The "Declensionist Nature" of Genesis

Almost everyone knows the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Even if you do not belong to the Christian Faith, the chance that you know the story is extremely high.  If you haven’t, however, maybe you have heard the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box? They’re essentially the same thing in which both Eve and Pandora are the first woman on Earth from their respective beliefs.  Both illustrate human’s natural inability to resist temptation.  Eve eats from the Forbidden Three of the Knowledge of Good and Evil while Pandora opens the box she was told not open, for it contained all of the evils of the world in it.  But let’s focus on the story from Genesis.

            After Eve eats from the Tree and convinces Adam to snag a snack from the tree as well, their eyes are opened to (as the name of the tree suggests) the knowledge of good and evil.  Post forbidden snack, Adam and Eve clothe themselves and soon after speak to God, who realizes that they broke the one rule He had set down for them.  It is at this point in Genesis that the state of human nature seems to decline, and the debated declensionist narrative begins.

            On this topic, I believe that the narrative of Genesis does not so much criticize all human nature and the fact that we are made to fail as much as it just explains that no one is perfect, and that even the first humans, hand-crafted by the Lord himself, were flawed. Instead of a declensionist narrative, it seems like the story of Genesis lets people know that everyone makes mistakes, and that it is only how you respond to your own mistakes, as well as the mistakes of others. The Bible goes on to describe how you should treat others like you want to be treated, which lends me to believe that if you are gracious and forgiving of others’ mistakes, others will be forgiving of your own.

            After Adam and Eve eat from the tree, the human condition worsens and worsens, until God is forced to wipe the Earth clean and start with a clean slate, only sparing a few individuals and a whole lot of animals in an effort to purge the world of the sin and evil that had befallen it.  Again, it seems like this is only eluding to the fact that though God gets frustrated with his creation, all it takes is the will to give a second chance, because everyone is flawed and gives into temptation, but it is only those who are willing to forgive that are truly free.