At street level there’s still this saccharine view that human beings are basically good and our problems come from our environment. But the Western intellectual world is beginning to see evidence that there’s something inherently evil and violent in us. And if that’s true, there’s almost no hope.

But if you look at Genesis, you have the only hopeful answer for how evil got here: it’s not natural, and therefore, there’s something you can do about it. The Bible says Adam and Eve lost their oneness with God, with their true selves, and with each other. And it says that the way they lost it then is still the way we lose it now. 

Let’s look at the three ways Adam and Eve lost things, which are the ways we still lose things: 1) the joke, 2) the lie, and 3) the tree.

This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 5, 2000. Series: Genesis – The Gospel According to God. Scripture: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-8.

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