To prepare your Bible study lesson plans use this theme of good and evil which is found throughout the Bible.  What better place to start than at the beginning, with Genesis, to truly understand the origin of this pervasive theme.

Genesis 2:8-9, 16-17
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.  And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.  In the middle of the gar-den were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

As we all know, Adam did eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, after being given the fruit by Eve, who had been tempted by the serpent.  God did not forbid them to eat the fruit because He did not want them to become too much like Himself, as the serpent said, but because before that time, Adam and Eve had no knowledge of evil, only good.

God wanted to protect them from the ravages of evil and sin, and so He kept them from eating the fruit.  However, He gave us all free will, which allows us to go against His commands if we want to.  From the moment of eating the fruit, the world and every descendant of Adam and Eve have suffered the consequences of knowing evil.

Use these questions as points to ponder and discuss with your Sunday school students.
1. Why does God allow us free will if it results in something like the Fall of Man?
2. How can we be on a constant watch for the difference between good and evil in our own lives?

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