The Motivation of the Spiritual and Physical Fall

Lesson Objective: Understand the process and motivation behind the spiritual and physical Fall and how they are constantly replayed, all over the world, from the beginning of the human race until present day. 

Divine Principle Reading:

God created human beings with two components: the spirit self and the physical self. The human Fall likewise took place in two dimensions: the spiritual and the physical. The fall which took place through the sexual relationship between the angel and Eve was the spiritual fall, while the fall which occurred through the sexual relationship between Eve and Adam was the physical fall.

How can an act of passionate love be consummated between an angel and a human being? All the emotions and sensations felt between a person and a spirit are exactly the same as those felt during contact between two earthly people. Undoubtedly, a sexual union between an angel and a person is possible.  We can understand this more clearly from the following evidence. There are reported cases of earthly people leading a married life with a spirit. In the Bible we have the account of an angel who wrestled with Jacob and put his thigh out of joint. Three angels visited Abraham’s family and ate a meal of veal, milk, and curds. Moreover, two angels visited the house of Lot and ate the unleavened bread he served them. When the townspeople saw the angels, they were excited with lecherous desires for them and surrounded Lot’s house shouting, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.”

God created the angelic world and assigned Lucifer  (Isa. 14:12) to the position of archangel. Lucifer was the channel of God’s love to the angelic world. In this position he virtually monopolized the love of God. However, after God created human beings as His children, He loved them many times more than He had ever loved Lucifer, whom He had created as His servant. In truth, God’s love toward Lucifer did not change; it was the same before and after the creation of human beings. Yet when Lucifer saw that God loved Adam and Eve more than him, he felt as if there had been a decrease in the love he received from God. Lucifer, feeling as though he were receiving less love than he deserved, wanted to grasp the same central position in human society as he enjoyed in the angelic world, as the channel of God’s love. This was why he seduced Eve, and this was the motivation of the spiritual fall.

Activity: The Motivation Behind the Spiritual Fall

1. Explain: Give everyone a small snack before going through this next section and tell them to eat their snack while you summarize this section of Divine Principle (for example: a few M&M’s, a few chips, etc.):
   1. The human fall occurred both spiritually and physically.
   2. Human beings and angels are able to have intimate relationships. This may be a challenging concept for us to understand because we are not aware of the spiritual world as a result of the Fall. But as we know from Principle of Creation, when we interact with others, we are interacting with both their physical body and spirit body.
   3. Lucifer was given the position of archangel which means he was meant to channel God’s love to the entire angelic world. He was used to being the only person receiving God’s love during the time of creation.
   4. Lucifer was meant to be God’s servant, while Adam and Eve were meant to be God’s children. After God created Adam & Eve, Lucifer saw that God loved them more.
      1. There is a difference between angels and human beings, almost like they are a different species.
   5. Although God’s relationship with Lucifer did not change, Lucifer felt jealous of the type of relationship Adam and Eve had with God.
2. Lucifer’s Motivation:
   1. Give everyone the same amount of the snack you gave them earlier.
   2. Choose one person and give them twice as much as you gave everyone else.
   3. Ask: Is anyone feeling a little jealous that this person got more snack than you?
   4. Explain:
      1. You received the same amount I had given you before, but you still feel like this time you got less because you are comparing yourself to someone else.
      2. This is how Lucifer felt when God created Adam and Eve. God still loved and interacted with Lucifer in the same way, but Lucifer became jealous of Adam and Eve because he compared his relationship with God to theirs. This is also the beginning point where Lucifer’s point of view started to shift away from God’s point of view.
   5. What about you?
      1. Ask everyone to identify a situation in which they compare themselves to others and feel like they aren’t as well-liked or loved by the people around them.
         1. Some examples may be: having a “best friend,” having better gadgets (phones, computer, tablets, car, etc.), having a better family, having a better personality, being more attractive, etc.
         2. The point is that these should be situations in which they feel others are receiving more attention and love than they are, just like Lucifer felt.
      2. Your Value
         1. Explain: Everyone has different strengths and challenges. Instead of spending our time comparing ourselves to others and feeling like we aren’t as well-liked, we should focus our attention on our true value. We should try to attune ourselves to what God wants us to know about ourselves.
         2. Hand out large puzzle pieces with each person’s name written on a piece. Hand them out so that each person receives someone else’s puzzle piece.
            1. These should be cut out of a large poster board so the pieces are large enough to write messages on. You can leave it in the shape of the poster board, or be more creative with the shape such as a heart, world, etc.
         3. Give everyone a few minutes to think about the person they received on their puzzle piece and what unique characteristics they bring to the group. Have them write those qualities on the back of the puzzle piece.
            1. Examples could be: Really good listener, Makes people feel comfortable, Very funny, etc.
         4. Have everyone give their puzzle pieces to the people they wrote about.
         5. Explain: We should know our own value and what we bring to the table. These qualities are a reflection of our Heavenly Parent and we should be proud of them, not comparing ourselves to others. Each of one of us represents a unique part of God, and without that part there would be a piece missing from God’s heart.
         6. Ask everyone to build the puzzle together and admire their results.

Concluding Point: Feeling like you aren’t as loved as other people is a very challenging situation. Learning about Lucifer’s motivation for the Spiritual Fall reminds us that we should never forget our own value.  We need to spend more time honoring our gifts and talents and less time on comparing ourselves to others.  Part of seeing from God’s viewpoint includes seeing ourselves from God’s perspective; in that sense when people compliment us or point out some unique quality we have, we should receive it thoughtfully because it could be God trying to tell us something about ourselves.

Divine Principle Reading:

When the angel, created as God’s servant, beheld Eve, the daughter of God, it was only natural that she looked beautiful in his eyes. Moreover, when Lucifer saw that Eve was responding to his temptation, the angel felt the stimulation of her love to be deliciously enticing. At this point, Lucifer was seducing Eve with the mind to have her, regardless of the consequences. Lucifer, who left his proper position due to his excessive desire, and Eve, who wanted to open her eyes and become like God44(Gen. 3:5-6) before the time was ripe, formed a common base and began give and take action. The power of the unprincipled love generated by their give and take led them to consummate an illicit sexual relationship on the spiritual plane.

All beings are created based on the principle that when they become one in love, they exchange elements with each other. Accordingly, when Eve became one with Lucifer through love, she received certain elements from him. First, she received feelings of dread arising from the pangs of a guilty conscience, stemming from her violation of the purpose of creation. Second, she received from Lucifer the wisdom which enabled her to discern that her originally intended spouse was to be Adam, not the angel. Eve was in the position to receive wisdom from the Archangel because she was immature and her wisdom was not as seasoned as that of the Archangel, who was already in a state of angelic maturity.

Perfect Adam and Eve were supposed to have become an eternal husband and wife in God’s love. But Eve, who in her immaturity had engaged in the illicit relationship with the Archangel, joined with Adam as husband and wife. Thus, Adam fell when he, too, was still immature. This untimely conjugal relationship in satanic love between Adam and Eve constituted the physical fall.

Eve then seduced Adam with the hope that by uniting with him, her intended spouse, she could rid herself of the dread and once again stand before God. This was Eve’s motivation which led to the physical fall.

Adam, who was still receiving God’s love, appeared very attractive to her. Seeing Adam as her only hope of returning to God, Eve turned to Adam and tempted him, playing the same role as the Archangel had played when he had tempted her. Adam responded and formed a common base with Eve, and they began give and take action with each other. The power of the unprincipled love generated in their relationship induced Adam to abandon his original position and brought them together in an illicit physical relationship of sexual love. 

When Adam united in oneness with Eve, he inherited all the elements Eve had received from the Archangel. These elements in turn have been passed down to all subsequent generations without interruption.

ACTIVITY:

1. Explain:
   1. Lucifer was attracted to Eve and became more attracted to her because Eve was responding to his attention.
   2. Eve became attracted to Lucifer because he knew more than she did, and could introduce her to new aspects of life and creation.
   3. Their love relationship eventually lead them to have a sexual relationship which was inappropriate because Eve was intended to be Adam’s wife.
   4. Eve felt guilty after falling with Lucifer and turned to Adam in hopes of making up for her mistake.
   5. Adam and Eve began a relationship of love while still immature and eventually started a sexual relationship before they were ready. This constituted the physical fall.
2. Attraction & Crushes
   1. Explain: It is completely natural to be attracted to the opposite gender. We just want to make sure that we don’t take those feelings any further so that we can focus on becoming the best spouse for our future husband or wife.
   2. Give everyone a piece of paper and ask them to write down one way they have effectively dealt with their crushes or attractions to other people.
   3. Collect the papers and write the answers on the board. Go over each answer as you write it on the board and allow the youth to chime in if they feel like it.
   4. Here are some other answers to consider in case your youth don’t have anything to write down: tell your parents, pray about it, don’t spend time with the person, invest in your hobbies, or focus on serving someone you care about who might be having a tough time,etc.
3. Explanation of Guilt for Eve & Us:
   1. When Eve felt guilty about her actions with Lucifer she did several things to try to resolve her guilt. She hid from God and she tried to rebuild her relationship with Adam in an attempt to fix her mistake.
   2. When we are faced with guilt because of our actions we too make these kinds of attempts such as hiding our mistake from our parents/God, trying to forget about it, and trying to fix it by doing something else.
   3. Earlier we learned about God’s heart of true forgiveness and that we will always be welcomed back in God’s arms no matter what we do. We also learned that we can offer our regrets up to our Heavenly Parent as well as ourselves.
   4. However, an important first step in dealing with guilt is being able remember our Original value and act based on our Original nature (which is to take responsibility for our actions). Because Eve couldn’t face her own shame, she hid from God. Had she been able to forgive herself and offer her actions to God, the providence would have taken a very different course.
4. Process for Forgiving Yourself
   1. Ask everyone to reflect on a relatively recent action or choice they made that has left them with some sense of guilt. Many of us feel guilty when we hurt someone else, weren’t able to be successful in an endeavor, aren’t proud of a choice we made, or didn’t do something we should have done. We will follow the following steps of forgiving ourselves so that we can truly offer our actions to God.
      1. Give everyone a notebook/paper to answer these questions independently and as well as time to answer each question.
   2. Put a name to it: What did you do that has left you with regret?
   3. Know how you feel: Why does this bother you? How does it violate your personal values/morals?
   4. Plan a re-do and why: What would you like to have happened instead? Why is this a better course of action?
   5. Be grateful for your growth: What did you learn about yourself through this process? What can you take away for the future?
   6. Have a good talk with yourself:
      1. Think about your guilt.
      2. Close your eyes and take several deep breaths.

• Think of a positive memory, a person you love or a place you feel peaceful and be there.

1. When your negative thoughts have drifted away, say out loud three times, “I am worthy of forgiveness.”

1. Tell God about it: Write a letter to God about this situation, how you feel about it, and what you have learned.

Concluding Point: While we are still growing our lives are full of moments in which we are faced with challenging decisions including circumstances dealing with purity and practicing integrity. We all will make mistakes, but the important part of these growth moments is keeping our relationship and communication with God open, ideally through our parents or grandparents, or some physical vertical connection that can hold us accountable to our True selves. Instead of focusing on our guilt and trying to hide our mistakes , we need to remember who we really are, God’s precious children, and process the experience and offer it up.