Monday, September 27
Almost every school child has heard the story about an apple falling on Isaac Newton’s head, and Voila! Newton discovered gravity. Whether or not an apple really fell on his head isn’t the crucial point; instead, the point is that Newton’s great insight (he didn’t discover gravity either; anyone who fell down already knew about gravity) was to understand that the same force that dropped the apple (gravity) also kept the moon in orbit around the earth, the earth in orbit around the Sun, and so forth.
This was important because, for millennia, many people believed that the laws that governed the heavens were different from the laws that governed the earth. Newton showed that this belief was wrong.
And though Newton’s contribution was in the area of natural law, the same principle holds true with moral law. The same freedom, the freedom inherent in love, that led to Lucifer’s fall in heaven led to humanity’s Fall on earth, as well.
Read Genesis 2:16, 17 and Genesis 3:1-7. How do these verses about perfect people, in a perfect environment, created by a perfect God, also reveal the powerful truth about the freedom inherent in love?
After the Fall, things went from bad to worse, even to the point where the Lord said about humanity “that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). And if their thoughts were bad, their actions surely were, as well, until things got so evil that the Lord destroyed the entire world with a Flood — in a sense giving humanity a chance to start over, a kind of second creation. However, as the story of the Tower of Babel shows (Genesis 11:1-9), humanity still seemed intent on defying God. “When the tower had been partially completed, a portion of it was occupied as a dwelling place for the builders; other apartments, splendidly furnished and adorned, were devoted to their idols. The people rejoiced in their success, and praised the gods of silver and gold, and set themselves against the Ruler of heaven and earth.” — Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 119. Thus, besides confusing their language, God scattered the fallen race across the face of the earth.
Take a mental note of your thoughts throughout the day. What does this teach you about the state of your own heart?
