Sin Hurt the First Family

In the very beginning, before any people existed on the Earth, God had to decide how He would bring people into the world for the rest of human history. He could have designed a world where storks drop off babies at huge shopping centers for people to buy them. He could have de-signed a world where huge oak trees grow human babies out of their largest branches. He could havedesigned anything He wanted.

So how did God decide to bring people into existence? He created Adam out of the ground, and He created Eve out of one of Adam's ribs. But those are the only two people God created on this Earth. Every other person born into the world would be born from a person already alive. God designed the family to be the building block of all societies.

In God's design, a family is made up of one man and one woman who stay married for life (read Matthew 19:1-10). According to God, the husband should be the head of his family (Ephesians 5:25). That husband has the responsibility to love his family as Christ loved the Church and to lead his family in God's ways. God says that the wife in the family is supposed to be obedient to her husband (Ephesians 5:22). The children who are born into the family are supposed to obey God and their parents (Ephesians 6:1-3).

When we look at the first family in the book of Genesis, we can see God's wonderful design. The Bible says that before God created Eve, Adam was lonely. He needed a companion to help him be happy. After God created the first family, the Bible says that He saw everything that He had made and it was very good (Genesis 1:31).

Yet, even the first family had "family problems." The devil tempted Adam and Eve to sin, and they were kicked out of their wonderful home in Eden. Two boys were born to them named Cain and Abel. Adam and Eve loved their sons, but sin soon brought more pain into their lives. Cain became jealous of Abel and murdered him. Because of his sin, Cain was sent far away from his family, causing his mother and father terrible heartache.

Even though God's design for the family was perfect, the sin that the first family chose to commit caused them many years of suffering and hardship. We should be thankful to God for the wonderful plan of the family. And we should always behave as He has instructed us so that we do not bring pain and heartache upon our family.

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