You fail to understand that Adam and Eve didn't know right from wrong, good and evil.
I don’t believe that the TKGE indicated that humans did not
know good and evil, but rather that it indicated that it was not given to them to
decide good from evil for themselves. When we look at human behavior, we see exactly that....humans can justify “evil” and turn it into something “good”. Relying on God to make those decisions would have kept evil out of their lives completely.
In all creation there are equal opposites that we take for granted and that factor into our lives every day...up, down...in, out....for, against...with, without....this way, or that way....black, white...negative, positive.....some are of minor consequence, but some have major outcomes, impacting in a big way. Now imagine the magnitude of God's goodness, compared to its equal opposite? We don't have to imagine it...we are living it, because of the choices made by three disobedient individuals at the beginning of our history. These individuals could not be told so the only way to demonstrate the value of obedience to our Creator was to SHOW both angels and mankind, what happens when we ignore his guidance and direction.
If God was to decide what is good and what is evil, then free will would never be abused. Obedience was the key to everlasting life. They knew that God required their obedience, and they knew what death was, because they had been around long enough to see other creatures die. For them, they recognized clearly that death is the opposite to life....that is what God told Adam....he wasn’t going anywhere else if he died, he was simply returning to the dust out of he was created. (Gen 3:19)
Who wanted humans to believe that “you surely will not die”? It wasn’t God.
That tree wasn't exclusively God's.
All of the trees in the garden, and all the green vegetation were given to God’s creatures for food.....only one tree was off limits to humans under penalty of death. What that tree represented was God’s Sovereign right to dictate the terms of their existence. It created no hardship for them whatsoever. Refraining from eating the fruit of that one tree was respecting God’s Sovereignty over them and showing appreciation for all the other wonderful provisions he had made for them.
If the devil had not lied to the woman, Adam would not have had his loyalty divided.
God planted it in the middle of the garden he created and then placed the first humans in.
We know Adam and Eve didn't know right from wrong so to make a choice to obey or disobey because they possessed the capacity to weigh the consequences.
You think God would not have educated the man before he gave him a mate? Look what Adam was doing before Eve was created....he was to name all the creatures that shared life with them. How long would it have taken to do that? He would have observed them and decided on an appropriate name for each one, reflecting their traits or characteristics....not something he could have done in a single day.
It was only after they ate of the tree that they were able to feel shame for being naked. It was only after eating of the tree that Adam had the capacity to know he'd done wrong in eating of it, because he lied to God and blamed Eve for his having eaten the fruit.
God said Adam and Eve had become like one of them, after eating of the tree, knowing good and evil.
Yes, shame was their first indication that something serious had changed in their perception of life.
It wasn’t that they didn’t know it was bad to disobey God, it was that ‘someone’ told the woman that 'bad' was 'good', and she did not rely on God to correct what the serpent had told her. Adam then had a dilemma when she offered the fruit to him......he was not deceived like his wife, but now his loyalties were divided.....he had to make a choice...and he chose loyalty to her over loyalty to his God.
You know, there's a lot of talk about God and the denial of those scriptures that refer to his predestination of all things. One argument in the denial claims God didn't create us to be robots.
That cannot be argued. There was no predestination of what took place, otherwise God is responsible for the fall, and all the tragedy and damage that has resulted from it. What kind of loving God would plan such a thing?
Free will does not allow for predestination. What was predestined was God’s purpose...to have a beautiful planet inhabited by free willed creatures, made in his own image and likeness, who would take care of everything he created in perpetuation.....the planet, it’s creatures and each other...forever. But free will is not “free” without choices. God did not create humans to be “robots” otherwise what happened in Eden would never have taken place.
