The Story of Creation says that everything that exists was created out of nothing by an infinite Being, called God, Who is eternally other-than any created thing, but very much involved with His creation.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," Genesis 1:1. He created everything, including plant and animal life, in six days and rested on the seventh. God spoke and His Spirit moved. That's how it was done except for the creation of man.

Man was formed from earth's dirt, in God's image, and God breathed the breath of life into him. The first man was named Adam, or "red clay", and given the job of keeping the garden God planted, somewhere in Iraq, just for him.  God also gave Adam the job of naming all the animals.  Adam and God did lots of things together.

One day, God looked around at his creation.  Everything He made was very good except for one thing.  It was not good for man to be alone.  So God made a woman from one of Adam's ribs, and Adam called her Eve.  Adam and Eve were created healthy, smart, and free, to rule the earth.

Creation was finally done, and it was very good, but it didn't stay that way.  Adam and Eve were free to do anything they liked except one thing.

"See the tree in the middle of the garden right by the Tree of Life?,  That's the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil," God said, "fruit from that tree will kill you!"

Now no one knows if animals could talk in the beginning but the snake could. Maybe it's because he ate the fruit of the forbidden tree.  Anyway, the Bible says the snake was smarter than the other animals. 

One day the snake caught Eve's attention and said, "Did God tell you not to eat fruit?"

Eve answered "God said we could eat all the fruit we like except the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. If we so much as touch that fruit we will die."

The snake hissed, "You won't die!  God doesn't want you to eat the fruit of that tree because it will make you wise.  He just doesn't want any competition.   That fruit will make you smart enough to be a god."

Eve thought about it for a minute. Sure God was their Friend but he was kind of bossy, and Adam did spend a lot of time walking and talking with Him in the garden. What does it mean to die anyway? So she looked at the tree.

A nervous longing started to grow inside as Eve stared at the forbidden fruit. Soon it seemed the only thing that was important. She should talk to Adam about it but she could make choices too.

Finally, she ate some of the fruit and felt really good about it at first.  Adam should try this, she thought, so she took some more fruit and went to find him.

Adam may have objected at first but he ate the fruit anyway, and the cycle of sin and death began. It didn't feel so good anymore, especially when they thought about God, so they tried to hide.

"Adam, where are you?" God called, knowing full well everything that had happened.

As much as Adam and Eve wanted to hide they really didn't have a choice this time. They were being called to account for their disobedience so they tried to hide their bodies with fig leaves.

"What have you done? Did you eat the fruit of the forbidden tree?" God asked, waiting for full confession, but He only got excuses.

"The woman You gave me made me do it," Adam blamed Eve and God for his bad choice.

"The snake made me do it," Eve accused.

God didn't even ask the snake, He just cursed it. "For what you have done you and your offspring will crawl on your bellies and eat dust all your lives."

Then He turned to the woman and said "Because of your choices, your children will hurt you and your husband will be the boss. You won't be able to resist him; however," God promised, "one of your children will save all mankind from the pain of your bad choices.  He will destroy the snake but He will be hurt too."

To Adam God said, "The earth is cursed because of you, so your life won't be easy. You will have to grow food for you and your family.  The soil won't help either. Thorns and weeds will grow up and choke the crops."