The first Church Split...

Genesis 3:22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
God had created the world and everything in it, then Man and Woman and put them over it, and then He also established a special place for fellowship with Him - the whole reason for the project to begin with.  All was going well till the created ones decided it was not enough, rebelled, disobeyed, and set in motion a history-long story of struggle.  In what sometimes seems like a postscript at the end of the list, we have this record of the created ones being kicked out of the Garden - the first excommunicants from the "church".  The first church split did not result in the members leaving, but being booted.  It was a breach in their fellowship not only with God, but with one another, as stated earlier in the chapter.  I have been thinking a lot about people who leave churches, why they do, and what to do about it. But first and foremost, the key is rebellion against the created order and the Creator.  We want what we want no matter what it does to the fellowship between us and Him.