After almost a full week of creating, God said, "Lets us make man in our image, after our likeness. He will have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over every tiny creature that crawls on the earth."
So God create man in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female.
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and have many children to fill the earth and rule over it. Rule over the beasts of the field, the fish of the sea, and over all the creatures that move upon the earth.
Adam and Eve fact:
The Garden of Eden was located somewhere between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the southwest Asia region. It was the origin of most of our fruits and vegetables, ox, goat, sheep, horse, pigs, and many other animals.
See here, I have given you every herb which has seeds, and every tree which bears fruit with seeds to eat and nourish your body.
To every beast of the earth, and to every bird in the sky, and every creature that crawls on the ground, I give the green grass to eat and nurish itself.
After that, God looked around and was pleased with what he had made. This was the sixth day of creation.
Adam and Eve teaching tip:
Notice that God's original plan was for all humans and animals to eat plants. The seeds of some fruit are thought to contain cancer fighting agents (the apricot seed for example).
The above story was taken from chapter one verses 26 to 31 in the book of Genesis. This account of creation gives us a "high-level" look at God creating man. Below we see, starting in chapter two, a more detailed account of how God made Adam and Eve, and the eventual fall of man.
Adam and Eve fact:
Some say there are contridictions between the first and second "account" (chapters 1 & 2). Careful inspection reveals that this is not the case. Wording and tense are important when reading and comparing these two chapters.
Before any trees or plants had begun to grow, God created Adam from the dust of the earth. He formed the man in His image and breathed the breath of life through his nostrils, and the man became a living soul. God called the man, Adam.
God planted a garden in Eden, and put the man who he had formed in it. Then God, right in front of the man's eyes, made all kinds of trees and plants grow. The trees were pleasing to the eyes and good for food. The tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil were also planted in the garden.
Adam and Eve fact:
It seems that, originally, God intended for man to have access to the tree of life which allowing him to live forever. This would also make him dependent upon God's creation (and therefore, God himself).
God told Adam to care for the garden and enjoy it. He said, "I give you every seed bearing plant to eat from. Eat freely from every tree, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of it, you will surely die!"
God saw that the man was lonely, and so decided to make a helper for him. He formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the air out of the ground and brought them to Adam. Whatever Adam named them, that was to be their name forever.
So Adam gave names to all of the animals, but no suitable mate was found for him.
God noticed that Adam was still lonely, so he caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He took one of Adam's ribs, closed the wound, and formed a woman using his rib.
Adam and Eve fact:
The fact that Eve was created from Adam's rib seems to indicate that she was originally made as an equal partner, and intimately connected to Adam as one flesh (much like a marriage represents today).
After Adam woke up, he saw the beautiful woman God had made and said, "This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: I will call her Woman, because she was taken out of a man."
Adam and Eve were both naked in the Garden of Eden and were not ashamed.
Adam and Eve fact:
To our knowledge, we are the only species on earth that wears clothing. A constant reminder of the loss of innocence caused by sin.
Adam and Eve were happy in the garden of Eden. They had everything they needed. God took care of all their needs. Then along came satan, who was cast out of heaven for trying to be God, in the form of a serpent.
He said to Eve, "God said you can eat from every tree in the garden?"
Eve replied, "We can eat from every tree except from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If we eat from that, we will surely die."
"You will not die!" satan replied. "God knows that if you eat from that tree, you will be like him, and he doesn't want you to be like him."
Eve thought for a moment, looked at the tree, and grabbed one of the juicy fruits hanging from it. I would like to be like God, she thought. So she took a bite, and handed the fruit over to Adam who also took a bite.
Adam and Eve opinion:
Remember - NOTHING happens in this world unless God allows it. Point? God allowed satan to possess a serpent, allowed Eve the choice to listen and obey satan, allowed Adam the choice to listen and obey Eve. They could have listened and still obeyed God, but they CHOSE not to.
Immediately, their eyes were open. Adam and Eve realized they were naked and sewed some fig leaves together to cover themselves.
Soon after, they heard God walking in the garden in the cool evening breeze. "Adam and Eve, where are you?" He asked.
"I heard you in the garden, and was afraid because I was naked," said Adam.
"Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree of knowledge after I told you not to?"
"The woman gave me the fruit, and I ate it."
God turned to Eve. "What is this you have done?" he asked her.
"The serpent fooled me, and I ate," replied Eve.
Adam and Eve fact:
Here we see the first example of not taking responsibility for one's own actions. A trait running rapid in present day society.
God said to the serpent, "Cursed are you above all the animals. You will crawl on your belly for the rest of your life. You will become the lowest of all the animals and eat dust all the days of your life. Your head will be crushed by a child from Eve, and your head will bruise his heal."
Then he turned to Eve, "As for you, I will greatly increase your pain during child birth so you will be reminded of this for all generations. You will also desire your husband, and he will rule over you."
Adam and Eve fact:
Notice the type of punishment God handed down? Enough to cause hardship, but not enough to cause outright death. God doesn't give us any more than we can handle, but he does remind us of bad decisions - only to teach us not to repeat them.
To Adam God said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree, I will curse the ground where the tree grows. It will produce thorns and thistles when you try to grow your food. You will be reminded of this sin for all generations."
After God said all this, he had mercy on them, and made them clothes out of animal skin. He kicked them out of the Garden of Eden and placed angels on the East side of the Garden. He also placed a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep Adam and Eve from entering the garden ever again.
