Creation and the Fall of Mankind
Before there was anything, God was not alone. In Himself dwells a community of three persons. This is a great mystery and difficult to explain but very important and true. God is Father, God is Son, and God is Holy Spirit. Each personality is unique and yet perfectly in harmony with each other. God created many creatures to share his community of three. The Bible tells us these unseen creatures are called angels or messengers of God. They are magnificent and powerful but the one known as Satan became very proud and thought he should be equal with God. Together with about one third of all the angels, Satan is in rebellion against God. These “fallen angels” are now called demons.
In the beginning of what we call time, God decided to create a new being and the Bible tells us that they would be “in His own image”. This new creature was man. However, man would be different from the angels in several ways. First, they would have physical bodies that require an environment. So, God created the heavens and the earth to be the dwelling place of man. Second, the originals would be able to produce offspring that could also reproduce. So, God created both man and woman. Finally, these human beings would be a unique combination of mind, body and soul that in some mysterious way was similar to their creator. Humans are not now and never will be God. However, we are a special creation of God that has the ability to relate to Him in a unique manner.
All that we know exists was created by God as the physical environment for man. God designed it perfectly. However, we know that the earth and mankind is not perfect. So, what happened?
This is the story of mankind’s fall from perfection. When God was finished creating all things that exist He placed man in the Garden of Eden. The Bible tells us that God called this first man, Adam and his wife, the first woman was called Eve. They were placed in a perfect environment with clean air and consistently warm temperature and cool breezes in the evening. The animals all co-existed without the need to attack or harm one another because God provided plants and water for their sustenance. Adam and Eve were provided the various fruits of trees to eat and it was more than sufficient. All that God created was good. Community life between God and man was perfect. Until one day Satan decided to disrupt the harmony between God and man.
Satan had the ability to appear in various shapes and the Bible tells us that he came to Eve one day as a beautiful serpent creature that could speak. Satan asked Eve if she had ever tasted the fruit of the tree located in the center of the garden. This tree was one –of-a-kind. God called it the tree of knowledge between good and evil. He had warned both Adam and Eve never to eat of its fruit or they would die. Eve told Satan what God had said but Satan lied and told her that they would not die. Satan told Eve that if she ate of this fruit she would become like God and know all things. He also tempted her by saying that the fruit was the most delicious of all God’s creation. Eve was weak and perhaps a little envious of the “forbidden knowledge” so she took fruit from the special tree, ate some and gave some to Adam who was nearby. He also ate. They did not physically die but they became aware of their nakedness and were ashamed for their disobedience so they made clothes from leaves and hid from God. When God came looking for them He knew already what they had done. He called them out and informed them that they had broken the special relationship between God and mankind by their act of disobedience which the Bible calls Sin.
The punishment for this original Sin was the death of their individual soul or spirit. Their physical bodies would also now suffer the curse that God proclaimed. God ordered them out of the Garden of Eden and put a faithful Angel to guard the entrance so that man could never return. He cursed the serpent form that Satan had used to deceive Eve and said that it must always crawl on its belly in the dust of the earth. He also created a natural fear between serpent and human so that we would crush them with our heels but they would bite us in the foot. Eve was punished with additional pain during childbirth and was put under the authority of her husband. Adam was cursed to work hard all his life in an effort to produce food by the sweat of his brow in order to survive. The entire universe was cursed because of Man’s Original Sin and is suffering the effect of degeneration.
The guilt of Adam has been inherited by all of his ancestors. That includes you and me here today. We suffer all our physical lives to survive but each and every one of us eventually dies physically. The real problem many of us are not even aware of is the spiritual death we also inherited from our common forefather Adam. This spiritual death means separation from God eternally. Our souls or spirits are dead to God. We are eternally separated from His community. This serious problem is not without hope. The Bible teaches us that God loves us, His creation, so much that He provided a solution. We will learn more about this “Good News” as were hear the stories from God’s Word, the Bible.
Jun 20, 2011
Story Set # 2 Noah and the Flood
Noah and the Flood
God’s purpose for creating mankind was to develop a community. Humans would have to be perfectly obedient to God in order to live in community with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, we know that our common ancestors Adam and Eve failed to be obedient. They disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and were punished with both physical and spiritual death. What then has become of God’s plan for a perfect community? The Bible tells us the stories of God’s actions throughout human history to correct the problem that we are not able to fix.
All humans have inherited Adam’s disobedient nature. We struggle to do the right thing and try to obey our God-given conscience but without exception we all eventually fail and disobey God. The Bible calls disobedience to God “sin” and teaches that everyone is a sinner. Spiritually we are all separated from God’s community because we have inherited Adam’s sinful nature. God, however, is perfectly fair and holds us most accountable for our own individual disobedience.
This is the story of mankind’s punishment for sin.
Adam and Eve multiplied and the number of people on earth grew rapidly. God continued to bless His creation in spite of their tendency towards disobedience. Unfortunately, mankind responded to God’s loving care not with obedience but with ever increasing evil. One day God observed how wicked the people’s thoughts were and became sorry that He had ever created mankind. He decided to destroy what He had created. But in all the earth one man called Noah found favor in the sight of God.
Noah consistently obeyed God and enjoyed the intimate relationship of their community. God told Noah of His plan to destroy His creation with water because it had become totally corrupt. He instructed Noah to build a special structure out of wood and seal it with tar, inside and out. God gave Noah very specific details for building a craft that would float on the water as it rose and covered all the earth. It would be a large boat that had the capacity to hold Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives and miraculously two of every kind of creature that lived on the earth at that time. Noah worked very hard on the boat for many years and did everything exactly as God commanded. Then he began collecting sufficient food for his family and all the animals in accordance with God’s instructions. Finally, God called a male and female pair of all the animals He had created and brought them to Noah to be placed in stalls on the boat. He also told Noah to take along extra pairs of male and female animals that had been approved for eating and offering to God as a sacrifice. At last the day came when God said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I consider you alone to be righteous.” Noah and his family entered the boat and God shut them inside. It began to rain.
For forty days and nights waters from beneath the earth burst forth and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. Flood waters began to rise and cover the earth but Noah’s boat floated safely on the surface. Finally, the water covered even the highest peaks on earth and all things that lived on land and breathed air died. Mankind was completely destroyed except for Noah and his family which God had preserved in accordance with His plan for salvation.
Then God sealed up the underground water and the rains stopped but the flood waters covered the earth for 150 days. As God sent a strong wind to blow across the waters the flood began to go down. Exactly five months from the time the flood began, Noah’s boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (a region in modern day Turkey). Two and a half months later, as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks began to appear. After another forty days, Noah opened the window God had instructed him to build in the boat and sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground. It returned because the water was still too high. Seven days later he released a dove again and it returned with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. A week later, Noah released the dove and this time it did not come back. Finally, after ten and a half months the earth was again dry and God said to Noah, “Leave the boat, all of you.”
Noah built an altar of stones and sacrificed animals to God that had been approved for that purpose. God was pleased with the sacrifice because He knew that Noah was grateful for the protection and care that his family had received. God blessed Noah and his family and told them, “Multiply and fill the earth. I promise never to send another flood like this and have placed my rainbow in the clouds as a reminder of this covenant. Never again will there be a flood that destroys all life.” Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah, survived the flood with their father. From these three sons of Noah came all the people now scattered across the earth.
Again we can see that God desires community with His creation. Even when mankind becomes totally corrupted and deserves punishment for their sin, God provides a solution that we cannot provide for ourselves. His love for us is so great that He has provided a lifeboat big enough to hold everyone who will obediently respond to the invitation to join His Community.
God’s purpose for creating mankind was to develop a community. Humans would have to be perfectly obedient to God in order to live in community with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, we know that our common ancestors Adam and Eve failed to be obedient. They disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and were punished with both physical and spiritual death. What then has become of God’s plan for a perfect community? The Bible tells us the stories of God’s actions throughout human history to correct the problem that we are not able to fix.
All humans have inherited Adam’s disobedient nature. We struggle to do the right thing and try to obey our God-given conscience but without exception we all eventually fail and disobey God. The Bible calls disobedience to God “sin” and teaches that everyone is a sinner. Spiritually we are all separated from God’s community because we have inherited Adam’s sinful nature. God, however, is perfectly fair and holds us most accountable for our own individual disobedience.
This is the story of mankind’s punishment for sin.
Adam and Eve multiplied and the number of people on earth grew rapidly. God continued to bless His creation in spite of their tendency towards disobedience. Unfortunately, mankind responded to God’s loving care not with obedience but with ever increasing evil. One day God observed how wicked the people’s thoughts were and became sorry that He had ever created mankind. He decided to destroy what He had created. But in all the earth one man called Noah found favor in the sight of God.
Noah consistently obeyed God and enjoyed the intimate relationship of their community. God told Noah of His plan to destroy His creation with water because it had become totally corrupt. He instructed Noah to build a special structure out of wood and seal it with tar, inside and out. God gave Noah very specific details for building a craft that would float on the water as it rose and covered all the earth. It would be a large boat that had the capacity to hold Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives and miraculously two of every kind of creature that lived on the earth at that time. Noah worked very hard on the boat for many years and did everything exactly as God commanded. Then he began collecting sufficient food for his family and all the animals in accordance with God’s instructions. Finally, God called a male and female pair of all the animals He had created and brought them to Noah to be placed in stalls on the boat. He also told Noah to take along extra pairs of male and female animals that had been approved for eating and offering to God as a sacrifice. At last the day came when God said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I consider you alone to be righteous.” Noah and his family entered the boat and God shut them inside. It began to rain.
For forty days and nights waters from beneath the earth burst forth and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. Flood waters began to rise and cover the earth but Noah’s boat floated safely on the surface. Finally, the water covered even the highest peaks on earth and all things that lived on land and breathed air died. Mankind was completely destroyed except for Noah and his family which God had preserved in accordance with His plan for salvation.
Then God sealed up the underground water and the rains stopped but the flood waters covered the earth for 150 days. As God sent a strong wind to blow across the waters the flood began to go down. Exactly five months from the time the flood began, Noah’s boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (a region in modern day Turkey). Two and a half months later, as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks began to appear. After another forty days, Noah opened the window God had instructed him to build in the boat and sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground. It returned because the water was still too high. Seven days later he released a dove again and it returned with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. A week later, Noah released the dove and this time it did not come back. Finally, after ten and a half months the earth was again dry and God said to Noah, “Leave the boat, all of you.”
Noah built an altar of stones and sacrificed animals to God that had been approved for that purpose. God was pleased with the sacrifice because He knew that Noah was grateful for the protection and care that his family had received. God blessed Noah and his family and told them, “Multiply and fill the earth. I promise never to send another flood like this and have placed my rainbow in the clouds as a reminder of this covenant. Never again will there be a flood that destroys all life.” Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah, survived the flood with their father. From these three sons of Noah came all the people now scattered across the earth.
Again we can see that God desires community with His creation. Even when mankind becomes totally corrupted and deserves punishment for their sin, God provides a solution that we cannot provide for ourselves. His love for us is so great that He has provided a lifeboat big enough to hold everyone who will obediently respond to the invitation to join His Community.
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