Nell,
1. "It appears that you're saying that the only way we could end up in the mess we're in now is for Adam to do what he did. Is that what you're saying?"
My answer: Not sure I'm getting your question but I'll take a stab at it. Eve put us in the "mess we're in." Adam responded to her mistake by joining her in that mess. I'm saying that on one level he did the right thing by doing that.
2. "And, please answer your own question..."if he doesn't eat of the tree, what happens now?" "
What happens if he doesn't eat is that we have the first couple, the couple that is to populate the earth, with an unequal relationship of immense proportions. Maybe they flee each other (likely) and then fail in their command to populate the earth. Maybe Eve would simply always fear Adam and his righteousness (also likely). She eventually dies, he doesn't. Terrible!
3. "Do you think that God's plan was for man to fall and Adam was the 'fall guy'?"
It's an academic question. For one thing, God definitely knew he would fall. He's omniscient ... plus the lamb was slain from the get-go. The fall was gonna happen. For another thing, the fall actually proves that man had a free will. If man doesn't fall, Satan would say, "Sure he worships you, big deal. He's a puppet." (This is somewhat what he said of Job.) The fall cuts that argument off at the pass.
I don't believe God intended the fall. I believe He knew it would happen.
My biggest point in this whole argument isn't whether or not Adam's sin was terrible. It's that his joining Eve in her fallen state is a picture of what God did in putting on the flesh.
SC
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