With the breaking of all things in the fall of mankind, there immediately came blame-shifting, accusation, and a victim mentality – all things that continue today. In the gospel, we are called to get our eyes off of ourselves and finally find where the blame should really be.

With the breaking of all things in the fall of mankind, there immediately came blame-shifting, accusation, and a victim mentality – all things that continue today. In the gospel, we are called to get our eyes off of ourselves and finally find where the blame should really be.

The day that Adam and Eve sinned was the darkest day in all of human history • the real day when all of creation, everything good that God created, was broken and became fallen, and the day that mankind became separated from his Creator. Everything changed; nothing was unaffected. We need to look clearly at the effects of what fell and what was lost. We need to feel the longing for restoration. And we need to hear the promise of Christ to undo what we broke.

The fall into sin expressed an outright rebellion and rejection from man the creature toward God his Creator. But even before the actual fall, doubt began to fill the minds of the man and the woman • doubt that God was as good as He said that He was, and doubt that His word could be fully trusted. It is a doubt we all carry with us to this day.

The issue of homosexuality, and especially how it should or should not be connected to marriage, is one of the greatest controversies in our society and our world today. As Christians, we can struggle with the gap between what we believe God’s word says is true • and the reality that the world will often hear our position as unloving, intolerant, and judgmental. How do we declare the gospel to the world in this issue, and to ourselves in our own sin, and how do we find the sufficiency of God’s grace in an area in which we can feel so confused.