"Die" and "end" are synonyms.
Originally Adam was told he would “die” if he transgressed the only negative command that humans were given...and death meant “the end” of his existence because he was to “return to the dust”.....not just his body, but he as “a living soul” would perish in death. There is no teaching of an immortal soul in the Bible, nor is there such a place as Christendom’s “hell”. If there was, no one deserved to go there more than Adam did. It was never mentioned.
At the beginning of the story, Adam and Eve are naked and cannot comprehend good or evil at a level similar to angels or God.
In the beginning humans were being educated...Adam first by his Creator who gave him the assignment to name all the creatures who shared life with the newly created humans....they were all created before Adam was. He was assigned to do this before Eve was created. This would have been a time consuming task because he first had to observe them and give them all an appropriate name. The “days” in the Genesis account were obviously not 24 hour “days”. (2 Peter 3:8)
If that is the case and the days were thousands or even millions of years long, it eliminates the need to swallow science’s flawed theory of evolution. Creation as a slow and meticulous series of purposeful events taking as much time as the Creator thought necessary, means that he designed each creature to suit the habitat in which he placed them. Again the food sources were created ready for them well in advance. It was not a wave of the hand and “poof” it all just appeared...Jehovah is a Creator, not a magician.
At the end of the story, Adam and Eve are wearing clothes and have developed the cognitive brain function to better comprehend good and evil.
We need to ask why God kept “the knowledge of good and evil” (TKGE) to himself at the outset.
It becomes obvious in the natural scheme of things that everything has an equal opposite. God’s creation is perfectly balanced, so all things have their opposites.....light and dark, in and out, up and down, forwards backwards, with and without, etc....we all know them and take them for granted because they are natural to us. So why did God not want us to be exposed to TKGE? If you think about it, Jehovah did not want humans to rule each other....he just wanted them to have dominion over the animals, whilst God would have dominion over them. He would decide what was good and what was bad for them, thereby keeping the opposite of good (evil) completely out of their lives. He was not depriving them of something to which they were entitled.....he was trying to keep them safe and their lives secure from any bad outcomes. (Like any good parent)
Its a story about early man evolving into modern man. Where the line of humans that doesn't wear clothes or comprehend good and evil "ends" or "dies out".
I believe that the loin coverings that they made for themselves were a product of knowing evil for the first time....sexual sin was covered in God’s law to Israel more explicitly than any other.....why? Because sex is the means to transmit life...it is a sacred act between committed couples who will welcome children and create families in keeping with God’s first mandate to “fill the earth”.
God ‘married’ these first humans and their procreative abilities were to be used to fulfill God’s command. But with their sinful state, sex now was tainted with evil possibilities. Shame was experienced for the first time and attempts to cover their private parts were not enough. It was God who clothed them in long garments of skin. This was not just for the sake of modesty, but also to protect them from the harsh environment that they would experience outside of their paradise home. (Gen 3:21)
Modern man wearing clothes and having greater brain capacity emerges.
The fact that people can spend thousands of years reading the bible, and not understand these basic points is one of the most amazing things about religion.
Well, I agree that humans haven’t really learned the lessons that we were all exposed to in the past....but that is why humans are doomed to repeat those past errors. The devil counts on our short memories and our stubbornness and disobedience. His memory is sharp, having observed mankind for thousands of years.....he knows what works and he plays on our laziness and willful ignorance.
Man may have progressed in some areas there is no doubt about that, but in the areas of worship of the Creator, they have used their intelligence against their own interests. We now have the means to destroy all life on this planet.....will God let that happen? He says not, (Rev 11:18) so how close must we be to his permission of evil to finish once and for all? Do we understand why he has let this awful situation on earth go on for so long?
Are we in the last years, months, days, or even moments of this present world system? It will come crashing down suddenly, when we least expect it. (Matt 24:44)
Jesus is about to judge the whole world and every person alive in it. If we are found not “doing the will of the Father” we will be rejected by his appointed judge, with no excuses accepted. (Matt 7:21-23)
That is how I see the narrative being played out...what about you?
