GOD: “Where are you Adam? Where are you Eve?”
Silence
GOD: “Come on, I know you’re here!”
Rustle of leaves as Adam and Eve’s heads rise above the bushes
GOD: “What are you doing hiding over there?”
EVE: “Er…um…it’s a little embarrassing. You see, you didn’t supply us with anything to cover ourselves – we are naked.”
GOD: “That hasn’t been a problem up until now. I don’t suppose you have eaten the fruit that I said was not to be eaten?”
ADAM: “She made me do it!”
GOD: “Oh, it’s her fault is it?”
ADAM: “Yes! She ate it first and said it tasted delicious and she didn’t die the way you said we would. So I tried some too. Really good flavour….”
GOD: “I’m sure it was, but when you ate it, something happened, didn’t it?”
EVE: “Yes God, everything changed.”
GOD: “Yes, everything has changed now that you have disobeyed me. You had everything here laid on for you, yet you weren’t satisfied to stay and enjoy it. You had to test me out.”
ADAM: “Put that way, I guess you are right.”
GOD: “Unfortunately for you, I am right. Now firstly, I had better get you some animal skins to wear, then you can say goodbye to this place, for things will be very different from now on. When I said you would die if you ate from that particular tree, I meant that we could no longer have the same relationship with each other. See? Already you are frightened of me.”
ADAM: “Yes.”
GOD: “So now, you will both have to leave here. Instead of everything being provided for you, you will have to fend for yourselves. That means growing your own food and finding your own shelter. Life won’t be easy the way it has been, and we won’t be able to meet like this anymore.”
And so Adam and Eve left the luxury of that perfect place, to face the real world of work and worries, love and hate and all the difficulties of providing food and shelter.
At the same time, God was preparing his plan of reconciliation, as he still loved the people he had created.