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Adam and Eve have both free will and the image of God. God told Adam that he was free to choose to eat of any tree in the Garden BUT the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). Someone asked me once, “Why did Adam have ONE tree that he could not eat of? Why did God even put that tree there?” Again, this is a fair question.

Free will assumes a person has a choice.

If I went to the market to buy bread, but say, only one type of bread – white Wonder Bread – was the only bread available. If that’s all you can get, there is no free will. Free will means a choice. If you had a Garden where absolutely everything is edible, you have no opportunity to exercise your free will. Free will would just be a blank concept, but would never be practically expressed. God gave man free will, then gave humanity a choice. Choose to do your job, and never suffer. Choose to disobey God and do the forbidden, then choose death over life (Genesis 2:17).

You know the story. Adam chose to disobey God. When you disobey God you lose His blessing. God has free will too. Humanity could enjoy the Garden while they obeyed the Owner of the Garden. But once they chose to reject God’s directive, they lost God’s blessing. God said to Adam:

Genesis 2:17-19 … cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground…

Man was creation’s caregiver. Because Adam fell into sin, creation fell into sin. The ground previously brought forth only fruit bearing plants. Now the ground is cursed – thorns and thistles along with other weeds come up. Man never had to use his sweat glands…. Continue reading →