Aim to understand the story of Adam and Eve’s fall

Aims
* To understand the story of Adam and Eve’s fall
* To know what the symbols stand for


Materials
Bible story – Genesis 3:1-24
Visual aids – large pictures of the story
worksheets
picture cards


Lesson Outline
1. Introduction
2. Story
3. Questions
4. The story explained
5. Activities – act out the story, worksheets, memory game
6. Review the aims
7. Prayer


1) Introduction
Ask the children what they remember about the story of Adam and Eve. Show the coloured picture of the Garden of Eden. Then read the story together, 


2) Story
Genesis 3: 1-24
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it,
or you will die.’ ” 
“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 
The man said, “The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” 
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 
And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 
So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim
and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.


3)Questions
What two special trees grew in the garden?
Which tree did God say they shouldn’t eat from?
What did God say would happen if they ate the fruit ?
What did the snake say about the fruit? 
Why did Eve eat the fruit?
Why did Adam eat it?
What was the snake’s punishment?
What was Adam and Eve’s punishment?

 

4) The Story Explained
Adam were punished because they disobeyed God. What happens if you disobey your parents?
Would they send you out of the house? Would your parents leave out poisonous fruit, tell you it is poisonous, tell not to eat and say you will die if you do? How could God, our loving father, do this
to his children? Why do the trees have such strange names? How can a snake talk?

Up until now no one could explain these things. The Divine Principle for the first time in history explains the real meaning of the story. The two trees, the snake and the fruit are symbols for
something else.

1. The Tree of Life – This symbolizes perfect Adam or man. This is what Adam wanted to be.

2. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – This symbolizes Eve before the fall. Depending on whether Eve obeyed commandment she could either become good or evil.

3. The snake – The snake is the symbol for the archangel Lucifer. He was the leader of angels and the closest to God. He was Adam and Eve’s teacher.

4. The fruit – This is a symbol for love

Adam and Eve were meant to be husband and wife and be blessed in marriage by God, but not until they were mature in heart and fulfilled the first blessing. They were not to develop a love relationship until the right time. 

The angel, however, tempted Eve and they fell in love with each other. When Eve realized her mistake she tempted Adam and they fell in love with each other. This was not God’s love, but a
selfish love Because of their mistake their hearts became distant from God, and the angel’s selfish love dominated them instead. Their spiritual senses became weak and they could no longer communicate with God. This was not just a nightmare for Adam and Eve , but also for God. He lost His children and He lost His ideal – a world of peace, happiness, freedom and love.

 

5) Activities
* Worksheets – Fill in the missing words and colour the picture
* Memory game – play this game to reinforce the meaning of the symbols

 

6) Review the lesson aims
* To understand the story of Adam and Eve’s fall
* To know what the symbols stand for

 

7) Prayer

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eighth gradeManish Saluja