What's the big deal?

What did Adam and Eve do that was so horrible?

"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." - Genesis 3:6,7

Is this really worthy of a curse upon all mankind?

"By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.” - Genesis 3:19

The concept of sin is one that we like to mold and shape to fit our own standards. We learn to categorize sins into "not that bad", "pretty bad", or "very, very bad". Where would we rate the sin committed by Adam and Eve? They didn't kill anyone. They didn't commit adultery. They didn't even lie. Was it really that bad? Did God overreact or come down too harshly on them? What about all the good things they did? Shouldn't that make up for it?

We just don't look at sin the way God does. Our sins, whatever they may be, separate us from God just the way it happened to the first man and woman. What we think of as our "good deeds" will not cover our sins, though we may wish they did.

How do we know how seriously God views any sin? By the price he was willing to pay.
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." -- 1 Peter 2:24

Don't think that you have any better case than anyone else, when you stand in court before the Judge of all the earth. To say "I never killed anyone" or to stand on your own feeble works will not atone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.