What Happens when you Fall Into Sin

Eve ate the forbidden fruit first and gave some of it to Adam.  Then he ate it.  Even though the fruit was delicious and they enjoyed it, they only got temporary satisfaction from eating it.  Before we go on, who was it who sinned?  According to Romans 5:12-21 , Paul mentions that it was Adam who willfully sinned and brought sin and death to human. 

Since they were forbidden to eat this fruit, they sinned because they disobeyed God.  Things began to happen when they disobeyed God and it was not good.

First they felt shame.  Before they sinned, as Genesis 2:25 states, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (KJV).  However, after eating the fruit, they realized that they were naked.  Therefore, they rushed around searching for fig leaves to cover their nakedness.  Note only were they covering up the nude bodies, they were trying to cover up what they did.  This type of shame reflects mano of us today.  Many of us are ashamed of our bodies.  For one it might be too short; for another it may be too tall; for another it might be too fat and so on.  God created us with the intention for us to love our bodies and not be ashamed of them.  Whenever we knowingly sin we are ashamed of what we do.  There are some people who constantly and are not ashamed by their acts as the following verses state:

1 Timothy 4:2 “ Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (KJV).

Jeremiah 6:15 “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not

at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord” (KJV).

Then they felt guilt.  They hid from God when he was walking in the garden.  Even though he called for Adam and Eve, asking them where they were, God already knew.  He was giving them the opportunity to fess up.  After all, God is a merciful God and wanted to give them the opportunity to confess to what they did.

Shame and guilt go hand-in-hand.  They felt ashamed because they realized they were naked.  They felt guilty because they realized that they disobeyed God.  This brought around their next reaction that comes along with sin,  It was fear.  They seemed to be hiding in fear when God walked in the garden.  He even admitted being afraid when God asked him why he was hiding.

Imagine that you are a young child in a store and see a toy that you want.  While it is not bad to want that toy, how you get the toy (the temption) can leat to sin if you go about the wrong ways of getting it.  Maybe you have enough money to buy it yourself or have a generous parent who is willingly to buy it for you.  However, let’s say you do not want the money but still want it.  You look around and nobody is looking.  So you stick the toy under your shirt and walk out of the store.  You keep looking over your shoulder, thinking that the storeowners or cops are on your trail.  You get home safely and rush up to your room.  Looking at your toy, all of a sudden you feel shame.  You know it is wrong to steal and if you had waited until you got your allowance, you could have bought it then.  Then you feel guilt since if you got caught stealing the toy you could have been in trouble with the store owner, the cops and your parents.  Then you feel afraid and have to hide that toy.  You are sure if your parents see it, they will wonder where you got the money to buy it.  Even if you do hide what you did from your parents, God will know what you did.  You can never hide anything from God.

  Adam and Eve felt shame, guilt and fear.  Because of this, they could no longer enjoy their garden paradise like they used to.  They used the trees that they used to enjoy and turned them into something where they could hide from God and keep him out. 

The reason why some people do not turn to God and Jesus is because hey feel ashamed of things they have done.  They are afraid that God will not forgive them of their sins.  If you are like these sinners, remember that Jesus died on the cross for your sins.  If you are afraid, turn to the Lord and ask for forgiveness.  He will forgive you.

            While they were hiding in the garden, God came walking looking for them.  They should have run to him as soon as they saw him, confessed what they did and asked him for his forgiveness.  However, they remained hiding until he called out to them.

That God asked questions such as why the man and woman were hiding, who told them they were naked and if the ate the fruit from the forbidden tree, makes people wonder why God did not know tese answers already.  However, he does know everything and already knew what Adam and Eve had done.  He basically asked these questions for their own benefit.  He was giving the opportunity to be honest and to confess their sins.  He mostly likely did not talk to them as if he was a judge yelling at a criminal but rather like a father who was very heartbroken.

God gave Adam the chance to explain himself.  This was when the blame game began.  Adam blamed the woman; she blamed the snake.  All they needed to do was acknowledge what they did was wrong.  I am not saying that God would have been more merciful in his judgements against all humans.  Now, don’t get me wrong, God showed enormous mercy to Adam and Eve.  He could have destroyed man and woman right there.  However, he showed them mercy.  Still Adam and Eve as well as the human race faced consequences for the original sin.