How did everything get so messed up?:
It began with Satan and his desire to ruin God's Garden of Eden and God's relationship with Adam and Eve, and they with Him.
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It is very clear in Genesis:
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1 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’?”
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2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 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.’ ”
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4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
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6 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.
7 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.
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8 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.
9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
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11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
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12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
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13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
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14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 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.”
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16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
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17 To Adam he said,
“Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
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“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
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18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow
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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.”
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20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
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21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 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.”
23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
24 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.
Satan, who was in the Garden of Eden prior to Adam and Eve, entered the serpent (who was already crafty) and challenged Eve with this question. (See 'SATAN, WHO HE IS')
Satan, who probably ate from the forbidden tree sometime before the time of Adam and Eve, knew that they would not die, as he hadn't died. But he knew he had changed. He had become evil.
Like most of us, Eve was desirous of "gaining wisdom" and she disobeyed God (who she had not heard from directly - Adam told her of his conversation with God.
She ate of the fruit and she shared some of that fruit with Adam.
Adam could have said "No" but for some reason he did not.
That is the beginning of the mess we have today.
Suddenly, nakedness was a problem, so they "made coverings for themselves."
Adam and Eve hid from God.
God called out to Adam,; Adam answered a strange reply that he "was afraid because I was naked; so I hid" Also, I am sure Adam and Eve felt guilty they had disobeyed God.
God knew immediately what had happened.
Adam, taking no responsibility blamed Eve and ultimately God "The woman you put here with me"
Eve also took no responsibility and blamed the serpent (Satan) who was still standing there, probably delighting in what he had created.
This is the beginning of mankind and serpents being enemies. God cursed the serpent (Satan) and this is what we see today. I do not know if Satan received the curse as well, or just the serpents.
This is the beginning of women being ruled by men. ("he will rule over you"). Up until this time Adam and Eve ruled together equally as in Genesis 1:27, 28,29)..
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This is the beginning of painful childbearing.
This was the beginning of painful, strenuous fatiguing labor, and lack of abundance.
God told Adam that the ground was now "cursed".
That instead of the abundance that Adam and Eve had enjoyed, there would be "painful toil" (long, struggling, strenuous, fatiguing labor.) and he would sweat in order to eat'
This was the beginning of a difficult life.
This is the life we have today, no abundance without hard work and sweat.
This was the beginning of death.
God told Adam "for dust you are and to dust you will return".
This was the beginning of clothing.
God made garments for Adam and Eve for their new life. Adam named his wife Eve (which means life) because she would bear children.
God then banished them from the garden protecting the entrance with Cherubim with flaming swords.(see description and picture below)
After Satan
This was the beginning of Satan ruling this planet. Unfortunately today, Satan along with his demons, rules this planet. He did it by continuous lying, cheating, stealing, murder and devouring (consume/eat us up in any way he can - one of his many ways is with sickness and disease. (See 'SATAN, WHO HE IS' & (See 'HEALING FOR YOU')​
Here are 3 verses (and there are many) with Jesus talking about Satan:
John 14:30; I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.
1 Peter 5:8; Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
John 8:44; You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Ezekiel 10:,6; When the LORD commanded the man in linen, “Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim,”
Ezekiel 10:11-14; When they moved, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which they faced, without turning as they went. 12Their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings and the wheels were full of eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them. 13The wheels were called in my hearing, the whirling wheels. 14And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle
An example of
one cherubim
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