Bible Question: What was the First Sin?

One of the things that I hate more than anything is when someone at work overhears me mentoring someone (usually concerning a divorce situation - that stuff is running wild where I work at) and they later approach me. They usually start off with the "I overheard the advice you were giving so-and-so and it sounded like Christian advice. Are you a Christian?" This is usually followed by the "me too!" routine and then they start telling me how good and holy they are and how they never would allow themselves to get so excited over a football game like I do becuase that's so worldly. They put themselves on a pedestal and try to elevate themselves in my eyes. All I want to do is go get them another piece of that forbidden fruit and say munch away.I'd much rather work with a group of non-christians than the leagalistic head hunter variety that I run into. Actually, that whole "better than you" gig is just a manifestation of the pride that people carry which God says he hates. I have a problem with the issue of pride myself so don't let me make anyone thing that I have that mastered by any call. It's just easier to do my job without having to listen to someone quacking about how holy they are.The first sin commited in the garden was actually the harboring of pride by both Adam and Eve. That's why God judged them both the same. They weren't created perfect, just sinless to start. They were given a sin nature because they were given the opportunity to sin with the choice of produce in the garden section. It would make no sense for God to give them the opportunity to sin without the ability also. The Serpent took full advantage of this with his conversation. The fact that Eve added to the directive given by God means that they had discussed the issue at some length before the encounter with the Serpent. If after such a discussion they had agreed with God's directive, the conversation would have ended with either or both quoteing God and then pressing on. The fact that they were in close proximity to the tree when atleast some of the serpent's conversation happened shows that they had doubts prior to anything the serpent said and this stems from pride.Personally, I think that God would have called them on their pride anyhow just as he called Cain on his. Some say that God set man up for failure by stacking the deck against him, but I look at it more like God was looking for the purest form of worship that could be solicited. If you have a created being that is given a free will, an ability to sin and the tools to commit it, along with a crafty salesman (salessnake) and the created being chooses to forego the sin and worship the creator instead as the creator specifies, then you have genuine love and adoration in the purest form.Since the fall became manifest, God didn't trash the plan of pure worship from his created beings, but now added more value into man by paying for the debt himself. I personallly cannot understand the great value that God sees in us. I love my wife and kids imeasurably. I would instantly give my life to save theirs which is the ultimate act of love according to the Bible. But the Bible says that all the hairs on everyone's head are numbered by God. As much as I love my wife and kids, I have yet to do any more than to curse at the ammount of hair that I have to clean out of the hair brushes stuffed in the left hand drawer in the bathroom sink vanity.

Hi Rrhain,I read your reply to my post so I thought I'd respond to a couple of the points you raise.Quoteing you,

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Where? Where on earth do you find that verse in the Bible? Again, I've read through Genesis 3 three times just to make sure I didn't miss it and I can't find a single thing in there that even remotely resembles this. The serpent says only two things:

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The Bible also never says that God told Eve to stay the heck away from the funky tree in the center. That directive was given to Adam before Eve was created. So how do you suppose she gained the knowledge to respond to the serpent? It was either passed on to her by Adam and since she added to the directive shows that she either didn't understand the directive or felt so indignant of the restriction that she sarcastically added to it, or the serpent told her or by this time there was a sign of "park rules" placed near the main attraction.You also equated Adam and Eve to toddlers as a comparison to their level of knowledge concerning good and evil and obedience. I can't speak dogmatic of this but the Bible does say that God gave Adam full diminion over the earth and charged him with the responsiblilty to care for the garden. So I don't know to what extent full dominion means but if he had control over the forces of the weather and of the earth, he would have had to have been given considerable knowledge of how to use this. It would also make logical sense though not explicitly stated in the Bible that Adam would have had sufficient intellect to converse with God. It would not seem logical for God to create a mental midget and put him in an arena where a poor choice held such high ramifications.The Bible states that when God formed the Garden to put Adam in, the trees were fully formed and already bearing fruit, not freshly planted seedlings and God saying "in about 25 years you are going to have a real feast in this place", so to surmise that God also gave Adam sufficient intellegence without requireing him to live 50 years before he could tell his own butt from a hole in the ground is not unreasonable to me, but I will admit that is my opinion and not Biblical fact.I apoligise for causing you to re-read Genesis several times and in the future I will try to clarify when I am using my own conjecture vs. employing actual Biblical scripture. Again, sorry for the confussion.[This message has been edited by Lizard Breath, 11-25-2003]

Rrhain,The serpent did lie to Eve when he told her that she would not die but have her eyes opened and be like Gods knowing good from evil.First, since he addresses the difference between the two (good and evil) tells me that the subject was of sincere interest to both Adam and Eve. If not, the serpent would have just said "You'll become as God, having your eyes opened and you won't die". Since Eve didn't ask the serpent "What's death, good and evil?" they must have already had sufficient instruction from God as to what those concepts were. The serpent also capitalized on the fact that both Adam and Eve were on a wisdom quest. I surmise this because the Bible says that Eve saw that the fruit was desireable to make one wise, and she chowed.Finally, the serpent told a lie by telling a half truth because once they ate the forbidden fruit, they died a spiritual death. God didn't say that the day you sin you will surely die but the day you eat of the forbidden fruit you will. Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves from God because they were afraid. Afraid of what I don't know but they never questioned God as to if he was going to dust them. All the Bible says is that they were afraid of God because they were naked, not because they thought he was coming to kick some boodiac and take names. But they never experienced communion with God again according to the Bible. If God would have dusted them right then and there, it would not make sence to mention it in Genesis because we would all be from a different set of Adam and Eve 2.1.4 or even later revisions. They both lived for a time, procreated and then died a physical death.No other human according to the Bible ever communed with God the way Adam did until Jesus.