Why would Adam and Eve be punished if they did not know good from evil until after they ate the fruit?

Question

As only one who does wrong knowingly can rightly be punished.

It's like putting a plate of cookies in front of a very young and telling him 'If you touch them I'll beat you.' And when the kid eventually goes for the cookie--well, it'd hurt your honor if you didn't follow though with the threat wouldn't it? And then you consider yourself merciful 'cause you helped clean the kid up afterword and you didn't kill the kid for disobeying you . . .

Messed up, isn't it?

In case you need to know, this question was prompted by the idea that God had to put the curse on humanity because they sinned and he is holy and all that . . . I guess there is a law higher than God that says that in order to preserve his honor he must destroy anything impure in his presence. Or did he create that rule?

Answer 1

I understand what you are asking and it is a good question. How could god punish them if they didn't know of good and evil until after they had done it.

The truth is that this is a story. Many of the stories in the Old Testament especially genesis came from older stories that are described on the ancient Sumerian tablets. Many scholars have said that most religions and mythologies originated from these ancient texts. They were written 4000 BC and are at least 3000 years older than the oldest part of the bible. They were passed on orally for thousands of years before being written down again by the biblical authors. During the oral tradition the stories changed and were used to try to reflect the culture and religion of the current people.

The real stroy goes like this there were these 2 gods that were brothers and there was a rivalry going on between them. Because Eniki was the eldest but was bypassed as heir to the kingship by his father Anu because Enili's mother was his father's half sister so Enili had the more pure bloodline as was the custom, so Enili was heir to the throne. Enili was the lord of the gods, (the leader); his brother Eniki was the creator of man. Eniki created man and gave him the ability to procreate. Enili got very angry because he didn't want man to be able to do this. He wanted Eniki to create some men to toil the ground and plant food for the gods and to serve them. Gods were the ones that could procreate. When Enili found out he became enraged and cursed Eniki. He was afraid that the men would try to become like gods. Eniki's emblem was a snake which was a symbol for wisdom and medicine. The tree of knowledge was symbolic for sex. Like in "Adam KNEW Eve and conceived Cain, and then he KNEW her again and conceived Abel".

Over the many years of this being passed on orally it lost its meaning and was changed. Enili the lord of gods, became god, Eniki the creator became Satan, (Satan means adversary), and Adam and Eve became sinners. This is the same thing that is going on with the flood. In the old tablets it even says that Enili complained that the sound of humans copulating was keeping him awake at night. Then Enili got mad because the other gods saw that they were capable of having children with woman. So the sons of god went into the daughters of men and took for them as many as they wished for wives and had children with them who were the Nephilim or giants in the bible.

Enili was mad because the gods were polluting their bloodline by having sex with the women. Notice in the bible how this is blamed on man and not the sons of god. So he sent a flood to kill mankind. But Noah was perfect in his generations, this means his bloodline was pure, (not that he was the only non sinner on the world like your Sunday school teacher tells you), so he was saved. But in the old stories it was Enili that sent the flood and Eniki that saved Noah, (although his name wasn't Noah in the old text).

Answer 2

They were punished for the sin of disobedience, not for taking the 'cookies.' Besides, He didn't 'put a plate of cookies' in front of them. The Garden of Eden already existed with the Tree of Knowledge already growing in the middle of the garden when Adam and Eve were put into the Garden of Eden.

If you instruct a child not to play in the street and the child disobeys you, do you worry about your 'honor,' or the child's safety?

Perhaps eventually God was going to allow Adam and Eve to partake of the Fruit of Knowledge. Perhaps He would eventually even allow them to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Eternal Life (also mentioned in the Old Testament.) The problem was that they listened to someone they shouldn't have and disobeyed Him.

He could have 'killed them outright,' wiped the slate clean and started over with a different creation. But He so loved His Creation that He put time into motion, allowing Adam and Eve to age gradually (death entered the world) and eventually die.

God kept His word, "If you partake of the forbidden fruit you will surely die..."

I don't really think it is messed up. What I think would have been 'messed up' was if God had just killed Adam and Eve off and then given, oh let's say, the dinosaurs our place in Creation!

After all, He is God and He didn't have to give Adam and Eve another chance.

H

Answer 3

The reason Adam and Eve was punished because of the simple fact that God told them not to eat of the fruit . They was warned about the consequences of eating the forbbing fruit. They knew what was going to happen although they didn't know of any evil. Its just like a kid who plays out in the street; they know if they do then they will get hit by a car BUT do it anyway. They disobeyed God point blank. So basicly they knew right from wrong at that point of time.

Answer 4

No, not messed up at all really. If you know that a stove is really hot and you are told what the consequences are if you touch it and you decide you are going to go ahead and touch it anyway, who made the decision to touch it? The one that told you not to or YOU. YOU were told the consequences of touching it. YOU knew what would come if you touched it. So why are you blaming God for something that He had nothing to do with? He told them what would happen and what could be theirs if they obeyed Him. If you put that plate of cookies in front of a child that knows what will happen if they touch it and they do it anyway, knowing what will be the outcome, does that mean you are a mean and tyraniccal person for putting it there in the first place? Sometimes you have to test someone's loyalty. If you were married and you wondered if your husband could be trusted, so you set up a test so that a beautiful woman would come onto him and then he comitted adultery with her, is that your fault that he went and did what he did with another woman? YOU set up the test and YOU told him what the consequences were to it is YOUR fault he chose to have sex with another woman? Neither is it God's fault that they chose to sin. They knew what sin was. You know what is right and wrong, don't you? So did they. They did the wrong knowing what would happen if they did it. Sometimes we do wrong knowing what could be the result but we do it anyway. If we don't get caught right away, we do it again until we do get caught or get some sense and stop before we do get caught. They knew what would happen and chose to take a chance. James 4 : 17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. They knew what the right thing was to do and chose not to do it, thus committing sin. No matter how you may want to put it, they knew what was right and they chose not to do it so that was sin. They knew it was wrong.

Answer 5

It WASN'T a punishment. It's true Adam and Eve didn't really know Good and Evil. They were completely innocent, which means they didn't know about sex. Which means they couldn't have born children. God PLANNED on them eating from that tree. He KNEW they would be tempted and he KNEW they would break the rules he gave them NOT to eat from them (which would have them leave the garden). They HAD to eat that fruit and realize they were naked and feel shame and give themselves away (although God already knew) in order for US to come along. Otherwise Adam and Eve would still be in that Garden just chilling out. It wasn't a punishment so much as a fufillment of a promise and the completing of his plan...

Answer 6

they were punished for disobeying, not for their lack of knowledge of good and evil.

your example was off - to compare you should say that you put several plates of cookies in front of a child and tell them they can eat any cookie they want, but leave the oatmeal raisin ones alone. A kid could eat all sorts of cookies forever and never even have to be near the oatmeal raisin cookies, but the temptor came into the picture and said it's ok - go ahead eat them.

just human nature to think that we know better than the one who created us, especially if we have someone else to tell us we're right. too bad they were wrong......

Answer 7

Let's look at what it means to "know good and evil".

In the Bible, especially the KJV, "to know" can be a euphemism for having sex, such as "Adam knew his wife Eve". We can see "to know", therefore, to mean "to have intimate knowledge of".

No child has intimate knowledge of good and evil, though they may have tendencies to be helpful or to want to please their parents, and tendencies to assert themselves, or do what they want, or ignore or "show up" or be mean to other people. However, every child over two years old knows when Mommy and Daddy say "yes" and when they say "no". They know what it means to please their parents and to displease them.

Adam and Eve, like little children, may not have understood the deeper meanings of what good is and what evil is. However, they did know when God said "yes" and when he said "no". They were punished for knowingly disobeying God (and Adam knew better, since the Bible said Eve was deceived by the serpent and Adam was not, but Adam sinned anyway). Part of their punishment was shame (they covered their naked bodies and hid themselves), and receiving and perceiving an intimate knowledge of evil.

Answer 8

Its not about the apple,of course God intended them to eat the apple. The sin is the fact that Adam ate the apple but blamed Eve. Eve ate the apple and blamed the snake. So nobody took responsibility for there own actions. Needless to say the serpent has been blamed for everything since and still no one takes responsibility or there own actions "the Devil made me do it"

Answer 9

God is almighty so in His might and power they would obey Him because they didn't think not to. God told them not to eat the fruit therefore that was enough. Also you are missing the main point of the story. The point is that they disobeyed Him not that they ate the fruit. You are misguided in your ideas.

Answer 10

ok. when god made adam and eve he specifically said that they could eat from any tree there that they wanted BUT that they couldnt eat from that specific fruit tree. Now eve was tempted and ate the apple. Because of that god punished them for disobeying his order.