If Adam and Eve were perfect . . .?

“Anyway, if humans can consider evil (and they must if they succumb to it), then were they ever really perfect?”

An atheist asked this question a few days ago and at first glance it seemed like a pretty good question. If I had just taken a few minutes to think about it, I would have seen that it was a question born, not out of cleverness, but out of ignorance.

You see, the assumption in the question is that “perfect” implies God-like qualities, such as omnipotence or at the very least, an immunity to sin. The question might imply that God intended to create a perfect world. The question might even imply that God intended to create Heaven on earth. All three assumptions are wrong. In reality, here is what we are told.

Nowhere does the Bible say that the world or the universe was created “perfect.” It says that it was good. It even says that it was very good, but perfect? No. In the same manner, the Bible does not say that Adam and Eve were created “perfect” in the sense that they were impervious to sin. The Bible says that Adam and Eve were without sin. They only knew good. They didn’t judge each other, nor did they judge themselves. They didn’t know about evil.

Adam and Eve were without sin, but they did possess the potential to sin. They possessed the ability to CHOOSE to obey God and remain in a state of knowing only good in their lives. AND they possessed the ability to CHOOSE to disobey God and to know the difference between good and evil.
. Obviously they were created with the ability to make choices between one behaviour and another.
. Obviously evil already existed because satan had already chosen to disobey God.

(Just a quick note on “evil.” Evil is not a thing. Evil is not an entity. Evil is NOT something that is created. Evil is a wrong choice or the damage done by a wrong choice. Evil comes from, originates from, or results from a free-will choice. Evil is what happens when we choose something that goes against the will of God.

Prior to the “Fall:”
. Sin was (at that point) present in the eternal dimension, in the form of fallen Angels.
. Sin was (at that point) powerless over the created world. The door had not yet been opened.
. Adam and Eve (at that point) knew nothing but goodness. They were naive to the reality and nature of evil. Evil was something that had taken place in another dimension, just beyond the reach of their present knowledge.

The next step was temptation, but even in temptation, they still hadn’t sinned. Even in the face of temptation they remained Holy, or without sin.

It’s sort of like this. Suppose that I’m a Bank Manager. I’ve had a good day. Through investments and deposits, lots of money has come in today. It’s closing time and just as I’ve locked the door, a man who, unbeknownst to me is an armed robber, shows up and taps on the glass door. I tell him through the glass that “We’re closed till Monday. My policy states that I’m not allowed to open the door at closing time. I’m not even allowed to touch the door after closing.”

He continues to earnestly plead with me and at first I’m able to ignore his pleading and cajoling. Just as I’m about to turn away, he reaches into his vest pocket and pulls out what appears to be a genuine cashiers check worth more money than we’ve taken in all day. He yells through the door that he wants to open an account at my bank but if I can’t open the door, he’ll just go down the block to the bank that’s open half an hour longer than me.

Up to this point I’ve resisted a temptation and remained immune to the consequences of choosing to go against policy. No longer. The thought of missing out on something, if I do what I’m supposed to do is too much for me. I open the door and, well, there we go.


In conclusion:
. Adam and Eve were not created perfect, nor were they intended to be perfect.
. They were created without sin - without knowing about sin or it’s consequences.
. They were placed into an environment that had not yet experienced the consequences of sin.
. They were tempted.
. The door was opened.
. Here we are.

God had no intention of designing this universe to be perfect. The purpose of the universe is not to be morally or physically perfect, but to provide a place where spiritual creatures can choose to love or reject God - to live with Him forever or to live without Him forever. The Bible tells us clearly that this universe is a temporary creation where beings with free-will are allowed to make choices about where they will spend eternity. Those who cling to the choice to be separated from God in this life will not be forced to live with God for eternity.