Claim. Adam and Eve fell during the growing period — specifically at the top of the growth stage, while still immature. This must be so: if perfect embodiments of goodness could fall, then goodness itself would be imperfect, and God, as the source of goodness, would also be imperfect. The fall presupposes incompletion.
Elaboration. Per 5.2.1. The Three Ordered Stages of the Growing Period: “When did the first human ancestors fall? They fell during their growing period, when they were still immature. If human beings fell after they had attained perfection, then there would be no basis for belief in the omnipotence of God. If human beings fell after they had become perfect embodiments of goodness, then goodness itself would be imperfect. Accordingly, we would be forced to conclude that God, as the source of goodness, is also imperfect.”
The textual evidence: God warned Adam and Eve that eating from the tree of knowledge meant death. “The fact that they had the potential either to fall or to become perfect demonstrates that they were still in a state of immaturity.”
The specific stage: “At what stage of the growing period did the first humans fall? They fell at the top of the growth stage” (ibid). The detailed defense is reserved for Part 1 Ch 2.
This is DP’s theodicy solution: God’s omnipotence and goodness remain intact because the fallen agents were never perfect — they were in transit through a stage where freedom-to-fall is intrinsic. It licenses restoration as completion-of-aborted-growth rather than reversal-of-perfection.
See also. dp-perfected-individuals-cannot-fall