Tommy Mann

Q. By what sin did our first parents fall from their original condition? 
A. Our first parents’ sin was eating the forbidden fruit. The first sin we see in the Bible was in the eating of the forbidden fruit by Adam and Eve. But as we saw last week, there are sins of commission and omission. The eating of the fruit was an act of commission—a sin that was committed in the Garden of Eden. But before Eve ever took her first bite, a few sins of omission occurred that led up to the sin of commission. First, notice that it was Eve, not Adam, that did all the talking with the serpent in Genesis 3. Yet it was Adam, not Eve, who was created as the spiritual leader of the family. For whatever reason Adam abdicated his role as the spiritual leader and stood silently by as Eve ate the fruit. After Eve’s bite, she gave it to Adam, and he ate it too. Not only did Adam omit his role as leader, Eve omitted her trust in the goodness of God. Not only did she misquote God ...

Q. Did our first parents remain as they were created ? 
A. Left to the freedom of their own wills, our first parents sinned against God and fell from their original condition. Adam and Eve were created as perfect beings who did not know sin, suffering, or sickness in any way. That was God’s original intention, and for an unknown amount of time our first parents lived in the perfect Garden of Eden. Everything changed the moment that Eve chose to disobey God and take a bite of the forbidden fruit. It wasn’t so much the act of eating the fruit that got them into trouble, but the willful choice to question God’s goodness. God had made clear to the first couple that in the day they ate of the fruit, they would surely die (Genesis 2:17); this did not usher in an immediate death like with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), but rather introduced the process of death and decay. For the first time in history things began to wear out, which would eventually result in death. T...

One criticism I often hear fired at Christianity is that it looks down on and oppresses women. “It is a male-dominating religion,” they say, implying that men use it like some lodge or club to rise to power while making women serve them. While there have no doubt been some periods in history in which women were looked down on or mistreated, that is no reflection on Christianity as a whole or of God’s love for both genders. In America, more women go to church than men. No matter whose poll you look at, women outnumber men in church on average of almost two to one. But beyond culture, let’s look to the Bible to see how God views women. God told Eve that her Seed would one day destroy Satan and sin; this was not a promise given to Adam (Genesis 3:15). A male-dominating religion would emphasize the work of the man over the woman. We see this promise finally carried out through Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary is the one given credit for raising Jesus and being...