Adam and Eve — The First Couple to Ruin Everything

This article is taken from Ray Comfort’s upcoming book, Idiotic Things People Did in the Bible. Please subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter to be the first to receive its release date!

Genesis 3:6:
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.”

What they did:
They had everything—paradise, peace, and daily fellowship with God. But they believed a snake over their Creator and disobeyed the one simple command God had given.

Why it was idiotic:
One tree. Just one. And they couldn’t leave it alone. Eve was deceived, Adam knew better—and did it anyway. Their sin unleashed death, pain, and separation from God for all of humanity.

A synopsis of what happened:

Adam and Eve were the first man and woman created by God. They were placed in the Garden of Eden, a paradise where they could freely enjoy every tree except one—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God commanded them not to eat its fruit, warning that doing so would bring death. Despite this clear prohibition, Eve was deceived by the serpent, who questioned God’s word and promised that eating the fruit would make them like God, knowing good and evil. Eve ate the forbidden fruit and gave some to Adam, who also ate. In that moment, their eyes were opened to their nakedness, and they felt shame and fear for the first time, sewing fig leaves together to cover themselves. When God came to the garden, they hid, and Adam blamed Eve, while Eve blamed the serpent. As a result of their disobedience, God pronounced curses: the serpent would crawl on its belly and face enmity with the woman’s offspring; Eve would experience pain in childbirth and a struggle in her relationship with Adam; and Adam would toil and sweat to bring food from the ground until he returned to dust. God made garments of animal skin to clothe them and banished them from Eden to prevent them from eating from the tree of life and living forever in their fallen state. Cherubim and a flaming sword were placed to guard the way back. This act of disobedience, often called “the Fall,” brought sin and death into the world, breaking humanity’s fellowship with God and setting the stage for the need of redemption.

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There’s a famous scene in a classic movie that makes me want to scream every time I watch it. I don’t scream out loud, but inside I’m shouting, “No!!!” The movie is Ben-Hur, and the scene is when Ben-Hur’s sister leans her hand on a loose tile on the roof of their house. Gravity does the rest. The tiles fall and strike the Roman governor riding below. That one tiny act—an almost meaningless shift in weight—sets off a cascade of suffering. The result? Chaos and unending misery for the Hur household.

And so it is with life. Seemingly inconsequential moments can have massive consequences. Like striking a match in a gas-filled house—everything blows apart in an instant. That’s what happened in Eden.

“What was lost in Eden will be restored by Christ. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, the curse will one day be reversed.”

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Every time I read the account of Adam and Eve’s sin in Genesis, I’m internally crying out, “No!!!” Just one bite. One act of disobedience. But it was the ultimate opening of a can of worms—an act that unleashed the most devastating chain reaction in human history. Every thread of human suffering finds its origin in that moment. Every cancer diagnosis. Every grave dug. Every child crying in pain. Every lie, theft, act of hatred, adultery, broken marriage, hurricane, tornado, famine, suicide, and war. Every lonely night. Every fear. Every funeral. Every tear. They all trace back to a single, terrible moment.

We can only imagine what Adam and Eve had—and what they lost. Picture a life with no aging. No death. No sorrow. No fear of tomorrow. No curse on creation. No venomous snakes or poisonous weeds. No predators tearing each other apart. No pain. No parting. No goodbyes. No dread of disease or disaster. Instead of God’s wrath hanging over humanity like a dark storm cloud, we would have basked in the warmth of His smiling face—like the sun at full strength. It would have been joy unspeakable and pleasures forevermore.

They had Heaven. And their one sin brought Hell to earth.

But this isn’t just wistful imagining. If it were, we’d be left with nothing more than a tragic tale from ancient history. But the Christian doesn’t merely look back—we look forward. We’re not just mourning a lost paradise; we’re longing for the one soon to come. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). What was lost in Eden will be restored by Christ. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, the curse will one day be reversed.

And while we’re imagining what the world will be like then, here’s an amazing truth: we were created in the image of God, and one of the unique traits we’ve been given is imagination. But God Himself doesn’t “imagine.” Why? Because He already knows everything. He doesn’t formulate ideas or possibilities—He doesn’t need to figure anything out.

“Known to God from eternity are all His works.” —Acts 15:18 (NKJV)

God never has to guess, learn, or be surprised. He doesn’t dream or discover. He is not in process. He is perfect in knowledge.

And strangely enough, that truth brings us deep comfort. It’s precisely because there are things God cannot do that we can fully trust Him. One of the most glorious impossibilities is this:

“…it is impossible for God to lie…” —Hebrews 6:18 (NKJV)

That means when He makes a promise, it is rock solid. Not imagination. Not hope. Not guesswork. A promise. And when He says that the kingdom is coming, that He will wipe away every tear, that there will be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain—it’s not a maybe. It’s a guarantee. We stake our eternity on it.

Speaking of guarantees, let me tell you about my son Daniel.

Daniel has three children, one wife, and 25 chickens. My wife, Sue, and I have 27, but that’s beside the point. We both regularly renew our flocks with baby chicks. One of Daniel’s newly purchased chicks had unique markings and quickly became his favorite. But one day, the little bird vanished. He searched everywhere. Nothing. It was gone.

Five days later, he heard a faint chirping. He searched again—still nothing. Two days after that, he opened the lid of the feeder and saw a few feathers. To his dismay, the chick had apparently crawled in and died there. But then—another faint chirp. It was alive. He scooped it up, gave it food and water, bathed it, and within hours, it was running around again.

Later, Daniel did some research and discovered that an eight-week-old chick typically can’t survive without water for more than 24 hours. This one lasted seven days. By natural standards, it should have died. But there it was—alive.

That chick was immobilized in food, hopeless and unseen. That was us. Dead in sin. Helpless. But God saw us. And His hand reached in—not to simply restore us, but to resurrect us. To give us life everlasting. What a Savior.

So the next time you find yourself internally screaming over Eden, remember this:
Jesus didn’t come just to fix what was broken. He came to make all things new. That’s a promise.

This article is taken from Ray Comfort’s upcoming book, Idiotic Things People Did in the Bible. Please subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter to be the first to receive its release date!