The "original" sin

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.  Genesis 3:1-6

The first sin made by Adam--and the one all other sins flow from--is the desire to be like God.  That's the root of all disobedience.  That's why the serpent said, "when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5)  That's the whole reason Adam and Eve ate the fruit.  In our desire to become like God we actually replace God in our hearts and put ourselves in his place.  In effect we make ourselves our own idol.  As Paul says in Romans 1, we "exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25; italics mine).

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.  Romans 1:22-25

Whenever we tell God--through our decisions, mindset, and behaviors--"I'm going to do this my way" we put ourselves in the place of God.  And when we take this to the extreme, God gives us up to our desires.  God intends to protect us from ourselves but there is a point in our kicking and screaming "Let go!" where God says, "Okay, do what you want to do."

A rose bush becomes most beautiful if the gardener prunes it regularly by cutting it back and removing all the dead blossoms.  Right after the pruning the bush looks terrible but given a couple months it will be full of beautiful flowers.  God prunes us through the discipline of trials and hardship.  This process is called "sanctification"and through it we gradually do become more like God.  As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18,

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

When God stops pruning us and "gives us up" due to our persistent stubbornness He withdrawals his shears and let's us go wild--and the outcome is never good.  Our desire to be God-like is not the problem.  The problem is in our effort to be God-like we take God out of our hearts and replace him with ourselves.  As C.S. Lewis said in his book The Great Divorce,"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done.""