP, 72

49. What are envy and jealousy?
 Jealousy is the result or fear of losing someone or
something that one is attached to or possesses that
one believes one deserves to another person (e.g.
the transfer of a lover's affections)
 Envy is the resentment caused by another person
having something that one does not have, but
desires for oneself
 Malicious envy - wish that the other lacked something
and happy if they lose it even if one doesn’t get it
 Benign envy - a type of positive motivational force

50. How could Lucifer feel jealous?
How can there be anything such as envy and jealousy in
an archangel, whom God created for a good purpose?
The archangel was endowed with desire and intellect as
a part of his original nature. Because the archangel
possessed an intellect, he could compare and discern
that God's love for human beings was greater than the
love God gave to him. Because he also possessed
desires, he had a natural yearning for God to love him
more. This desire of the heart was naturally conducive to
envy and jealousy. Envy is an inevitable by-product of
the original nature, like the shadow cast by an object in
the light.

51. Lucifer tempts Eve
Lucifer
Desire for
unprincipled love
God
Adam
EveWanted to experience
love and become like
God before time was ripe
When Eve responded to his
temptation, the angel felt
the stimulation of her love
to be deliciously enticing.
EDP, 64

52. Lucifer’s lie
“ ‘You will not surely die’, the serpent said
to the woman. ‘When you eat it your eyes
will be opened, and you will be like
God…’ ”
Genesis 3:4

53. Fall between Lucifer and Eve
Eve Lucifer
Illicit
sexual
relationship
Spiritual
only
Eve before the Fall
was open to sensing the
spiritual dimension
Eve received from Lucifer
• Feeling of dread from guilty
conscience
• Lucifer’s wisdom that Adam
was intended spouse

54. Adam and Eve

55. Eve tempts Adam
Lucifer
Rid herself of guilt
and stand before
God
God
Adam
Eve

56. Results of the second fall
Lucifer
Fear
Guilt
Premature
knowledge
God
Adam
Eve

57. Fall between Adam and Eve
Adam Eve Lucifer
Illicit
sexual
relationship
Both
spiritual
and
physical

58. What were the
consequences of
the fall?

59. God’s heart was broken
 God lost object of his love, the very purpose
for which He had created the universe
 Infinite love infinite grief, sorrow, hurt
 God was betrayed by Lucifer whom He had
trusted to take care of His children
 God screaming at what happened to His
children
 God weeps at the way His world is

60. “You shall say to them this word: ‘Let my
eyes run down with tears night and day,
and let them not cease, for the virgin
daughter of my people is smitten with a
great wound, with a very grievous blow. If I
go into the field, behold, those slain by the
sword! And if I enter the city, behold, the
diseases of famine.’”
Jeremiah 14:17-18

61. “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. And the Lord
was sorry that he had made man on the
earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”
Genesis 6:5-6

62. Loss of relationship with God
“My soul thirsts for God, for the living
God . . . My tears have been my food
day and night . . .”
Psalms 42:1

63. How did Satan come to rule?
Lucifer
Adam
Eve
“The woman whom you gave to be with me,
she gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate.”
“The serpent
beguiled me, and I
ate.”
God: “Where are you?”
“Who told you that
you were naked?
“Have you eaten of
the tree of which I
commanded you
not to eat?”
Adam blamed Eve; Eve blamed Lucifer.
Denial of responsibility; denial of position; loss of freedom

64. Loss of the first blessing
Sinful
Person
Mind Body
Satan
Conflict between
spirit and flesh
People born with
original sin
“You are of your father the devil, and
your will is to do your father’s desires.”
John 8:44
Object Subject
Addiction
Greed
Laziness
Lust
Dishonesty
Contradictory nature
Good inclination vs evil inclination
Confused identity

65. Loss of the second blessing
Society
Nation
World
Fallen
Family
Adam
Satan
Eve
“I will greatly multiply
your pain in child-
bearing; in pain you
shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be
for your husband and he
shall rule over you.”
Genesis 3:16
Unfaithfulness
Abuse
Tyranny
Violence

66. Loss of the third blessing
Hell
Person Creation
Satan
“Cursed is the ground
because of you; in toil
you shall eat of it all
the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it
shall bring forth to
you.”
Genesis 3:17-19
Materialism
Consumerism
Environmental
degradation

67. Next
Why didn’t God stop the fall
and other issues