Life outside of Eden was not good. Sin was now in the world—people were disobeying God. Genesis 4 shows that sin was everywhere and in everyone. Because of sin, death came into the world too. Genesis 5 tells us about that. Adam dies. Seth, his son, dies. Six more people die. One generation after the other. Adam and Eve have made quite a mess of the world! Sin and death. A cursed planet.

And there was no turning back. Even if Adam and Eve wanted to return to the garden of Eden, they couldn’t. They couldn’t get to the beautiful trees and the tasty fruit, including the live-forever tree, because there was a mighty angel with a flaming sword guarding the entrance. So they lived outside of Eden. Life was hard. Adam had to work the ground, hour after hour, day after day. The earth was filled with thorns and thistles. Farming wasn’t easy. He sweat a lot in the hot sun. Having children and raising children wasn’t easy either. Giving birth was painful! (Ask your mom.) What was also painful was that their children had bad hearts like their mom and dad. Hearts full of evil thoughts, mouths full of hateful words, and hands full of evil actions.