What’s Wrong With The World? Series

Original Sin and its effects, Fall of man and the Beauty of Redemption.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century. He has been called the “prince of paradox.” He was known for his insightful views on many issues. Time magazine observed of his writing style: “Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out.” His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction. The Times newspaper once had asked a number of authors to write on the topic: “What’s wrong with the world?”. Chesterton’s answer at that time was the shortest of those submitted – he simply wrote.

Dear London Times,

I am.

Sincerely Yours,

G. K. Chesterton

He was not joking. As a Christian writer, his answer was very fundamental. The problem of this world will never be addressed in full until we come to understand in our minds, hearts, hands, moral fiber, and soul that the problem lies first and foremost within us. God gave Adam and Eve permission to eat the fruit of all trees except the fruit of the tree "of the knowledge of good and evil." Here is what the Bible says: "You may freely eat of every tree of the Garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die"(Genesis 2:16-17). In other words, God said to Adam and to Eve, "You may eat the fruit of all of the trees that are in the Garden and that are edible; it is only the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that you should not eat. On the day that you do eat it, you shall die."

The day Adam violated the law, he activated death (Gen 2:17).The violation of the law gave death its sting or power.(1 Cor 15:56) The law of sin gave birth to the law of death. God created man and placed him with perfect order in a garden to enjoy perfect relationship, peace, joy and happiness. Genesis chapter one is a very simple narrative of the creation of the world; Simple, yet majestic in its beauty and profound in its depth, when we come to Chapter 2 we find a kind of recapitulation of the main event of Chapter 1, i.e., the creation of man. Here we are given much greater detail of the story of God's making of man. The basic message of Genesis 2:16-17 is that God alone knows what is good for humanity and God alone knows what is not good for us. To enjoy the “good” we have to trust God and obey him. If we disobey, we will have to decide for ourselves what is good and what isn’t good. Remembering and keeping God’s word is our safeguard against deception and temptation

A guilty person wants an accomplice. Satan, who had been an angel and had disobeyed God, becoming Satan, felt guilty and terribly alone. He could keep company only with the other demons. His nature had been perverted; he was unable and is unable ever to think about goodness. He always thinks and desires evil. He always seeks evil for others.

He was jealous of man. He saw that he was so very happy in Paradise in the company of God. So he put his evil plans into action. As the spirit that he is, he entered the body of a snake. Then he climbed the tree of "the knowledge of good and evil." He waited there. Eve came and peered at the tree. Satan intruded upon her curiosity. He asked her, "Tell me, Eve, is it true that God told you not to eat the fruit of all of the trees?" Eve answered, "No. He told us to eat the fruit of all the trees except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because if we did we would die." The serpent said, "You shall not die. God knows that on the day that you eat of that fruit, your eyes will open and you will become as gods. You will know good and evil." Eve liked Satan's sweet and slanderous words. . “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. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; (Genesis 3:6-7)." The disobedience and transgression of Adam and Eve is called Original Sin.

The Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, seems to have had the power to convey immortality to man, and as such is used in Scripture as a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he "abolished death and brought life & immortality to light through the gospel,” first Corinthians 15:22 and 26 says “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” But what is this "tree of the knowledge of good and evil"? &why did God forbid Adam to partake of this fruit? In Genesis 3:5 Satan misuses the truth, in order to draw women on until she become the victims, of his lie. Serpent said to the woman “You will not certainly die,” “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”That suggests a clue as to what this fruit was and what it did.