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evolutionists to my knowledge agree that man was the last being to appear on this earth). Chapter 2 focuses |
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on Adam and his counterpart, Eve. They were placed in a garden in Eden eastward (Note: an identifiable place, not fairyland - verses 8 and 10-14). All this pristine beauty was marred by the incoming of sin as we shall see. |
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Genesis 3 and 4 tell us of the incoming of sin into the world. Chapter 3 speaks of its actual incoming and how Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Chapter 4 shows the working out of this in Cain who slew his Brother Abel. Put another way, sin Godward was followed by sin manward. Apart from death (Genesis 2:17) there were certain punishments inflicted by God. As to Adam and Eve these are given in chapter 3:8-19 and as to Cain in chapter 4:8-16. |
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The presence of sin in the world has resulted in a mass of evils, some Godward and some manward. For instance the distance that had come in between man and God led to idolatry (consider Romans 1:21-25). Then on the manward side we find violence and corruption (Genesis 6:11/12; Romans 1:26-32). These latter evils bring misery on mankind as we know. We get wars and rumours of wars (Matthew 24:6). Wars cause great loss of life as well as painful injuries. This situation continues, though mankind longs for peace on the earth (or professes to do so). The Psalmist says of God: “He hath made wars to cease unto the end of the earth” (Psalm 46:9). We have not got to that happy state yet; we await the coming of Christ, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). All this evil arises from man’s inhumanity to man, as is usually recognised. It is because man is a sinner. |
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Apart from these direct evils, there are what we may call indirect ones, for instance, the diseases that prevail in the world. Many (though by no means all) arise from unclean living, particularly sexual promiscuity. Evils such as these arise not exactly from evil behaviour towards others, but bad behaviour towards ourselves (Romans 1:27; 1 Corinthians 6:18). Clean living goes a long way to avoiding disease. All the diseases and bodily weaknesses from which we suffer will be dealt with when Christ comes again. When here on earth Christ healed every disease and every bodily weakness (Matthew 4:23). Christ |