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People here said that the purpose of the Tree was to give Adam and Eve free will and the ability to make their own choices.
This leads me to think they must have been mindless robots unable to do anything they wanted prior to that? Didn't God command Adam to name the animals? He had his own free will and choice in deciding to do that. Were they slaves in the garden of eden unable to do what they wanted?
2006-09-07 08:43:48 · 22 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
So we are heading somewhere with this follow up question. You are my new hero.
2006-09-07 08:49:24 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Adam and Eve made a choice every day: to obey God. The commandments they followed was:
tend the garden [probably 10,000 square miles]
and Don't eat from just one tree in that garden.
Their knowledge of good and evil came by personal experience of disobedience, not in response to a loving God.
Yes, they were slaves with more freedom than you or I could dream of. Physical barriers were no problem. Oops, excuse my rambling without any sources...
2006-09-07 16:04:25 · answer #2 · answered by Jay Z 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. ...how do I explain this.
They weren't mindless robots, or slaves. Adam did name all the animals.
The Tree of Knowledge between Good and Evil was the fruit of the tree which they partook. Prior to their partaking of the fruit, they knew no good because there was no evil. And the opposite was true as well no evil because there was no good. To have one there has to be an opposite to compare it with. Good/Evil, North/South, Heaven/Hell, Black/White (color not race), Light/Dark, etc. It's like children, you can't blame them when they're little, when they do something wrong because they have no concept of right and wrong. That doesn't mean children who have not reached the age of accountability are mindless robot slaves, they just haven't had enough experience to have knowledge of the thing.
2006-09-07 16:07:14 · answer #3 · answered by Tonya in TX - Duck 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Adam and Eve were able to make choices in the Garden. However, Right and Wrong were not among their criteria. After they ate from the Tree, the the ability to distinguish between Right and Wrong were introduced into the world. Nowadays, the ability to distinguish between the two is confined to those human beings who have not yet reached the age of 1,000 days.
2006-09-07 15:47:52 · answer #4 · answered by Ever Learn 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all, this bit of the book is a fable... a story with a moral lesson. It should not be taken literally.
So as for the story, The tree was put there as a symbol of free will. By "eating the fruit" they chose to disobey god and thus lost their privilege as his pet.
Look at it this way. You have a kitten, and you give it 2 bowls of food. If it goes near one of them you spray it with water several times and say "NO!" until it gets the point. You keep an eye on it and it eats from the "good bowl" for a few days. Then one day you come around and it's snarfing out of the "bad bowl" so you take it, and you throw it outside to fend for itself for the rest of it's life...
That's pretty much the gist of it.
2006-09-07 15:50:05 · answer #5 · answered by ChooseRealityPLEASE 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
well considering that adam and eve CHOSE to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil then I suppose its purpose could NOT be to give "man" free will. He already had it. God gave us free will at our creation and that is what made us unique from the angels. They have no free will. Free will is given out of love.
2006-09-07 15:48:04 · answer #6 · answered by nothingcreativecametomind 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If they had no free will before eating from the tree, then they would not have been able to disobey and eat from it in the first place. Silliness.
Here's what Genesis should have said...
http://www.generationterrorists.com/quotes/genesis_revisited.html
Ever Long... if they couldn't differentiate between right and wrong until after eating from the tree, then what right did God have to be pissed about them doing it? They didn't know it was wrong, and God knows this, but he punishes them and all their descendants because of it? Please.
2006-09-07 15:46:22 · answer #7 · answered by Snark 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They were not slaves but were very happy-they just did not know about evil-remember when they hid from God because they were naked and ashamed to be this way in his presence!! Adam and Eve probably had a great deal of knowledge of all that was good!!!
2006-09-07 15:50:51 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Tree of knowledge was to symbolize and remind them that they should look to God for direction.They had free will and lots of latitude.The whole universal issue is should Almighty God Our Creator rule or can we make the wisest decisions for ourselves without God in the picture.Free will was never an issue.
Jeremiah 10:23.
2006-09-07 15:50:25 · answer #9 · answered by Truth 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you look at the passage the only rule that seemed to be in place was not to eat that fruit, so it's not that the trees existance gave them free will but that the tree was the only test of free will.
2006-09-07 15:47:34 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Not just knowledge.
Adam obviously had free will, he freely disobeyed God, and all mankind has suffered since then.
2006-09-07 15:48:16 · answer #11 · answered by Just David 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋