Sauron vs. Your Mama - A Discussion of Power in Middle-earth

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Not sure that this thread matches well with my thoughts, and not sure I will express my thoughts well, but hope that however it goes that it will lead to some civil discourse...

In the beginning, in the Christian Bible, Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. These two subsequently were tempted by Satan, fell into sin and were made to leave Paradise. After which, though long-lived, Adam and Eve were afflicted by time, disease, toil and all of the fun that goes along with living outside of Paradise. In the end, like us all, they returned to the dust from which they came.

In the beginning, with the rising of the sun, the first men (humans) awoke in Arda. At first they toddled around a bit, but some, learning from the Firstborn, grew wise and great. After a huge battle, the humans were given their own island, but they fell into sin (not for the first time) and were mostly drowned. Since then their days have been shortened and they too enjoy all of the fun of time, disease and toil.

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We have what Tolkien may have believed, and what he wrote about. How are these two comparable, and how are they discordant? But first, let me explain what I'm really asking:

As I understand the Christian religion, Adam and Eve were made perfect, or nearly so. This perfect or near perfection, it is argued, is why they lived long and were not adversely affected by inbreeding as deleterious mutations were not present until many many generations later. Regardless, these two fell when tempted by Satan. Were Adam and Eve like you and me, easily swayed (assuming you're easily swayed)? Or was Satan more powerful then, able to tempt even the First Two? Has Satan become more or less powerful since the beginning, or has his power stayed about the same?

Not that we're discussing Christianity, but we need to consider what Tolkien may have been considering when he wrote about men in his secondary world.

Seems to me that, in the beginning, Melkor was the one-stop-shop for evil. Sure, he had his crew, but, in the First Age, if you were looking for evil's source, you drove northward. In later ages, as Morgoth sold franchises and subfranchises ad nauseam, you needn't drive for more than a few miles to get some evil. Sure, this evil wasn't as pure (or powerful) as stuff from that one store way up north that existed long ago, but it still did the job, especially as you didn't need the same amount like in the past when those pesky elves and Edain were around.

With Hurin, you had to drive north, but with Ted the drive wasn't so long.

So my question is, in both Tolkien's view of Christianity and in his created world, were Men more apt to resist evil in the beginning (or not), and was evil itself more powerful in the past?

As I see it, if we graphed the trends, in one view you would see the following (see graph, and note that the lines are just to show trends and do not relate to each other...much):

Thoughts?