The Fall: Step 1 - Doubt!

So how does it all begin? What leads up to sin entering the world? There are numerous small steps that occur that bring this destruction and end.

Step 1) Doubt. The serpent, who is more cunning than the beasts of the field, comes to Eve and plants a simple seed in her mind. It is a seed of doubt. "Did God really say not to eat of the tree?"

It's interesting, something as tiny as a seed can have so much power. An oak seed (acorn) is so small that you can hold fifty of them piled up in your hands. Yet any one of those seeds can produce a tree so large that it takes multiple men and heavy machinery to bring it down. By itself, its roots can degrade and compromise the foundation of a home, ultimately causing that home to collapse.

That is what you see here. The enemy simply plants one seed. A seed of doubt! That one seed in turn brings down the entire human race. What makes this seed, this simple thought so powerful? It's what it brings with it.

The enemy asks, "Has God really said, 'you shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" It's a simple question with a simple answer, and Eve gives the simple, correct response. However, that seed begins to dig into the very foundation of her relationship with her husband and her God. With that question comes doubt. Did God really say that? My husband, Adam, told me that God said this. Why would it not be true? What if he got it wrong? What if it's not true? What if he lied to me? Maybe he's trying to hold me back? It's a question that at it's very core is the design to bring doubt and corrode the very stability and foundation of those relationships. It's a question that once asked, if not properly dealt with at the start, brings irreparable damage, and in turn cannot be undone. The seed begins to dig in. It gains a hold of that foundation of those relationships and does not let go.
Thus the end begins!

Image from Roger Smith used under cc license.