Lesson 2 - Life Before Sin

    Suggested Bible Reading: Genesis, Chapter 2

    The Perfect World

    Did you ever wonder what it would be like to live in a perfect world? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live in a world where no one ever experienced trouble, sickness, disease, or death? Imagine a world that had no poverty, no struggle of war between nations, no criminals, and no tragedies. It is impossible for us to understand exactly how a world like that would look, because the only world that we have ever experienced has been filled with these very things. The Bible tells us in Genesis 1:31 that in the beginning, everything that God created was “very good.” After God created Adam, He put him in a perfect world, in the Garden of Eden. In this garden, God placed all of the vegetables and fruits that man would need to be strong, healthy, and happy. The earth’s weather was perfectly controlled by a mist that came up from the ground to provide water for all the plants. It never was too hot, too dry, too cold, or too wet. The animals lived in perfect harmony with each other and with Adam. God had provided for every need that man would have. Everything was perfect! God made all of this for Adam because He loved him.

    The Bible says in Genesis 2:8, “And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.” God didn’t ask Adam where he would like to live. God was the One who had made Adam, and God had the authority to put him where He wanted him, and to tell him what He wanted him to do. How would you feel if someone came into your house and started helping themselves to your valuables? What would you do about it? Does anyone have a right to come to your property and take the things that you own? Of course not! We need to understand that God is the maker and the owner of all things! Most people do not want to allow God to tell them how to live. However, since God made the world and God made you, God has the right to do whatever He wants. God has the right to tell us what to do. God has the right to tell us how we ought to live.

    The Choice of Life or Death

    With every privilege comes responsibility. God had given to man the greatest privilege in all the world. He created a perfect world for him to dwell in, and had made provision for his every need. God gave Adam the job to take care of the Garden of Eden. This was not a difficult task, because everything was perfect. It is interesting though that even in a perfect world, God gave Adam work to do, because it is good for a man to work! One of the best things that you can do for yourself is to learn to be a diligent, hard worker. Man can accomplish some amazing things when he works diligently at a task. If you have the physical strength to work, you ought to give thanks to God, and go do some work!

    God created two trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden; one was called the Tree of Life, and the other was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Bible says in Genesis 2:16-17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” When Adam was first created, he was innocent and able to live without having to choose to sin. God wanted Adam to have what was good, and God wanted to guide Adam to make wise choices. God gave clear instructions to Adam. God did not leave it up to Adam to decide what was right, and what was wrong. God told him which trees he could eat from and which tree he must leave alone! God warned Adam that if he ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that he would surely die. It was never God’s desire for Adam to die. In fact, God made Adam with the ability to live forever, without sickness or death. But God also made Adam with a special freedom to be able to choose his own destiny. God placed Adam in a perfect world, He gave Adam clear instructions of what to do and what not to do, He warned Adam of the consequences if he disobeyed, and He came each day to spend time with Adam. Now, the choice belonged to Adam, to see if he would choose to obey and please God or if he would choose to fulfill his own desires and ignore God’s instructions.

    God is still the same today. He has not left us on our own to try to decide what is right and wrong. He has given us a Bible to tell us what He wants us to do, and what He does not want us to do. God has given us the warning that there are consequences for our sin. The Bible says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Just as God warned Adam, He has warned us that we too will face the consequence of death because of our choices to sin against God. In the next lesson, we will discover what God meant when He told Adam that he would die for his sin.

    The Creation of the Family

    There are many different ideas today about marriage and families. Some people think that a
    marriage can be between a man and a woman, others believe it is ok to have more than one
    husband or wife, others believe it is ok for two men to be married, while others just live together and don’t believe that marriage is even necessary. Did you know that God is the One who began the institution of marriage and families? If we will allow the Bible to shape our ideas, we will understand what God thinks about marriage and how a family ought to be put together. The Bible says in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” God was Adam’s Creator, and He knew that Adam needed a wife to make him complete. God knew that Adam would not be perfectly fulfilled if he remained alone. God brought all of the animals to Adam, to show Adam that not one of the animals could provide the companionship that Adam needed. When Adam realized that he was without a companion, God then put Adam to sleep, and took one of his ribs, and formed a woman to be his wife. God made the first woman as a gift for man, and He expected Adam to take good care of her and to love her. Marriage was God’s perfect plan for Adam and Eve. They were perfectly designed to complete one another and together to become all that God wanted them to be.

    Even though thousands of years have passed since God made the first man and woman and began the institution of marriage, God still has not changed His mind or His rules about marriage. It is still God’s definition that a family is one man and one woman, lawfully united together in marriage, for the purpose of training up children to know, love, serve, and worship God. It doesn’t matter what your culture is, where you live, or what color your skin is; God’s rules are the same for EVERYONE. If we would simply follow God’s rules about marriage and families, we would have far less problems in our world today!

    Study Questions

    1. God created a perfect world for Adam and Eve to live in.
    2. Why did God have the authority to tell Adam how to live?
    3. God gave Adam and Eve everything that they needed to have a perfect life.
    4. God desired to see Adam and Eve choose to sin and die.
    5. God gave Adam work to do….
    6. God’s instructions to Adam were not very clear and hard to figure out.
    7. God has given us a to tell us what He wants us to do.
    8. God’s definition of a family is….
    9. God’s plan for marriage is different for Asian people than it is for American people.
    10. Is it possible that sexually transmitted diseases are a result of people ignoring God’s rules for marriage? Yes or No

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