Why do we have to die?

Before God created the Garden of Eden and humankind, He created the angels.

Angels do not have free will; they serve God and do what He commands.

One angel was particularly beautiful. His name was Lucifer, and he led worship in heaven. He had direct access to God and was more beautiful than all the other angels in heaven.

One day, he became proud. He thought, “Since I am so beautiful, I should take God’s place in heaven.” He wanted to overthrow God from His throne. But God was stronger than him, and the faithful angel Michael also fought against him.

Thus, Lucifer was cast out of heaven, along with a third of the angels who agreed with his rebellion and also rose up against God. The brilliant angel Lucifer became the dark angel, the devil or Satan, the one who brings confusion, the father of lies, whose sole purpose is to destroy humankind because he is jealous of them.

When Adam and Eve were happy in the Garden of Eden, the devil was furious because God now had fellowship with them, and apparently, they obeyed Him despite having free will. He wanted to change that.

He chose a cunning animal, the serpent, which was very clever, and through it, he gained access to the Garden of Eden.

He started a conversation with the woman, who had all the information about the forbidden tree secondhand, and sowed distrust in her heart with the words, “Did God really say that?”

Then, he directly deceived her, claiming they would not die if they ate from the tree. He even said they would become like God if they ate from it, and that idea seemed appealing to the woman. So, the woman ate from the tree first, and then she gave some to her husband, who also ate.

After eating, they realized they were naked, felt ashamed, and hid.

When God came in the evening, He immediately noticed that something was wrong. God called out to the man, who was hiding from Him, and addressed the situation. He confronted the man, the woman, and the serpent, giving them the chance to confess their sin. However, the man blamed God for giving him the woman, and the woman blamed the devil for deceiving her.

God gave each of them a consequence to bear: The man would have to work, and the earth would no longer be easy to cultivate as it was in the Garden of Eden, for it was cursed by God and would produce thorns and thistles.

The woman would bear her children with pain, and the man would rule over her.

And the serpent would have to crawl on its belly and eat dust.

But God still had compassion for humankind. He promised a Redeemer who would bear their sins, and He sacrificed an animal to make garments of skin to clothe them.

Then God expelled humankind from the Garden of Eden and blocked access to it with a cherubim, to prevent something worse from happening, such as humankind eating from the Tree of Life and becoming unable to be saved.

Since that fall into sin, humans must die, which is very painful because, having been created to live eternally, we are not emotionally prepared for such a great loss.