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Genesis 3: 1-6 ¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 ² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

 ⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 ⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Have you ever wondered why God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden? I wonder if he intended for Adam and Eve to eat from it when they were ready for the knowledge that would come from it. At the same time, I wonder if it wasn’t so much an aspect of eating the fruit that made the tree what it was, but rather, it was because in disobeying God by eating from it they gained the knowledge of good and evil.

Also, check it guys. Adam was there when the serpent was talking to Eve. And he didn’t say a word. Look carefully at how that ended up. You are meant to lead your wife. When you shirk that responsibility the consequences are dire.

Ladies, notice that Eve added to God’s command. Changing God’s word, even by adding to it (from Jesus’ attitude towards the pharisees especially by adding to it) leads to disobedience. God’s laws are not ever put there to prevent you from obtaining some happiness. They are always put there to stop you from heading into something that will damage you.

Alright, so let’s tackle a big idea tonight. Are people basically good or evil? The bible, in no uncertain terms, says that people are evil. I agree with that. People as a whole, suck. I have never met a single person who doesn’t have at least one horrible deed in their past. Most people have a lot more than one, and a lot of small evils in between. Also, if people are basically good, then why does evil exist in the first place? If people are basically good, why is it that war and poverty and disease cover the planet and always have. If we are moving upwards in towards greater and greater good, why are we still making all the same mistakes we’ve struggled with since our origins? I have to agree with the bible’s assessment. We are evil.

The thing is that it’s harder to call the people I know evil. Not because they aren’t doing the same things that other people are doing. They are (and, I should add, I am). No, it’s because I don’t want them to be evil. I see how they could be so much more than they are if only they could overcome their selfish desires. I want them to be good.

But what if they do more good things than they do evil things? This is of course, true of most of my friends, at least from my very limited perspective. But that’s not the way that evil works in any other context. If I rape someone, it doesn’t matter how many orphans I pulled out of a burning building. The rape isn’t magically balanced out by the orphan saving is it? If I say something hurtful to a friend, the relationship will not be repaired merely by me saying a lot of nice things to them, will it?

So why would we base our idea of the moral condition of man on whether we’ve done more good than bad? Especially when there is great evidence to suppose that, on the whole, humanity has done far more harm to itself than it has done good?

I think it’s because we want to be good. We love to see the good, both in ourselves and in the ones we care about. I think that on some level we understand that we were meant to be more than this. That we were not meant to ever be more concerned with our own good than we were with the good of everyone else. This whole world is inescapably fallen. We wander through it looking desperately for something to satisfy us. As long as we look here though, we won’t find it. Satisfaction isn’t on Earth. Healing for the damage we’ve been dealt and the far worse damage we’ve done to ourselves can’t be found here. Christ, and in His sacrifice the only place in which that can be found.