Knowledge of good and evil?

Question

How could Adam and Eve know that it was wrong to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, without the knowledge of good and evil (which they only obtained when they ate the fruit? Even God telling them wouldn't be good enough because they wouldn't have any reason to believe he was good and that what he was telling them was correct. If so, how can they be blamed?

Please don't answer with 'it didn't happen', I know that, I just want to understand the philosophy behind the story.

Answer 1

Because GOD TOLD THEM. Bottom line- and we are to TRUST God over what we think or want. God told them not to, and they should of obeyed. God knows what is best for his children...

Answer 2

Very good observation!! If they did not know what was good and what was bad...how would they know to obey? Also if I was just dropped in a land of eden..which by the way is beautiful...and I had never seen anything else..how would I even know that eden was beautiful...if I have never seen ugly? If I was hungry and liked to taste all of the fruits that eden had to offer. And some loud voice from the sky yelled at me to not eat the apple...I would probably freak out....but lets forget the strange voice thing..If god talked to them...like he supposedly "talks" to us everyday..(you know like inside our heads...we dont really "hear" him...we imagine him.) then that voice is not really very much heard..it just goes along with all of the other thoughts running through our minds....How did they know it was even god that was telling them this or not just another notion or idea in their head???
The story of Adam an Eve I believe was meant to be a metaphor....to think of it being realistic...well there are just so many unanswered questions and things about it that do not make sense...just like the question that is being answered right now. It does not make sense if they did not know. They had no idea of knowing that they were special...or that they were the only ones...that had no idea that they should be thankful to anyone...they simply did not know or could not know. How could they be blamed.
The message behind the apple is just another way to explain why bad things happen to us. I think that is the philosophy of the story. It explains how and why god leets bad things happen..because we supposedly sinned that day..then our lives would be full of sin for eternity.
Again how did adam and eve..even know that it was a sin?

Answer 3

They knew it was wrong because God told them it was wrong. They basically had the same choice then that we do now. We can choose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which most do, and they will die. Or we can choose the tree of life, the cross, and live forever. The real choices they had were to live under God's umbrella of protection and provision for everything they could ever want or need, but that meant not knowing or understanding evil, therefore not being able to choose to sin. Or they could choose to know and understand good and evil and make their own choices, which would lead to evil.
And choosing to understand good and evil was itself a sin, the first sin, because in doing that they chose not to trust or believe God, but they believed Satan instead, who is the Father of lies and is still deceiving people to this day!

Answer 4

Adam was told not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil by God. He did not know it was evil to disobey God because he had no sin consciousness. This is illustrated by the fact they did not recognise they were naked until after they ate the fruit.

You've focused on what you think is an unjustified 'blaming' by God of Adam who you believe didn't know any better. But it's not a question of blame; it's a question of obedience. It's a bit like a child who does not understand that something maybe wrong but nonetheless learns for his own good to obey its parents when told to do or not to do something.

You also need to understand that the whole of mankind bears the responsibility of that 'original sin' and that our only justification in the eyes of God is through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Also, Adam at the time did not need to know that God was good, he just needed to know God was God and that Adam wasn't. This seems to me to be our most common problem these days. We dare to judge God, to create boxes and try to put Him in them, but we do not and can not understand God, He's beyond our comprehension, He is God and we are not, it's that simple.

If we enter into the salvation that He has made available to us through Jesus, then one day we might get to know the answers to some of these questions but until then we are just going to have to accept that He is a good and just God, why? Because he say's so.

Isa 55:9
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (KJV)

Answer 5

How do you trust anyone but by developing a relationship with them? God walked and talked with them every day. Durring that time, they should have developed a trust. If God told them they would surely die if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they should have realized God had only their good in mind by the restriction. The deceiption of satan was to question the goodness of God; that is still how he operates.
God had a better plan already predestined for mankind.

Answer 6

Adam and Eve were able to understand God's requirements. For example Adam had the job of naming the animals, which her carried out with no problem.
The knowledge of good and evil had to do with choosing for themselves what was good and evil apart from God.

Answer 7

The point of the matter is that Adam and Eve was decieved after God told them not to by the serpent (devil). He spoke(suggested) doubt into their thought process, which he does even til this day. He tells people that there is no God, and they don't need God and to just trust in themselves. What it boils down to is that they were disobedience to what God told them. However they has a choice. God didn't make them, and satan didn't make them do it.

Answer 8

This is an interesting question and it makes me really want to know what words for "knowledge" were originally used in the scriptures. In many other languages there are different words for knowing something intellectually, and knowing something or someone personally.

I can't help but wonder if that difference of meaning is at play here. Like they knew in their heads it was wrong, but didn't really know with all the familiarity of experience and wisdom in the heart that it was wrong.

If anybody knows the original terms used for "know" I'd love for you to enlighten me.

Answer 9

The story is to show that people are not good by nature as secular humanists claim. Even when we have the best of everything as Adam and Eve had, we are still disobedient.

Answer 10

They ate (assimilated or consumed knowledge) from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Satan).

That's why God said;

Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

We all must eat (assimilate or consume knowledge) of the tree of life (Jesus Christ), to live for ever.

Answer 11

It's like with little kids. When they are very young, they don't understand right from wrong. However, their parents still tell them not to do certain things in order to protect them. They are expected to obey, even if they don't get the whole "right and wrong" thing.