Lyne Kirk

Lyne Kirk in the Scottish county of Peeblesshire is an ancient parish church located in a delightful place. The site has been occupied since the 12th century but the current building is likely seventeenth. In common with many other properties of the Church of Scotland, keeping open the doors for visitors during the week is not a priority. Nevertheless, the kirkyard contained a famous ‘Adam and Eve’ gravestone, now protected against the elements by a case of glass. Dating to 1712, it depicts our first parents taking the forbidden fruit, a crime against God’s law, the consequences of which are still around us. To most visitors, this is just a charming artistic flourish in this arcadian, Scottish setting. To its occupants, however, and to we who believe, it is the very reason we have graveyards.

But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death. Genesis 2:17

Then the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not die at all… Genesis 3:4

So all the days that Adam lived, were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. Genesis 5:5 (all Geneva Bible)