point of the adam and eve story

[can-not-escape]

Mr. Neely,

You are right. I started this thread because i had the same idea as you. That because god is all knowing it would be unnessary to test man, since he would know what the outcome would be. I just wanted to check the facts about the story before I posted the problem that I (and you) found.

Thank You.

 

[Laser Eyes]

The story of Adam and Eve is actually very important because it explains the reason why the world is the way it is today. Consider the story in these words:

It is several thousand years ago. All is good in the universe. Man and God live in peace and harmony. The first man, Adam, loves God and has a close relationship with him. Adam and his wife Eve live together in a beautiful garden created by God. God has commanded Adam not to eat from a certain tree because he knows that man does not have the ability to decide moral issues for himself. It is a test of man's obedience. God reserves to himself the authority as the absolute judge of morality. How do we know his morality is the right one? Well that’s why we are experiencing a world without God right now. So that we can make up our own minds whether we have the ability to decide moral questions for ourselves. Take a look at the world and figure it out.

The consequences of disobedience have been clearly spelled out. After commanding Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil God said: "in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." The consequence of disobedience is death.

God gives one of his most powerful angels certain responsibilities over mankind. This angel allows feelings of jealosy to develop in him. He desires for himself the worship that man gives to God. The angel sets out to drive a wedge between man and God. The angel is smart, far smarter than Adam. He cleverly attacks the man through his wife. He approaches the woman and insinuates that God is holding something back from them. He feigns surprise that God really ordered them not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and bad. He assures her that she will not die if she eats from the tree. The woman is deceived. After eating from the tree the woman goes to her husband and tells him what she has done. Adam is not deceived. He knows what will happen to him if he eats the forbidden fruit. He makes his choice.

When God says that Adam had become like one of us knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:22), it means that Adam had decided to determine for himself what was right and wrong. Adam would not consider himself bound by God's moral rules. That is what is meant by that scripture. It doesn't mean that Adam actually became a God. Since he died he obviously was not a God.

 

[Laser Eyes]

Greetings and Felicitations,



Actually, I consider the whole Adam and Eve in the garden thing to be a set up from God. Here is my reasoning:

One of the attributes of God is omniscient. According to the dictionary definition omniscient is ; 1 - having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight 2 - possessed of universal or complete knowledge. If God is omniscient then he knew that Adam and Eve would eat the fruit. If he knew that they would eat the fruit and placed them in the position to eat the fruit then he wanted them to eat the fruit. Therefore, God wanted Adam and Eve (and by extension humanity) to possess knowledge of Good and Evil. Now the question becomes one of ??Why??

Sincerely Yours,
C. David Neely

Your logic is correct so far as it goes Mr Neely but it is not the whole story.

God did not know that Adam would disobey him. He expected Adam to obey him but he did not know for sure what Adam would do. I think God is something of an optimist. He prefers to expect the best of people rather than the worst. He gave Adam so much, including life itself, he hoped and expected that Adam would remain faithful. God allowed Adam to be tested. He chose not to see the result of the test beforehand. If God had already known what Adam would do it would not have been a fair test.

There are indications in the Bible that God chooses not to look at the specific choices that individuals will make, not because he can't, but because he wants us to feel the full power of free will. That way there can be no suggestion that our futures are predestined. We truly write our own future with the decisions we make. Nobody, including God, knows what we will do.

The fact that some scriptures indicate that God does not know (on an individual level) how we will exercise our free will can only mean that God chooses not to know certain things. It's not hard to figure out why he does this. If God has foreseen our future then we would not feel in control of our destiny. If our future was already written then our life would seem pointless. God wants us to know and feel that we have the power to decide our own futures and have real free will, not some sham version. By choosing not to know what specific choices we will make there can never be any suggestion that our futures are predestined.

Why should it not be possible for God to choose not to know something? Can you give me any reason why he couldn't do that? Why should omniscience be an uncontrollable power? Just because God CAN know something if he wants to doesn't meant that he can't choose not to know it.