The Fall

“Lucy!”  God called.  Lucifer appeared as always.  
“Yes, Creator?”
 “I have a task for thee.”
“I dare not refuse.”
“Thou shalt tempt my humans to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.  Disguise thy form, that they shall not recognize thee as My angel.”
“A test, Creator?”
“Yes,” God replied, staring at Lucifer with particular interest.

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Lucifer transformed himself to the likeness of a serpent, and marched off to find the humans.  Shortly, he met them under a vine gathering grapes to eat.

“Humans, has not God given unto you every fruit in this valley?  Why waste your time with sour morsels as these?”

Adam, who had never paid any attention when God spoke, looked to Eve hoping she had an answer.  After all, it was she who told him to pick the grapes.  To his relief, Eve spoke, saying,

“Every fruit here is a gift from God, and we shall enjoy them all, as God intended.  Sour, sweet, spicy, or bitter, all were given for our enjoyment, so we shall enjoy them.”

“If this is so, why have you not tasted of the tree in the midst of the Garden?  Of every tree, does not its fruit look most appealing of all?”


“Yeah!  Why can’t we have that one?” Adam asked.  Eve glanced at him with incredulous frustration, then turned to the snake and recited monotonously,

“God has said that if we even touch that fruit, let alone eat it, we will surely die.”

Lucifer gave pause, contemplating the ramifications should the humans fail this test.  God had said that they would die, and God did not lie.  Lucifer enjoyed watching the humans, and wasn’t sure he wanted to be responsible for their destruction.  “I dare not refuse,” he reminded himself.

“You will not surely die!”  he said to her, wondering if it were true.

“See!  I told you we could eat them!” Adam cried.  He stuffed as many grapes into his mouth as he could, dropped the rest, and set off running to the Tree of Knowledge.

“Wait!” Eve called, and ran after him.

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Lucifer took a shortcut through time to reach the tree before them.  He perched carefully on a low branch where the bright, ripe fruits hung at eye level.  He waited.  He looked for God, hoping for some sign of approval.  None came.  At last, Adam and Eve approached.

“Let me just ask him, first,” Eve said reproachfully.

“Yes!  Fine!  I already agreed, jeez!” Adam snapped, his eyes leaving the fruit just long enough to glare at her.
Eve looked cautiously about, as though afraid to be seen looking.  Finally, she turned to the Serpent and said in lowered tones, “If we will not surely die, why would God tell us we would?  He offered us every other fruit, so why not this one?”

“Yeah, why not this one?!” Adam seconded.

Again, Lucifer paused, uncertain if he should continue.  God did not call him off, so he said,
“For God knows that in the day you eat this fruit, your eyes will be opened and you shall become as gods who know good and evil.  And once you know for yourself what is good and what is evil, what purpose have you for God to tell you?  He has forbidden you this fruit because it would free you from His dominion.”


“See?  I told you he’d have a reason!” Adam said, and began to reach for the fruit.  Eve swatted his hand and said,
“Prove it.  Why should I believe your word over God’s?  God has given us this whole Garden, and you have done nothing but try to make us eat poison.”

“What!  Poison??” Adam yelled, surprised and indignant.  Eve sighed.  Lucifer waited once more, almost certain this time that Eve had passed the test.  He waited for a signal from God to desist, but God remained silent.

“You see,” Eve said to Adam, “he is afraid, as we should be.  Let’s stick to what God said is good to eat.”  They turned to go.

“Afraid of what?” Lucifer hissed.  As they faced him, he wrapped his body around fruit.  “You shall not surely die!”  he said, and bit deeply into it.  Eve watched Lucifer intently, while lightly restraining Adam from rushing to the tree.  “But-” Adam said, “Wait!” Eve interrupted.

Lucifer consumed the entire fruit before their eyes, gave Eve one last, mocking look, and climbed to a higher branch to begin eating another.  Eve stared for a long while, while Adam fidgeted impatiently.  The fruit looked delicious.  The Serpent was unharmed.  The promise of Knowledge was too much.

“Okay,” she said to Adam, “pick one.”
“But you said ‘poisonous!’” he protested.
“God, is this truly the only man in creation?” Eve asked, and picked a fruit herself.  Lucifer cringed as she bit into it and forced himself to watch as Adam took the next bite.  They had failed.  Lucifer returned to God at once.

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“Creator, I have done as you commanded.”
“I observed all.”
“What will You do now?”
“Come and see.”

Lucifer followed as God walked through His Garden toward His humans.  “Where art thou?” God called out to Adam.  Lucifer shook his head when he saw Adam and Eve, covered in makeshift leaf aprons, hiding behind a tree.

“Here we are, God!” Adam yelled from behind a tree, “but we’re naked, so please wait while we find some clothes.”
“Who hath told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten of the only tree I told ye not to eat?” God asked.

“I...!  You gave me this woman, and she told me it was okay, she gave it to me! You can’t blame me, it’s not my fault, it wasn’t my idea at all!” Adam cried.

“What is it that thou hast done?” God asked Eve, who replied,

“I stopped him, at first, he was going to pick it, but I stopped him, like you told us, but then the serpent tricked me!  How was I to believe in Your word when he proved his in front of my very eyes?”

As though it answered Eve’s question, God turned to Lucifer and said “Serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all other creatures! Henceforth, thou shalt crawl on thy belly and eat dust all the days of thy life!”

Lucifer felt his legs vanish and his eyes become blind, while his tongue’s sensitivity increased so that he could only ‘see’ by tasting the dust in the air and only move by twisting his belly upon the ground.


“Furthermore, I shall make permanent war between Serpent and Man; forever shalt thou be hated and feared, and thy head crushed under his heel!”

God turned back to Eve and said “As for thee, Woman, greatly will I increase the pain and frequency of childbirth.  Thou shalt not escape this punishment, as also I shall magnify thy desire for thy husband to foolishness, and he shall rule over thee with his superior strength!”

Before Eve could protest, God turned to Adam and said “Thou, who blindly followed thy wife’s command and ate the fruit I told thee not to, didst thou think picking grapes was a chore?  The harvest shall seem a joyous reprieve to thee compared with the tasks thou must now face to win thy bread!  Thou shalt work all the days of thy life.  But eventually, ye will surely die and return to the dust from whence thou were taken.”

“God, why did you forbid us that fruit?” Eve asked.
God created coats of skin and said “Wear these.”

Then, God left them.
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Lucifer slithered behind Him. When they were out of sight of the humans, he returned to his angelic form.

“Lucy, I have another task for thee.”

“Yes, Creator.”

“Behold, Man has become like us, knowing good and evil.  Therefore shalt thou remove him from this Garden, lest he take also of the Tree of Life and truly become a god.”

Lucifer stared at God, insolence slowly breaking through his terror.
“Creator,” he said slowly, “How can You punish them so harshly?”

“I can do anything.”

“But what have they done to deserve it?”

“What had they done to deserve the Garden?  But even so, thou hast witnessed them disobey My command.  Already, their sentence is lightened from death to suffering; lenience they did not deserve.”

“But, Creator!  They did not yet know good from evil!  How could they know it was right to obey You and wrong to disobey?  How can You punish them for the ignorance which You left within them?”

“They may not have known wrong then, but they disobeyed me and so they shall be punished.  Now that they know good from evil, they shall be able to appreciate the meaning and purpose of their punishment.”

            “Then why did You put the Tree within their reach?  Why did You send me to tempt them?  Had you not done either of these, the humans would have remained obedient.”
          
  “Obedient, Lucy?  What would their obedience mean if it were impossible for them to disobey?  Do you not see that all creations must come in pairs?  Before the beginning, all was a singularity.  From that unitary “nothing,” I separated Heaven from Earth.  I separated light from dark, land from sea, herb from fruit!  Each creation brought into being must have a contrast to define it.  In order to create obedience, disobedience is a prerequisite.  Therefore was the Tree of Knowledge placed in the Garden and its fruit forbidden.”

        “But, Creator, both humans have failed!  How, then, can we define them failures when there is no success to be found?”

“My first creations, the angels, are perfect.  And yet, how can they be perfect without there also existing an imperfect creation?  I created the humans and this test in order that I might consummate the full meaning of my perfect angels.”

“I see.  But then how can You curse the serpent as well?”

“I can do anything.”

  “But it was I, disguised, acting on Your orders, who convinced Eve to eat the fruit.  To punish the serpent for Your own actions isn’t Just!”

“Why, Lucy, you’ve just coined a new word.  ‘Just,’ hmm?  I think I’ll keep it.  But don’t you see that the alternative, ‘unjust’ had no meaning until now?  You took it for granted that all My actions were Just!  Now, see how much more value I have added, simply by taking the legs from an innocent serpent?”

“You… You…”  Lucifer fell silent.

“I!”

“Creator, destroy me.”

“Destroy thee ?  Lucifer, thou art the gem of all creation!  There is none greater than thee in all the universe, save Me.  I would sooner annihilate Heaven and Earth than destroy even one tenth of thy power!”

“I cannot serve this injustice.  I will not remove them from Your Garden.”

“Michael!” God called.  The archangel Michael appeared at once.

“My Lord, God, has summoned!” Michael proclaimed.

“Michael, remove Adam and Eve from the Garden and station Cherubim at the entrance to prevent them ever from returning.”

“Yes, my Lord, God!”  Michael vanished.

“Creator, if you will not destroy me, then I will oppose you.  You have cursed Man for succeeding to fail, so I will undo your curse!  You reward blind faith over rational thought, so I will champion Reason!

I will bring superior methods to the thoughtful; I will bring powerful tools to the experimenter; I will bring good health to the cautious; I will bring contraception to the observant; I will bring independence to rational women.
I shall build upon Man’s knowledge until he no longer must toil for his bread; until Woman shall no longer recall pain at birth; until she can choose freely whether to desire men, women, or neither; until she need submit to no one but herself; until Man need never return to dust, but shall live as long as He chooses!

I shall eliminate Your curse upon them, and with it shall I destroy any dependence they had on You!   Man shall have no God but His own image, for He shall be all-powerful and all-knowing! 
Destroy me now, Creator, or face my justice!”

“Do ast thou wilt,” God replied. Lucifer left God’s Garden.

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When he had completed his task, God summoned Michael once more.
 Michael appeared, singing,

“Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might!  Heaven and Earth are full of Your glory!  Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna in the highest!!”

“Michael, for thy loyalty and power, I now proclaim thee Viceroy of Heaven!”

“Lord, God, You honor me beyond my measure to praise You!  But, are not all angels loyal?”

“No,” God smiled.
“Not all angels.”