• He nodded into the realm, though, and a star appeared. It was bright yellow, beautiful in this realm of darkness. It brought to mind His first creation, that Angel of Light. And so He decided to replicate all the heavenly host in the night sky. He smiled as His hands danced around in front of Him, bringing into existence planets and asteroids, moons and meteors. And with a sigh He lowered Himself to earth and viewed what He had made in just one day: The light giving stars in the heavens and the earth at His feet.

    Next, He raised Himself into the sky again and created water. He watched as the Pacific Ocean filled itself with water. Next He created the trees and other flora, watching with joy as the greenery appeared. The beautiful leaves and dark green pine needles, the rough bark of the trees and the soft colors of the flowers. Everything He saw was beautiful and good.

    Next He brought into existence every animal that He saw fit. Every insect and mammal and reptile and fish and bird. He watched them appear and sent them to their respective homelands and habitats. Each one behaved rather oddly, though. None of them fought or even seemed to notice the other. He didn’t give them their fighting instincts.

    “Actually,” He said, considering the problems that those instincts brought, “I’m fine with that.”

    And finally, after all He’d done to prepare the earth, Yahweh created humanity. In a form much like His own, aside from being all-powerful and knowing that which was unknowable. He created a man and woman and He called them Adam and Eve, respectively.

    “Eve? Adam? Can either of you hear me?” He asked.

    They both nodded and looked toward Him. It was at that point He realized the were naked. Not a completely horrible thing, though. He didn’t care, they didn’t care. It worked out for the best, really. Less work for all of them.

    “Adam, Eve, do you know who I am?”

    Adam nodded slowly. “You are God.”

    “Yes, Lord.” Eve said quietly.

    They simply stared at Him. This was becoming a problem. A hilarious problem, but a problem nonetheless. He shook his head and thought back to their creation. He gave them minds, hearts, bodies, all they would need. What was missing?

    “Adam, what do you want to do today?” He asked slowly.

    “Whatever you want to do, Lord.” came the monotone reply.

    “And Eve? What do you want to do today?” He asked the woman.

    “Whatever you want to do, Lord.” She said lifelessly.

    Free will. That was what He had forgotten. They couldn’t decide what to do, how to live, anything! Well, that was easy enough to fix. He nodded toward them and flicked a figurative switch in their brains. Suddenly, the looked around and smiled. Finally He could have a conversation!

    “Adam, Eve how do you feel?”

    “I feel good.” Adam said, smiling.

    “Great, Lord.” Eve laughed, enjoying the beauty that was earth. And Yahweh couldn’t blame them. The greenery, the life that was here was intoxicating.

    “Come, let us walk.” He said.

    Together they walked off into the forest, none of them quite minding the human’s lack of clothing.

    “Why are we here, Lord?” Josh asked, looking quizzically at the Creator of their home.

    “You’re here because I want you to be. My two closest friends are with me now, here for eternity to live in happiness. But please, I have only one command: Do not eat from the Tree that is in the middle of the Garden.”

    And with a swift smile, the Lord disappeared into the sky, invisible to them. He watched them run off into the forest and laugh. He watched them as He had watched the universe from early in its existence. Every moment they were together He felt their joy and rejoiced with them in happiness. They were truly happy here in this world. There was only one problem.

    The Angel of Light had defected, becoming filled with pride. And against Yahweh’s wishes he had gone to earth with one third of the Angels. They were on the planet with humanity, and although they had not come into contact yet, Yahweh knew they would. He knew what would happen. And he wanted to stop it so badly.

    But there was a reason He gave them free will. He could stop them, make them unable to make the decision. But that’s not what He would do. They needed to make the choice themselves. And with sadness in His heart, Yahweh watched as Eve approached the Tree, and the Serpent hiding within it.

    He saw the conflict in her mind, felt sorrow as she decided that knowing good and evil was better than obeying Him. And He watched as her mind was opened to the world, as she ran to give some to Adam, and convinced him to eat it also. He watched as Adam damned his whole race to a life of toil and pain. And he watched them make their clothes. And he decided to confront them.

    “Adam? Eve? Where are you, my children?” He called, although He knew. He felt them nearby and went to them.

    “Why did you not respond when I called you?”

    They looked to the ground in embarrassment. More than that. Shame and sadness were tied in with their reasoning.

    “Lord,” Adam said, “We were naked and wanted to make clothing to wear.”

    “Who told you that you were naked,” Yahweh asked them, “Did you eat from my Tree and gain the Knowledge contained in the fruit?”

    Adam looked down in shame again, and said, “Yes, my Lord. But it was Eve. She gave me the fruit, and convinced me to eat it.”

    “Why, Eve? Why have you done this thing?”

    She looked up at Him with tears in her eyes. “The Serpent, Lord! It was he that told me! He tricked me, deceived me into eating it!”

    Yahweh knew exactly which serpent she meant. His first creation, who was adorned with every precious stone. Lucifer, the Angel of Light.

    “Lucifer! Cursed you are, now! Lower than all beasts. You shall be made to crawl on your stomach! And the woman and her children shall hate you and all you create! And some day her offspring will crush your head, and you will bruise His ankle.”

    With that He turned to Eve. “Because of what has been done today you shall feel pain, great pain during childbirth. And pain shall be passed to your children through their birth. You will be under your husband. He shall rule over you.”

    And to Adam He said: “And to you, because you listened to your wife and ate that fruit I commanded you not to eat, you shall be cursed to toil the ground. The roughness of the earth will hurt your feet, and the soil shall give you thistles and weeds. You will eat the plants of the earth. Your food will come from the ground, until the day you return to it. For it is what you were made from. From dust you were made, to dust you will return.”

    And with that Yahweh created clothing for them from the skins of animals, and He banished them from the garden, saying to the Angels that guard it: “Now they are like us in the way that they can decipher Good from Evil. Now they must leave, lest they take from the tree of Life and live forever.”

    And so Adam and Eve were banished, banished from the Paradise that Yahweh had made. With only the promise that someday their offspring would repay Lucifer for his trickery. And a Cherub was placed in the Garden to guard the tree of Life, and he was given a flaming sword to protect it.