Fall of Man
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In Christianity, the Fall of Man, or simply the Fall, is believed to refer to the transition of the first humans from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience to God. In the creation myths of Christianity, the first humans, Adam and Eve, live at first with God in a paradise, but are then deceived or tempted by another creature to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil from which God had forbidden them to eat. After doing so, they become ashamed of their nakedness and God consequently expels them from paradise. The Fall is not mentioned by name in the Bible, but the story of disobedience and expulsion is recounted in both Testaments in different ways.
In other religions, such as Judaism, Islam, and Gnosticism interpretations of the Fall vary.
In Christianity, Fall of Man can refer to the wider theological inferences for all humankind drawn from Eve and Adam's sin, which was called original sin, such as the biblical teachings of Paul.
Some Christians believe the Fall corrupted the entire natural world, including human nature, causing people to be born into original sin, a state from which they cannot attain eternal life without the gracious intervention of God. Protestants hold that Jesus' death was a "ransom" by which man was made forever free from the sin acquired at the Fall, and other denominations believe that this act made it possible for man to be free without necessarily ensuring it.
The term "prelapsarian" refers to the sin-free state of humanity prior to the Fall. It is sometimes used in reference to sentimental recollections of a past time when conditions stood in sharp contrast to the present; this situation is called nostalgia.
