Or should it be titled The Gospel In A Nutshell?

The human race had been spared from death and sin, and all we had to do was remain obedient. I believe that sin was present on earth in the garden because the serpent was there. Being obedient does not mean that we lose free will, any more than a married couple who are obedient to one another have lost their independent free will. I look at it as a mixture of love, obedience and free will, and all three are a necessary leg of the relationship. Why was the serpent allowed into the garden? I don’t know, but I am certain that it was part of the perfect plan, and that someday we will understand completely. To demonstrate our obedience, or possibly our inability to remain obedient, a tree was placed in the middle of the garden with simple instructions. Don’t eat of it…. Don’t even touch it. Lest ye die.

How could just touching it kill them?

Let’s go back to the couple’s comparison I made earlier, and let’s look at their vows, especially the forsaking all others part, and let’s say the same thing in a different way. Don’t have sex with someone else, and don’t kiss anyone else either because when you do, you’ve broken our connection. Our covenant.

Now, how close to that tree could one safely get? I have a feeling inside me that makes me believe that the safe distance was not in feet or inches, yards, or any physical distance, but rather a mental distance, and I believe that Satan knew that. Nothing has changed, thousands of years later. The distance to everything of importance is a mental distance, and if this distance could be converted into yards, feet and inches, some of you are there standing right next to the prize. Some of you are miles and miles away, but even at that distance, there is still hope. Eve messed up, and so did Adam. We like to read stories and think that we would do better, but we wouldn’t. If it was you or me in that garden, we would fair no better. We fail every day right here and right now. None of this caught The Creator of the Universe by surprise, so that means the plan of salvation was not in response to the fall of man, but rather to atone for the certainty of that fall.

Said another way….

This plan was made before the foundation of the world. That means that the plan of salvation was proactive and not reactionary.

So the plan was to send The Creator’s only son, to live that perfect life that we could not live ourselves, and who was willing to take upon himself the sins of Adam, Eve, you and me, and everyone who would accept the free gift of salvation. How close are you to that gift right now?

Amen.