Chapter - 6 WHY DO WE GROW OLD AND DIE

HOW THE PLOT WAS CARRIED OUT

Satan carefully laid out  a plot that he thought would lead to his ruling all humans and receiving their worship.  He decided to induce the first human couple, Adam and Eve, to sin against God.  Jehovah had given our first parents knowledge that would have led to life everlasting.  They knew that their Creator was good because he had placed them in the beautiful garden of Eden.  Adam especially felt the goodness of his heavenly Father when God gave him a beautiful .  (Genesis 1:26, 29; 2:7-9, 18-23)  The continued life of the first human pair depended on obedience to God.

God commanded Adam:  "From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction.  But as for the tree of  the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die."  (He did not mean right away, just that they had to live out their life  as an imperfect couple until they did die of old age, which is what ALL of US have to do)  (Genesis 2:16, 17)  As the Creator, Jehovah God had the right to set moral standards and to define what was good and what was bad for his creatures.  His command was reasonable because Adam and Eve were free to eat fruit from all the other trees in the garden.  They could show their appreciation for Jehovah's rightful rulership by obeying this law instead of possibly setting their own moral standards.

The Devil schemed to draw the first humans away from God.  To lure them into taking his side.  Satan lied. Using a serpent, much as a ventriloquist uses a dummy, the Devil asked Eve:  "Is it really so that God said you must not eat from every tree of the garden?"  When Eve cited God's command, Satan declared:  "You positively will not die."  He then imputed bad motives to Jehovah by saying:  "God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened  and you  are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad."  (Genesis 3:1-5) The Devil thus suggested that God was withholding something good.  What a slanderous assault on the truthful,  loving heavenly Father, Jehovah!

Eve looked at the tree again , and its fruit now seemed especially desirable. So she took the fruit  and ate it.  Later, her husband willfully joined her in this sinful act of disobedience to God.   (Genesis 3:6)  Although Eve was deceived, both she and Adam supported Satan's scheme to rule the human race.  In effect, they became his accomplices. -Romans 6:16; 1 Timothy 2:14.

Adam and Eve had to face the consequences of their actions.  They did not become like God, with special knowledge.  Instead, they felt ashamed and hid themselves.  Jehovah called Adam to account and pronounced this sentence: "In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken.  For dust you are and to dust you will return." (Genesis 3:19)  "In the day" that our first parents ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, they were sentenced by God and died from his standpoint.  Then they were expelled from Paradise and began their descent into physical death. 

Next time: HOW SIN AND DEATH SPREAD

The Book -  KNOWLEDGE That Leads To Everlasting Life, 1995