Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists

The Effects of the Fall Upon Marriage
The distortion of humanity's reflection of God's
image that sin brought had its effect upon marriage
as certainly as it did on any other area of human
experience. Self-interest intruded where perfect
love and unity once reigned. Selfishness is the
primary motivator of all those not compelled by the
love of Christ. Running counter to all of the
principles of surrender, servanthood, and giving
that the gospel represents, it is the common
denominator of all Christian failure.
By their disobedience Adam and Eve
contravened the purpose of their creation. Before
they sinned, they had lived in full openness before
God. After, instead of joyfully coming to Him, they
fearfully hid from Him, attempting to conceal the
truth about themselves and denying their
responsibility for their actions. Pervaded with a
deep sense of guilt that their rationalizations could
not erase, they could not meet the eye of God and
the holy angels. Since then this evasion and selfjustifying
denial has been the common pattern of
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