Before eve ate the fruit, she either knew that obedience to god is good and disobedience is evil, or she did not know. If she didn't, she cannot be blamed for disobeying god. If eve did know, then she already had the knowledge of good and evil. Something that eating the fruit was supposed to provide her with. Any comments on this?
Clifford A. Pickover
The Paradox Of God
2006-10-06 06:32:29 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Let me just say that these are not my words. I'm too stupid to come up with something like this. I read it in a book and thought it would make great discussion, its not "an attack on faith" thank you very much.
2006-10-07 01:15:15 · update #1
Hmm, and if she had no knowledge of good and evil, how could God justly hold her accountable for any of her actions? I don't think this argument will stop the christians, they don't care about justice, only dogma and obedience.
2006-10-06 06:35:26 · answer #1 · answered by Skippy 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
I don't believe it was an issue of "good vs. evil" but rather an issue of "knowledge vs. ignorance." I think the story of Adam and Eve is a simile for "Ignorance is Bliss". It's with knowledge that life becomes more complicated. It's more difficult to understand (scientifically) a disease or something in the natural world, and easier to blame it on "evil" or demons or some supernatural source. When Eve ate the apple, she became aware and knowledgeable, and was no longer ignorant and blissful. Therefore the serpent in the tree is a metaphor for knowledge and independent thought. In many cultures, the serpent symbolism means to uncover truth. Just my thoughts.
2006-10-06 13:41:05 · answer #2 · answered by swordarkeereon 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Let me help you out here.
It was Adam who ate the apple, and before that God told them both (Adam and Eve) not to eat from that tree. Satan had been waiting for the right moment to make one of them (Adam or Eve) make a mistake.
Satan had told Adam: 'God doesn't want you eat from this tree because if you do you will live in the heavens for eternity or you will become an angel' , fooled by Satan's words Adam bit into the apple.
The whole idea was more of a reason for life to begin on earth.
So that depends on how smart you are to be able to see the lesson in the story of your first father.
hope that helped.
2006-10-06 13:47:54 · answer #3 · answered by sunshine 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
There are different types of knowledge. At first, Adam and Eve only had logic. They had the ability to reason whether something was right or wrong but couldn't 'feel' it...so to speak. This is evident in Eve's conversation with the serpent. She says that God told them not to eat of the tree and not even to touch it. She was able to employ reason to add to the commandment and suggest to the serpent the seriousness of God's command....and that was her downfall.
After they ate, the were able to recognize good and evil on a visceral level. Hence, they hide themselves from God because they know they are 'naked'.
Once is an external reasoned logic, the other is a visceral feeling.
2006-10-06 13:45:31 · answer #4 · answered by mzJakes 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
its not a paradox at all....
before she ate, she did not know the difference. ... thats the whole "tree of knowlege of good and evil" POINT.
that is, she'd never had ANY exposure to anything that was imperfect, un-good, or non-ideal.
there was this one rule, to not even touch, or eat from either of these 2 special trees.
personally I find the idea that eating from the tree as "evil" is absurd. its not EVIL, god put it there for that exact purpose. but then again in jewish belief the serpent isn't evil, the devil, or anything like that.
in fact IMO it was INTENDED for them to disobey eventually. I mean c'mon, it was inevitable that eventually they'd do it just because they were out of other things to do.
>>"SO the Message is clear: You are a good person if you're an idiot, smart people are BAD (Scientists, true atheists)."<<
thats nonsense, and just as absurd as people preaching the other extreme.
it says no such thing, it says that eating from the tree would make them aware of the difference, able to discern between good and evil.
if all you've ever seen is white, then you can't discern black or grey until you've SEEN black or grey. its that the disobedient act in and of itself, is the "activation" of the awareness of free will and that they are capable of defiance.
I find it interesting when people say the serpent lied.
he didn't.
the implication was that it was effectively poisoned. that eating it would be BAM dead. end of story.
and the part about "become as gods" well look at this honestly, compared to beasts, animals, wild creatures, we *ARE* as gods. we have this capacity to learn at an exceptional rate, to use tools, to be metacognitive(be aware of our own ignorance) and discern and willfully chose between good and evil behaviors and choices.
the serpent did not lie one bit.
they did not die immediately as they had been given the impression they would.
and they DID relatively speaking, become as god, in the sense of expanded awareness and potential.
2006-10-06 14:30:34 · answer #5 · answered by RW 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
all adam and eve knew was what god told them. Do not eat the fruit in the center of the garden. They knew not to eat it. But satan tempted eve, he told her you surely will not die, ye become as gods. Lies of course. So adam ate the fruit and he then gained the knowlage of all evil and good. Sorta like a monkey. A moneky doesnt know the difference between good and evil, but if you teach a monkey not to do something, then he knows hes not supposed to do it. Its like a monkey turning into a man. Man has this "consious" apes do not.
2006-10-06 13:43:45 · answer #6 · answered by john 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
This myth is based off an older myth in which a goddess (I believe Asherah) provided knowledge of morality to humans. In the original, it's a good thing.
Some believe that the serpent is a holdover from the vilification of the old religions, as the snake was often symbolic of several goddesses.
As far as the Biblical myth goes: if the story is as it stands, YHWH is guilty of entrapment.
2006-10-06 13:42:01 · answer #7 · answered by N 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Did she know it was wrong to disobey God... Yes Did she even notice that she was different structurally from Adam... No Did she understand that there were things in the world that could be harmful or even cruel... No I think we are seeing the difference between the innocence of a child and the lack of knowledge you want to prescribe with this attempt to attack faith... Jim
2006-10-06 13:45:17 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I am an Atheist, but we may entertain some entertaining thought here:
According to the Bible (well, to one of the TOO MANY versions there are) the fruit came from the tree of knowledge and by eating that fruit, A&E would gain enough knowledge to become Gods.
SO the Message is clear: You are a good person if you're an idiot, smart people are BAD (Scientists, true atheists).
OK?
2006-10-06 13:37:25 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
There was no conscience of good or evil in man until after the tree of knowledge of good and evil was eaten of.
It was not the act so much as the knowledge that the act was committed that punishment, and conscience was entered into the world.
2006-10-06 13:35:55 · answer #10 · answered by someones_gottadoit 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋