In Genesis 3 we read of Adam and Eve rebelling against God for the first time.
Of course, many lament the actions of Adam and Eve; but, if we’re honest, we’d have to admit that even if they hadn’t sinned, we probably would have.
The important thing to take away here is that it was people who introduced sin into God’s good Creation; and though the serpent plays a role in the story, he’s really not the centerpiece. The sin is ours, and with it comes corruption.
Now, because of our sinfulness, God allowed humanity to fracture, requiring constant effort and attention from us in order to find harmony with this world.
God put enmity and frustration between people and animals. God permitted labor pains among women.
God spoke prophetically about the fact that, because of the Fall, there would be a separation between men and women that would place women in subordination to men as men increasingly become domineering and women increasingly become cowed in all relationships that don’t prioritize God.
God cursed the man with toil and with work and the sweat of his brow, severing the connection between people and planet.
In every instance, God placed distance from a harmoniously ordered Creation.
The Fall, then, is a nexus, a web of rippling events, that spreads out from our rebellion against God to the great screwing-up of the world.
Adapted from Why God Died