Humans are arrogant, but you already know that. Why do we assume we are so special, that we are completely different than anything else in the universe? Why do we assume we were created fully formed, fully adult, fully intelligent, wise, perfect from the moment of creation? Why?
The universe itself is somewhere around 14 billion years old. The very first stars took 400 million years to get started. The earth is 4.5 billion years old. That’s 9.5 billion years of the universe before an earth is created and then life on earth starts 800 million years ago. So, the earth took 3.7 million years to get prepared for the first signs of life, then humans don’t show up until 200,000 years ago. So, of the 14 billion years of the universe 13,999,800,000 years of it was taken to create the conditions for life. And then the first human civilization was only 5-6,000 years ago. Yet we were created instantaneously fully formed adults. Doesn’t seem likely to me.
Everything in God’s creation takes time. Every species of life starts as a seed or as a baby. But somehow souls were created not just perfect, (which means what exactly) but fully formed. With complete knowledge of all things, of all wisdom, and then God gave us free will and we fell, went boom and God threw us out of the house! Who does that?
When my children were small and they fell down went boom, I rushed to them said they were okay and let’s try again. That was when they first started walking, riding a bicycle, doing sports, driving a car, dating, sometimes first marriages, everything and anything. If they messed up it was part of the learning process. I picked them up and we kept going. There was a time when indeed it was time for them to move out and learn more about life by living on their own. But that wasn’t punishment for failing to be perfect. It was to help them become perfect.
If that is how we treat our children, why would we expect less from God? How old are we? When did we come together? Did that process take 400 million years like stars, or 13.7 billion years like planets? When did God make us as souls? Just before birth? Or did He make all of us at one time? Did the essences of all creation come out of the big bang, the moment of creation, and it just took time for souls to coalesce? All of that doesn’t matter really, interesting questions, but the big question is are we in the cosmic sense of things still children? Perhaps teenagers? Maybe, maybe young adults? Do some age differently? Are we perfect? What does that even mean? And if we are children, when we fall down go boom, what should we expect from our parents; God the Father, God the Mother? When we crash the car are they going to be upset? Of course. Do we get grounded? Have to pay for car repairs ourselves? What if we break the rules? Do we get punished? Probably. But there is always a way home. And this Dad was always there, is always there when they needed me. When do our kids really grow up? Should we expect God to love us better than we love our children? Yes we should.
Was it inevitable that someday Adam and Eve would have to leave home? Get out and see the “real” world; find out what living, loving, forgiving, mercy, sin, anger, regret, faith, courage are really about. I think that makes much more sense. I don’t think we fell and were thrown out of Eden. I think it was time for us to leave home so we could grow up and become the children God always hoped we would become. A loving Father ready to welcome us home.
The Books of Daniel 