I am Adam, the first man, formed by the very hands of God from the dust of the ground. Let me tell you the story that changed everything - the day we lost paradise.
Life in the Garden of Eden was beyond description. Every need was met, every desire fulfilled. God walked with us in the cool of the day, and we knew no shame, no fear, no death. There was only one command: do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Eve, my beloved, was formed from my own side - bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. Together we tended the garden, named the animals, and lived in perfect communion with our Creator. But the serpent, the most cunning of all creatures, approached Eve with a question designed to plant doubt.
'Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?' The serpent twisted God's words, making His generous provision seem like restriction. Eve corrected him, explaining we could eat from any tree except the one in the middle of the garden.
'You will not surely die,' the serpent hissed. 'God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'
Eve looked at the fruit. It was beautiful. It promised wisdom. She took it and ate. Then she gave some to me, and I ate as well. In that moment, everything changed.
Our eyes were opened, but not as the serpent promised. We saw our nakedness and felt shame for the first time. We heard God walking in the garden, and instead of running to meet Him as we always had, we hid ourselves among the trees.
'Where are you?' God called out. Not because He did not know, but because He wanted us to understand what we had done. We had broken the only command He gave us. We had chosen our own way over His.
The consequences were severe. Pain in childbirth. Toil in labor. Death entering the world. We were sent out from the garden, the way back guarded by cherubim with a flaming sword.
Yet even in judgment, there was mercy. God clothed us with garments of skin - the first blood sacrifice, a foreshadowing of redemption to come. And He promised that the seed of the woman would one day crush the serpent's head.
I lived many years after that day, but never again did I walk with God as I once had. My children, my descendants - they all inherited the brokenness we introduced. But the promise remained: one day, God would make things right.