It might interest you to know that the three major faith traditions — Judaism, Islam and Christianity — have some similar beliefs.

For instance, all three believe there is a single God who created the heavens and the earth.

God had created a perfect world. Adam was the first created being. The sin of Adam and the human beings that came along after him is what messed up God’s perfect world. God started his cleanup operation with a man named Abraham.

You may recall God made a series of promises to Abraham, and Abraham’s response to those promises didn’t just have implications for his personal faith but for yours and mine, as well.

The Bible tells us we are all sinners. That is how we messed up God’s perfect world. It was because of sin.

Sin is a willful transgression of God’s known law. When we know what we are doing is wrong, but we choose to do it anyway, that’s sin. It is important for us to understand this distinction.

Romans tells us we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You might not like the idea of admitting that you are a sinner, but we all know it is true.

We say things like, “Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes.” That feels better than admitting we have sinned.

But let’s be honest. Can a mistake be premeditated? Can you call it a mistake when you keep doing the same thing over and over again?

And what do you call it when you keep on making the same mistake and you are doing it on purpose? You call that sin. And the world is full of sinners. None of us are exempt, and none of us are without sin.

So God created a perfect place. He created man, and he gave us the ability to choose and make decisions for ourselves. The first man and woman (Adam and Eve) made a decision that would impact our world forever.

Mankind’s first sin was an act of disobedience. Adam and Eve were told they could eat from any tree in the garden with the exception of one. Their response was to make a decision to eat from that specific tree, which resulted in a curse on this world that lasts until this day.

There are many horrific consequences to their choice, but we can be thankful that God has provided a way for us to be saved from the eternal consequences of sin, but the temporary earthly consequences of sin still remain. We’ll talk more about that next time.

You may read Steve Greene’s blog at pastorgreene.wordpress.com or you can email him at [email protected].