Was Eve justified in eating of the tree of knowledge?
I know that most consider Eve disobeying God as what lead to the so called fall of man and some say the first sin.
First, since Satan was already cast from heaven and appeared in the garden as the talking snake, I would say that sin was already in existence before Eve ate of the tree of knowledge. Also, the evil tempting by Satan was also before she ate.
Further, the tree of knowledge contained the information of all sins and things evil so God must have known of these sins before hand. Jesus said that all one need do to sin is think about it. The thinking being more or less as bad as the sin itself.
If God is to be the epitome of all things then He would not only be the personification of good but also of evil. Perhaps this is why Christians can say that He is love while at the same time knowing that He is capable of great destruction/evil and genocide.
If Eve had not eaten of the tree of knowledge then man would be as morally bright as any of the lesser animals. This would not be good.
Without the knowledge of good and evil, it is impossible for mankind to form a moral sense.
I do not think that this would be God's plan. To keep mankind ignorant of morals seems just to silly to contemplate.
Those who believe we fell from Eden must then believe that we are not to have moral sense. Please justify if possible.
Literal scripture says that God wanted obedience without question. As a moral leader, it is difficult to see why He would not want Eve to know, morally, why she was to follow. This would also not give her free will. Something some believe God gave us. I believe that freedom is taken, not given.
We can know that Eve did gain moral sense from the tree of knowledge because right after eating of it she hid and made to cover her nakedness.
Deuteronomy 32:4
QUOTE |
He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. |
Message Edited... Persephone: Please use the Quote Tags here. When you do not use these tags source material that is not your own may appear to be yours when it is not. See our Constructive Posting Policy. |
Some would say that The fall was a good thing because it allowed man to start on their road to higher knowledge (knowledge that they could not receive unless they lost their innocence and were expelled from the Garden of Eden). I do not believe it was a bad thing that Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of good and evil.
In my opinion God created Men and angels with free will. By that act alone he has given them the capacity to choose a good path or an evil one. Satan made his choice in the heavens and followed the evil path. The good path (whatever that is) is to be found somewhere. I suppose man's job is to find that path and follow it to the best of his ability and with sincerity.
I totally agree with you Dbackers. It was up to man and woman to make their own way with free will. Someone had to eat of the fruit to have the free will and free choice come into play. By Eve doing this she freed us all to make our own destiny whether for good or ill. Walking in the righteous path that God has set for us it something we all need to strive for. Hopefully we can get it right.
dbackers
Good view that I do not usually see from someone, who I take it, believe in a literal Satan.
You do not follow your dogma. This is good.
Let me add that if God created the concept of free will then it must ultimately be good, regardless of the path. Even choosing evil is good.
That is how, as scripture says, we all repent and reach heaven. There then is no hell.
KNtoran
If scripture is right, we all get it right. In this, we have no choice.
Regards
DL
Edited: GreatestIam on 14th Aug, 2009 - 7:58pm
The fact that Eve knew that eating from the tree was wrong and was able to state that plainly to the serpent. The fact that both Adam, and Eve were kicked out of the garden because of their disobedience. The fact that Jesus sacrifice is needed to redeem mankind from sin and death, dose it not show that Adam an Eve's version of what was right, and wrong, good, and evil, was of their own making, a independent course from Gods direction. Was not the first thing they did when God confronted them about their sin was to point fingers at each other?
Adam & Eve would have received continued guidance and direction from God if they had remained obedient to the command not to eat from the tree, so to suggest that they would have been without a moral compass doesn't seem remotely plausible!
Eve only did what we all do - disobey the voice of God. She and Adam were cast out for not obeying. Christ was sent to rescue us from this fallen state through his blood we must believe. We can't hate Eve or Adam for what they did, they just showed us that even if you walked with God you will still make wrong choices.
QUOTE (David27072) |
"The fact that Eve knew that eating from the tree was wrong" |
Message Edited... Persephone: Please use the Quote Tags here. When you do not use these tags source material that is not your own may appear to be yours when it is not. See our Constructive Posting Policy. |
If you want to discuss this in detail, I would suggest that you go to the LDS Discussion board, as our point of view is far different than most of Christianity's.
Is God all-knowing? Does He know the future and the past? Does He know how we will act, before we do?
By what standard do you judge blood sacrifice? Do you have such a tremendous understanding of Eternity that you know how God views it? After all, God established blood sacrifice, beginning with Adam.
I understand that Adam and Eve, while innocent, were very intelligent. They made an intelligent, informed choice. After Eve had partaken of the fruit, although "seduced" into doing so, she realized that she would be cast out of the Garden, and they would be separated. Adam also knew that, and that is why he ate as well.
All of this was part of God's Plan of Happiness, the way that He had prepared to give the greatest blessings possible to all of His children - mankind.