In our last Gems From Genesis article,, we focused on Genesis 1:31: “And God saw that it was very good.” And truly it was, but as we look around our world today, we see many things that are NOT good. How do we reconcile these things with the Bible? How do we reconcile them with a loving, powerful Creator God?
We need to read further in Genesis. Genesis 3 describes the steps leading up to the tragic event that theologians have come to call The Fall. The first human beings, Adam and Eve, had been created in the image of God, placed in a beautiful garden, given abundant provision for all their needs, provided with meaningful work, and blessed with daily personal communion with their Creator. And yet, even in these most ideal of all conditions, they turned their backs on God and chose to go their own way. The result was thorns and thistles, pain, suffering, and death that impacted not only Adam and Eve, but also all their as yet unborn children all the way down to us.
There are many lessons for us in the account of the Fall – many things for us to learn. We plan to look at some of these in future issues, but for now, we ask the questions: Can we believe this account? Is it consistent with observable evidence? I believe it is.
Just pick up a newspaper, turn on the evening news, or look at the world around to see clear evidence of the truth of the Genesis 3 account. Drought, famine, hurricanes, flooding, tornados, earthquakes, plagues, and epidemics ravage the earth. Along with these “natural” disasters come wars, racism, genocide, rape, abuse, political injustice and all sorts of evidence of human depravity on a worldwide scale, while closer to home, we and our loved ones deal with sickness, genetic deformities, accidents, financial struggles, broken relationships and more. Yes, there is abundant evidence of the Fall.
The book of Genesis provides a foundation for understanding our world and the human condition. It reveals answers that we could find nowhere else. We see evidence of God’s creativity and power – of complexity and design – of love and goodness. But we also see evidence that something is desperately wrong with our world – we see evidence of the Fall. The evidence is consistent with the Word. God’s Word and His world agree!
Originally published in the July/August 2008 issue of Think & Believe newsletter.
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