REAL Bible Stories

Last time, we talked about The Seven Days of Creation. Your Sunday School teacher may have told you that Adam and Eve were the first humans, and that God made them and the Garden of Eden in those first seven days. But that’s not what the Bible says!

Genesis 1:27 tells us,

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

So, God created a whole bunch of people! Adam wasn’t the first person . . . He was the first Jew!

Genesis 2:7, God creates Adam. He makes him out of dirt and breathes the breath of life into his nostrils. Just like you might blow in the nose of a Resusci-Anne doll when learning CPR!

God then created the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8-14), and put Adam in it as the caretaker. God said to Adam, “You can eat from every tree in the garden except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of that tree, you will die that very day!” (Gen. 2:16-17)

Since God wasn’t able to be around all the time, He decided that Adam should have an assistant. It’s just like you leaving your dog home all day while you’re at school. Your dog gets lonely, left all alone! So you leave the radio on, or you get a puppy to keep him company.

God tried making all kinds of animals for Adam, and had him name each and every one of them. But he couldn’t find a suitable assistant among the bunch! (Probably because very few of them had opposable thumbs.) (Gen. 2:18-20).

Since God wasn’t having any luck making Adam an assistance from dirt, He gave Adam a strong anesthetic and tore out one of his ribs. From this, He made a female clone of Adam, and gave her to him as a present. (Gen. 21-22)

Adam was made from dirt. So, why do you suppose God couldn’t make a good assistant for Adam from dirt?

God created a clone of Adam (using Adam’s tissue to create a new person). Why do you think there are so many Christians who are against all forms of cloning? God did it, why shouldn’t we?

Along came the serpent.

Your Sunday school teacher may have told you that Satan came into the garden disguised as a talking snake. The Bible doesn’t say that. It just says that the serpent was very clever (Gen. 3:1). Since Satan is described in other parts of the Bible as a serpent, people have interpreted the serpent to be Satan.

The serpent had some important information for Eve. It asked her if God had told her she could eat from any tree in the garden. She said, “Well, we can eat from any of the trees except that one in the middle of the garden. He says that we shouldn’t eat from it or even touch it, because we will die.”

The snake knew this wasn’t true. (I think he had already eaten from it himself!) He said, “No, you won’t die. God just knows that if you eat from the tree, you’ll be like Him and know good from evil!”

That sounded pretty good to Eve, because she was naked and not very intelligent and figured she could change for the better. (The snake may be an ancestor of Oprah, who also teaches people ways to improve themselves.)

So, Eve ate the fruit and found that, contrary to what God had said, she didn’t die! Not wanting to be superior to her husband, she gave some to Adam to eat.

>POOF!< The magic fruit made them able to understand good from evil. For the first moment, they knew the difference between right and wrong!

If Adam and Eve didn’t know good from evil, then how could they know that it was wrong to disobey God until they’d already done so?

They also suddenly realized that they were prancing about naked, and that God — who had made Adam from dirt and cloned him to make Eve — might SEE them naked! So they made aprons for themselves out of fig leaves, thus beginning the garment industry we know today.

Later that day (Genesis 3:8), they heard God walking in the garden and hid from Him. God called out to Adam, asking where he was.

God knows everything. Why wouldn’t He know exactly where Adam was, and what Adam and Eve had been up to?

Adam came from his hiding place and admitted what he had done . . . that the woman had given him fruit from the tree and he ate it.

Once Adam had blamed Eve, she spoke up and said that the snake had tricked her.

As you can see, failing to take personal responsibility for our decisions isn’t a new thing.

Now, God was very angry. He cursed the snake to go on his belly forever. No more legs for snakes!

Then, God told Eve that she’d have great pain in childbirth, and always be a servant to her husband.

Wasn’t Eve created to be Adam’s assistant anyway? How is this a change?

God then cursed Adam, saying that since he couldn’t obey a simple command, he’d have to work for a living to raise food for himself.

God tore the skins off some animals to make outfits for Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:21). Thus began the fashion industry.

Do you think God killed the animals before He took their skins to make clothes?

God then said, “Look at this, the man is like us now, and knows good from evil; next, he might eat from the Tree of Life too, and live forever!” (Gen. 3:22) So, He cast Adam and Eve out of the garden, and posted Cherubim, terrifying four-faced and four-winged creatures, with flaming swords to guard the Tree of Life.

What do you think? God knows everything, including the future . . . so that means that before He created Adam and Eve, He knew that they would eat fruit from the tree. He also knew the snake would talk Eve into trying it.

I hope you and your friends enjoy discussing this Real Bible Story!