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Read most accounts of Eden and the Fall, and a theme emerges that might be summarized thus:

God created the heavens and the earth, then created man and placed him in a garden paradise called Eden. Here, man encountered an evil being called Satan, in the guise of a serpent. Satan tempted the man, precipitating his fall from grace and the fallen, degenerate world we now live in.

With a few tweaks and nuances, that just about sums up what most Christians have been taught to believe. But is it what the Bible actually reveals? The answer is no.

What the Bible actually teaches is not only more surprising but internally consistent. Because, if you think about it, the traditional interpretation is anything but consistent, being full of scriptural and theological contradictions.

First of all, what was Satan doing in Eden? According to Genesis, when God had finished creating the heavens and the earth and all that in them is, he surveyed all that he had made and declared it, "Very good!"

The problem with Satan is that he is a created being and was therefore part of the same creation that God originally declared to be very good.

So how come a good God placed an evil devil in paradise?

The simple answer is that he did not. Had God done so, then Paul's claim in Romans 5:12 would simply be untrue, when it says,

"Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

This claim is explicit and central to the whole Christian Gospel. Adam sinned and sold mankind down the river. Jesus came and redeemed us through his life, death and resurrection.

Prior to Adam eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, there was neither sin nor death in the world. If that is so, then an evil Satan could not have been present in Eden otherwise evil, sin and death would already have been present in a world that God called perfect. So, something happened at the Fall that not only affected Adam but caused Lucifer (as Satan was formerly known) to fall along with him.

The question then arises, why did God place Lucifer in Eden and what prompted this Lucifer to tempt Adam with such fatal consequences?

Let's take a closer look at the facts, as revealed by the whole counsel of the word of God.

The Bible is clear that after the six days of creation, God pronounced it "very good". (Genesis 1:31)

The Bible also says that, "in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them". (Exodus 20:11)

It

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