Just Because: The Story of Salvation for Children (2 page)

like the Lord, then they would have to make a choice

to be like the Lord and follow Him, or be like Satan

and follow him. The Lord would not allow Satan to

come out of the bubble so He made a place for the

new creatures inside the bubble.

So the Lord made the earth, and that’s where you

and I live. Then He said, “Let there be light,” and

suddenly the sun was shining brightly in space. Old

Satan must have started looking for some sunglasses

when that happened. The Lord made the moon to rule

in the nighttime and the sun to rule in the daytime so

the people would have darkness for half the time and

light for half the time. The Lord made it this way so

people could have day and night to remind them of

dark and light, Satan and God. But that doesn’t mean

it is always bad at nighttime; it just means God was

being fair because He never cheats.

And the Lord made trees and plants and lakes and

seas. Into the seas He put heaps of fish and also some

really big dinosaurs, which walked around with their

heads sticking out of the water.

The Lord made everything in six days, and on the

seventh day He had a rest. He decided people should

have at least one day a week to rest as well, and

that’s why most people have a day off on Saturday

or Sunday.

Then the Lord made a place on earth, which was

just like paradise. He called it the Garden of Eden,

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and He put a wall around it so the demons could not

go in. They probably didn’t want to go in anyway; the

Lord was in there, and they hate being near Him.

After this the Lord made lots of different animals

and birds and put them everywhere on the earth.

Then the Lord said to Himself, “Let’s make a

man.” He bent down and picked up some dirt from

the ground and made it into the shape of a person.

Then He breathed into his mouth, and the new man

came alive. Yep, the dirt turned into skin, and hair

grew out of his head, and fingernails covered the

ends of his fingers. The man smiled, jumped up off

the ground and stood before the Lord. The man was

really happy and started jumping up and down and

almost stepped on a big caterpillar who looked up

and wondered what he was doing.

So if you thought that people came from monkeys

and your great, great, great, great, great grandma was

eating bananas and swinging in the trees you were

wrong. Anyway, most of the science men who know

lots of stuff don’t believe that crazy idea anymore.

They have learned many new things about people,

and they know someone made us. Guess who?

Now old Satan was looking over the wall and saw

this person in the garden. One of the demons asked

him, “Why don’t we go in there and talk to that new

person and get him to follow you as master?”

“No, not yet,” Satan replied. “This creature

would not follow me. He is the image of God. He

loves God. No, we must wait.”

“What are we waiting for, master?” the demon

asked.

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“Haven’t you been watching?” Satan asked with

a growl. “God has made two of everything, and He

will make two of these new people. Then we will

speak to the one who will find me the most attractive,

and we will trick both of them and every other person

who will ever be born, into making me their king.”

“You are truly the king of the world, master,” said

the scared demon and then decided to be quiet.

This time Satan was right, because sometimes he

can guess what is going to happen. The Lord put the

man to sleep, and while Adam was sleeping He took

one of his ribs and made a woman from his rib. When

Adam woke up he saw a beautiful lady called Eve,

and he fell in love with her. She was his “other half,”

and he was her “other half.” So the Lord married

them, and they became the first husband and wife.

They probably had a big kiss and a cuddle, but they

didn’t go on a honeymoon. They were living in para-

dise anyway, and the Lord had told them to look after

the garden.

Outside the garden evil eyes were watching. The

demons and Satan were planning how they could get

into the garden to talk to the man and the woman.

Inside the garden Adam and Eve were having a

wonderful time. They went around and saw all the

animals, and Adam told Eve what he had called them.

He had given names to all the animals.

Eve laughed when she saw a little lamb jumping

on the back of a huge lion. The lion didn’t mind at all.

He just ate some grass and played with the lamb. Oh,

I almost forgot to tell you. All the animals ate grass in

the Garden of Eden, and no animal killed any other

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animal. That only happened later when some really

bad things happened. Did you know that when your

cat gets sick he goes and eats grass. Cool, eh?

Adam and Eve wandered around the garden

picking fruit and berries and swimming in the warm

pool. The Lord came and spoke to them and took

them to the center of the garden. He showed them

two big trees. One of the trees was called the Tree of

Life, and the other was the Tree of Knowledge. Then

the Lord told them they couldn’t eat from the tree of

knowledge or they would die. Now the Lord didn’t

mean they would die straightaway like “zap, you’re

dead,” but they would start to get old and, worst of

all, would not be perfect anymore. The Lord told

them the fruit of the tree was the knowledge of good

and evil, and if they disobeyed Him and tried to get

that knowledge then they would become sinners.

Now some people today ask, “Why did the Lord

put the tree in there? If He hadn’t, then nothing bad

could have happened.” But remember the Lord put

people inside the bubble because He wanted them to

have a choice about loving Him and being His chil-

dren or hating Him and having Satan as their king.

The tree was a test for them. The Lord knew what

would happen, and He decided they must be allowed

to choose to be good or bad.

Now old Satan was sitting outside the wall

listening to everything the Lord said. The Lord knew

he was listening because the Lord knows everything.

But old Satan thought he was being really clever.

Satan thought, “I reckon I can get those new people

to eat the fruit from that tree. I’ll tell them God wants

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them to know nothing, that He wants them to do only

what they’re told and not think for themselves. And

when those stupid little people eat from the tree they

will be just like me, but they will die. Ha ha ha.” He

laughed to himself. He is a rotten dude, this Satan.

Well, the light in Eden was too bright for Satan

so he asked the snake if he could borrow his body for

a while. That silly snake said yes, so Satan got inside

the snake’s body and started into the Garden of Eden.

He slid past the lion and the lamb, which were still

playing, and the lion stood up and looked at him with

a frown on his face. The lamb fell off the lion’s back

then stood up and stared at the snake as it slid past on

its way to the tree of knowledge.

The Lord watched what was happening. He knew

something bad would happen, and it made Him sad.

But He knew it was very important for people to

make a choice—Just Because God is wise and He

always makes the right choice.

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Chapter 3

k

Adam and Eve were still near the center of the

garden when Satan slid up into the tree of

knowledge. Satan rolled himself around a branch and

called over to Eve. “Hi, Eve. What a beautiful day.”

Eve wandered over to see the pretty colored snake

and have a chat.

“This is a beautiful tree, don’t you think?” asked

Satan.

“Yes, it is,” replied Eve. “But God said we are

not allowed to eat the fruit off this tree or touch this

tree or we will die.”

“Die,” said Satan. “Do you know what it means to

die? No, you will not die if you eat from this tree.”

Eve thought about that question, but she wasn’t

sure what it meant to die because she had never seen

anything die before. She became a bit confused.

“Well, when the Lord said we would die He

meant we would be separated from Him—you know,

like we wouldn’t be able to see Him anymore,” Eve

said.

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Satan slid around so he was right in front of her.

“God doesn’t want you to eat from this tree because

He knows that when you do you will be like Him,

knowing good and evil. If you eat this fruit you will

be just like God.”

Eve looked at the fruit. It appeared to be deli-

cious. She thought about what the snake had said.

“It would be good to be like God, to know as much

as God. Anyway, why shouldn’t I eat from the tree?

I want to have wisdom, I want to be someone impor-

tant, and I don’t think God should try to stop me.”

Well, you know what happens to people who start

thinking like Eve, don’t you? They get themselves

into bi-i-i-i-i-i-i-ig trouble. Eve was getting proud.

The Bible says pride goes before a fall, and Eve was

about to take a really big fall. Outside the Garden

of Eden the demons were watching as their master

spoke to the woman under the tree. They knew that

if these people ate from the tree then their master

would be the king of the earth as well as space. They

were afraid Satan might fail. And if he failed, they

knew he would be really angry and scary.

Eve stood there with her finger in her mouth

thinking, and then she made her decision. She reached

out her hand and grabbed a fruit off the tree. She

rolled it around in her hand for a moment then took a

great big bite. She ran over to Adam and said, “Hey!

Have a bite of this. It tastes really great.” Adam knew

he was not allowed to eat the fruit. But the silly man

followed Eve, just like so many people do what their

friends tell them even when they know it is wrong.

Adam took the fruit and ate a big bite as well. All of

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a sudden Adam and Eve realised some things they

had never thought of before. They realised they were

naked, that they had no clothes on.

“Oh, no,” said Adam. “I’ve got nothing on;

neither have you, Eve. We can’t go walking around

here like this.”

Adam ran over to a tree with big leaves and

grabbed some stringy bark and took them over to

Eve. He put the leaves around himself and tied them

there with the bark and told Eve to do the same.

“Here—put this on, woman,” he said, almost

growling at her. “You don’t want the Lord seeing us

like this, do you?”

Eve felt afraid and guilty. On top of everything

else Adam was speaking in a way that made her feel

very sad. He had never spoken like that before, and

she was scared. “Everything has gone wrong,” she

thought to herself as she put on the leaf clothes. “I

should have listened to the Lord.” Now she knew

what evil and guilt tasted like.

Satan was almost falling out of the tree from

laughing at them. He was very happy right then

because these new creatures, these first two people,

had disobeyed God. Outside Eden the animals were

restless; they were changing.

Just about then Adam and Eve heard the Lord

walking in the garden toward them, and they felt very

guilty for what they had done so they hid from Him.

Now the Lord always knows every thought we have

and everything we have done. He called to Adam and

Eve, and they came to Him.

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“Why were you hiding from Me?” asked the

Lord.“I was. . .uhm. . .hiding. . .uhm. . .because I was

naked and didn’t want You to see me like this,” said

Adam trying to find the words to say.

“Who told you that you were naked?” asked

the Lord. “Have you eaten from the tree of

knowledge?”

Adam immediately pointed his finger at Eve and

said, “She gave it to me, the woman You put in the

garden with me, and it’s her fault.”

And so the Lord turned to Eve and said, “What is

this you have done, Eve?”

“The snake tricked me, and I ate the fruit,” said

Eve blaming Satan, who was at this time sliding

down the trunk of the tree and trying to sneak out of

the garden without being noticed.

Then the Lord turned to the snake, and he stopped

where he was. The Lord said to the snake, “You have

allowed Satan to use your body to speak to My people.

Your punishment will be that you and your children

will crawl on your stomachs forever. All snakes will

be this way.” The Lord also said to Satan, “One day

a woman shall have a child. You will fight Him. You