why did God create...?

Question

why did god put the tree of knowledge in the garden, expect us not to touch it if we didnt know right from wrong to begin with?

Genesis 3:5
5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

so we had no prior knowledge of good and evil, why were we punished for our ignorance when god had full knowledge what we would do before we did it and that we didnt know right from wrong anyway?

LOL. of course moon goddess =P

Answer 1

Yeah what a great parent, not allowing his offspring knowledge. Any real parent who did that would get sued for child abuse, as a father of three it is my DUTY to allow my children to know as much as possible.

Answer 2

He probably didn't. Personally, I think people read into it too much, looking for validation of their religious beliefs or lack thereof. The story is a parable about how man is born innocent, but later develops the ability to choose between good and evil. According to the parable, if you follow God's commandments, then you will live a long and fruitful life. If you choose to give in to temptation, then you will live a life of hardship.

From another interpretation, it can also be argued that although they did not know "right from wrong," it still follows that they would have known "do from don't." What they chose to do was bad for them, as presented in the story. If a small child reaches for a hot pot of boiling water, do you not punish the child? The child is in ignorance, but the child still needs to learn not to do something that will injure itself.

One other point of view that can be argued is that the free will we treasure so much can be a two-edged sword. You gain knowledge, but now you must face that knowledge in real world situations. That is what life is really about. If we all lived innocently, we would live in a paradise, but in reality we have to deal with life outside of the garden. The rest of the Bible can be seen as different failures and successes at fulfilling this situation.

That's my answer, from the point of view of a Christian who does not take the story literally. It's a good question, though, and should supply you with an array of interesting (though unfortunately often hostile) answers.

Answer 3

There was no actual 'tree' in that sense. It is a figure of speech where the 'tree' is represented by something else. In this case the nakedness means they were innocent and pure. The tree of knowledge represented the idea that they were corrupted by eating of the apple. (The apple is a 14th century man made hybrid fruit - there were no apples in the beginning).

We were not punished for our innocence. God never actually punished Adam, he just told adam what would happen as a result of what Adam had done. You see, the real truth of Genesis is that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and by doing so gave the devil dominion over all the earth.

God had given that dominion to Adam to rule as god's regent under God but by sinning like they did and givcing in to the temptation of the devil they became servants of the devil and conferred the dominiuon and all legal rigfhts over the earth and everything in it to the devil.

As a consequence the devil had the legal right to cause all the evil things that hurt and injure to grow and rise up. The earth became corrupted and death entered the world. These were not punishments by God, but they were brought about by the devil when he took control of the world.

Mankind has been suffering ever since and are all under the devils control as he manipulates the world and everything in it. But he also makes sure that God gets the blame for everything he does, hence peoples confusion over this.

The devil is the God of this world according to the bible and he rules with a rod of iron, causing pain and suffering to millions and killing large numbers at his whim. He is aided by his minions of devil spirits that infect and infest the world and posses and manipulate people into destructive evil ways of murder and mayhem.

That is the truth of Genesis and the world today. But christ came to make it available so that anyone who chooses can be set free of the adversary and his evil. All they have to do to be saved in this way is to confess that Jesus is Lord and belive in their heart that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

Simple isn't it? Then when they do this they are no longer subject to the devil and are instead children of God with all the rights and priviledges that entails. One of which is the ability to discern the truth from the error and another of which is to discern devil spirits and cast them out.

Answer 4

Adam and Eve were, in my opinion, like small children. God the father, like an overseer of a toddler. The child knows only his innocence and his wonder at the world around him, much like Adam and Eve only knew the serenity of the garden.

We tell our toddlers not to do things that we know will either harm them physically or phychologically. We tell them because we love them and do not want them to be harmed. The knowledge of good and evil is corrupting, even to angels (as Satan is merely a fallen angel who challenged the Lord).

So, like a stove that can burn a child, or a violent video game that can stir feelings of fear or aggression...we tell our children to stay away. God did just the same with Adam and Eve.

I cannot say for certain why God placed the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden...

I did the best I could with this question.

Blessings and Peace....and remember - Someday all your questions WILL be answered by the only One who knows the truth.

Answer 5

This established God's sovereignty as the one who can truly what us what is right and wrong. Remember that the one speaking at Genesis 3:5 is Satan the Devil, who wanted to be the One mankind would listen to regarding right and wrong. Good and evil is decided by God who knows what is best for us. Ask Jehovah's Witnesses in your area for more information from the Bible.

Answer 6

There are 2 levels of knowledge. Intellectual and visceral. Before eating the fruit, Adam and Eve had the intellectual knowledge of good and evil but didn't experience it. After eating the fruit the knowledge became ingrained into their being and thus far more difficult to control the stronger urges of evil.

Answer 7

Taking this myth literally shows several things:

1) pre-apple humans were ignorant
2) god positioned himself as a direct father-figure, and thus was responsible for them
3) he deliberately placed this tree directly in their reach - knowing they were ignorant children. then he gets mad when they disobey.

Thus,
1) god was a irresponsible parent.
2) he intended for them to at some point disobey.
3) he wanted us to grow up, to no longer be irresponsible ignorant children.
4) it is pointless, even ridiculous, to dwell on blaming Adam or Eve, or any of their desecdents (real or metaphorical).
5) gaining knowledge is part of growing up, thus learning and growing is more important than blind obediance (childlike ignorance).

Answer 8

My question is why didn't God put satan on venus, thats closer to what hades would be like then what a vacation from heaven would be like then the tree in the garden would have never been touched, because the snake would have never been possessed by satan and never talked to Eve. I do know, God sees the ending from the beginning and already had it all figured out, so satan was no threat from the beginning.

Answer 9

It's about obedience, not experience, and even the most ignorant person can choose to obey.

Adam and Eve were COMMANDED not to eat of the fruit, but Eve sinned by listening to Satan and disobeying God, and Adam went along with Eve.

Originally, the meaning of 'wicked' was 'disobedient', and 'sin' means 'loss of blessings'.
So--
The phrase,"The wicked sin." means, the disobedient lose blessings. Adam and Eve lost great blessings by disobeying a loving and JUST God, and was cast out of the Garden.

Through the sacrifice of the Savior, justice is tempered with mercy, or we would all be given only justice. Frankly, I NEED a little mercy, and you do to, because all men sin.
Best of luck.

Answer 10

It is a metaphor for judgment. The knowledge of good and evil means judgment.

Love and blessings Don