Fall
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 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 from it you will certainly die.”
—Genesis 2:15-17
There is just something not quite right about the state of humanity, about the brokenness we see everywhere around us—poverty, war, racism, sickness, crime… The list is too long to include in one email.
Once vibrant and thriving ecosystems are losing life. Human relationships are tried, tested, and sabotaged. On a personal level, we struggle with battles that are just too much for one person to bear, and loneliness ensues.
And do you ever get the feeling that it is all hopeless? That as much as we try, it just keeps getting worse? If you do, you’re not alone.
The thing is, we just can’t do this alone.
It seems we are so broken that we absolutely need help from the outside. We need help from someone—or something—that knows what true goodness and beauty looks like.
How about the Creator?
God created something out of nothing and called it beautiful and good. And, in a desire to gain power and knowledge, we messed it all up.
This is what happens when we don’t tell the full story. It is so tempting to just start with the brokenness. We were put on this earth and immediately just messed it up. BUT! We’re forgetting the beginning of the story!
You see, where the world tells us we were all broken to begin with, God tells us we were created, and we were very good.
Psychiatrist and author Curt Thompson brought a unique perspective to Jubilee 2022 for his talk on the Fall. What does someone who studies humans for a living say about the fall of humanity? Watch and find out.
It's not wrong to be discouraged and sad about the fall of humanity. But be sure to turn back to our Creator, who longs for goodness to be restored. After all, the story is not over yet. Don't you want to find out what's coming next?
See you next week. Peace,
The Jubilee Team