God then curses the serpent, Eve and Adam--in that order.  The beautiful serpent is damned to crawl on its belly.  Eve will have pain and suffering in childbirth and her husband will be her ruler.  And Adam will have to till the ground--which will be cursed.  Thorns and thistles will grow in his crops.  And instead of God providing Adam's food in the garden of Eden, Adam will have to "sweat" to provide for his family, all the days of his life.  They had it perfect, and blew it.  All they had to do--up to then--was pick fruit and eat it.  Now--after they disobeyed--they are going to be cast out of the garden and have to work for a living.  Obedience is critical to God.

Every time I pull a weed, I can thank Adam for it.   I sure don't plant them.  And left to itself, my garden would be full of weeds.  They are a dominant species.  Everything else has to have attention to produce or bloom.  Not weeds.  They take over if you don't pull them out.  They cause work for us.  You can definitely see the parallel between sin and weeds.

The discussion on Sunday was a question:  Was Eden Paradise?  When the Bible talks about Paradise, it usually is a place you go after death.  In the Old Testament, it was on one side of a huge gulf that separated the faithful from the unfaithful.  Those being "held" until Christ paid the penalty for sin.  And those being held for judgment.  The story of Lazarus is a good example.

Luke 16:19 tells us about Lazarus, a beggar laid at the gate of a rich man.  He hoped for crumbs the Bible says.  They both died.  Lazarus went to the bosom of Abraham, and the rich man was in torment for his sins.  He cried across "a great gulf" to Abraham to have mercy on him.   But it was too late.  Then he asked that someone to be sent back to warn his brothers.  Abraham said, "If they won't hear Moses...neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.

In Revelation, John tells us about Paradise and and says that the "Tree of Life is there."  In the gospels, Jesus says to the thief on the cross, "This day you will be with me in Paradise."  But three days later, Jesus says, "Don't touch me, I have not yet ascended to (heaven) my Father."  So Paradise seems to be somewhere besides heaven?  That is, up till the resurrection.  Then the saints went to heaven.  I'm out in the boonies here.  Just thinking out loud.