Question:
If Adam and Eve ate from the tree of life, then why should we suffer for their mistake? Why should eternal physical life be pulled from us? These are questions that no one had ever gave me. I don’t even go to church anymore. Please help me find the answers to my questions.?
Answer:
Adam and Eve did not sin by eating of the Tree of Life, but by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Genesis 2:16,17 says, “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.” Genesis 3:1-8 says, “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.” Because of their sin, we are born with sin natures. Romans 5:12 says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
Now it is real easy to sit back and criticize Adam and Eve, but what have we all done? The same thing as they did — we have disobeyed the Lord. How many times have we willingly chose to do something that was not right? Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” I John 1:8 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” So who are we to complain about Adam and Eve, when we have also disobeyed God ourselves?
Yes, we suffer the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin — just like others suffer the consequences of our sin. If an expecting mother is sinning by taking drugs, her little baby will be born addicted to the same drugs. The baby will suffer consequences because of the mother’s sin. If a dad drinks liquor; drives; and kills someone, his children will suffer the consequences of his sin as he sits in prison, and is unable to care for his family as he ought to do.
You mentioned that you are not even attending church any more. That is sin. Hebrews 10:25 says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Who is suffering the consequences of your sin? A wife who wants to go to church with her husband, but he will not go? Children who are not in church learning about God, because their dad is bitter against God and thinks that life is unfair? The people that are around you who are also not being encouraged to love and serve God, but are being emboldened to speak against God? Whenever we sin, it affects others around us. Romans 14:7 says, “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.”
When thinking about Adam and Eve’s sin, and the terrible consequences of it, it ought to not make us bitter against them or against God; but it ought to make us think about our own lives and the great responsibility that we also have in regard to others. When Abraham listened to his wife and got impatient with God in regard to waiting for the promised son, he made a huge mistake with which we suffer yet today. Genesis 16:1-12 says, “Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” This was the beginning of the problems between the Jews (through Isaac), and the Arabs (Muslims, through Ishmael). That all started through an impatient woman, and a husband who went along with it.
All of us have willfully sinned, and others have suffered because of it in ways that we do not even fully realize. Let Adam and Eve’s sin bring you to personal repentance, and to see your own personal responsibility to obey God, lest innocent people also suffer because of your sin.