Ga

I'm really not sure what transpired in the Garden of Eden.  The forbidden fruit tree was described as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  It was not until it was eaten of that God declared mankind guilty and promised a release from said bondage.

Now, there are indeed things that people do that are just rotten and should never be done.  But a question that has come up to me several times is What does "perfect" look like?  What specifically distinguishes God that qualifies Him as perfect?  It's not that He never broke the ten commandments.  True, He hasn't stolen or disobeyed His parents, but when you have no parents and everything you see is yours, I mean...is that really the litmus test?  Is God to be praised and honored because He literally CANNOT sin?  And I don't mean cannot like "I can't violate my conscience", but like the same way a human being CANNOT be a giraffe.  God could perhaps turn a human into a giraffe but then he wouldn't be a human anymore.

I think Paul hunted at this when he said "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me."

Ultimately, we should pursue distance from things that tempt us to do what God commands against, but what is most important is that we are with God.  We were never intended to be perfect.  We were never intended to be equal with God's awesomeness.  We were intended to be with God.  What the law could not do, God did, sending His son in our likeness to bridge the chasm between us and Him.  Inasmuch as we are distant from God, our souls will continue to feel it.  Granted, I think, we weren't to be walking immediately beside Him, literally with Him, 24/7.  The picture in Genesis 2 shows Adam and Eve off doing whatever, and God off doing whatever, there was no explanation or indictment given for Eve being in a position to be having a conversation with Satan.  She's not recorded as having like King David having made one bad decision (staying at home and doing nothing) that ended up snowballing into something much worse.  So we're not going to be like hanging off of God's shoulders all the rest of our days, but it'll sometimes be like when you were a kid and your parents would go to the grocery store and be back in less than 2 hours.  Except it won't even be like that because you'll always know that you're safe, no matter what happens.  

The distance between us and God is in our hearts. 

Our lack of perfection can be wrongfully ignored, like I said, there's things that we simply should not do.  We should not get hostile with people about petty issues, we (or at least I) should not be so materialistic and trying so incessantly to have all these passing fancies.  I should not look at people with such shallowness the way I often do, it should not take so much effort for me to remember to be compassionate and helpful.  These are not small things.  It's insanely easy for me to think otherwise but God obviously doesn't agree with me when I'm thinking that. He had to estrange Himself from His only begotten Son for 3 hours, and watch Him suffer from all kinds of brutality.  Not to mention all of that pain that Jesus The Christ Himself faced.  All to atone for that which we CANNOT atone for.  We can try to make restitution but we CANNOT take back what we do and say.  And I know from experience feeling the brunt of someone's malice, that no apology is really ever enough to assure me of peace.  No act of kindness is enough to offset things.  The only thing to do is know that neither me nor my opponent are innocent.  And we both are offered salvation through the life death and resurrection of Jesus.