If any relationship is built on trust, why did God start His with man by telling a lie?

Question

Genesis:

"Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 2:16-17

He says that if you eat from the Tree of Knowledge you'll die within the day.

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." 3:4-5

The serpent says God lied and the knowledge tree will give knowledge, (which in any case the name seems to imply)

"She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." 3:6

And she died, right? That's what God said ...

"And the eyes of them both were opened" 3:7

So, God lied and Satan told the truth. Hmmm ...

set free: I will believe that if you will accept that the word "virgin" was mistranslated from Hebrew in the 3rd Century BC, resulting in the false prophesy of Jesus (go look it up).

remix: if that is true, God was even more evil. He warned Adam and Eve about consequences they couldn't possibly have understood.

... and held all of future humanity accountable for it.

Answer 1

The old testament god was a pr!ck...plain and simple. He killed the first born son of every member of an entire nation, refused a non-blood sacrifice, destroyed entire nations (and once the whole world) because he didn't like what they were doing, turned a man's wife to salt for LOOKING OVER HER SHOULDER...the list goes on and on.

To be fair, Yahweh didn't screw with humanity anymore than gods such as Zeus...he just did it on a more global scale.

The facts are, Yahweh lied. There is nothing in the first 3 chapters to even imply that god was talking about a spiritual death. There is even evidence against man's immortality, from god's own mouth...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: Genesis 3:22.

Answer 2

I think perhaps you are misinterpreting the metaphor. Don't get caught up in the characters, look instead to understand the symbolism.

Before eating of the tree man had no knowledge of death, therefore death did not exist in man's consciousness until after partaking of the fruit. The tree and its fruit symbolizes a dualism in consciousness. Man (humanity) became self conscious, thus a life of ignorant bliss was replaced with a life of working to understand the true nature of self (being). This metaphor is about evolving from a simple form of awareness into self awareness. It was not original sin it was the next step toward greater awareness.

Answer 3

First problem. We're not reading original language. That's a huge barrier.

But in the interpretation, think of dying literally. Ok, good. Now, you and I weren't there but at that point in time God took away the eternal life option (until Jesus, of course).

You'll think my argument is weak but I'm alright with that.

Second, Satan is a deceiver, a jealous coward. In no way shape or form should he ever be exalted. Anyone who does is a fool. Why? Just think hard about what happened.

Answer 4

God is Holy and therefore He cannot lie
satan wanted to be God and that was his downfall, he used this same sneaky tactic on Eve "...and ye shall be as gods..."
Who wants the knowledge of evil when God has nothing to do with evil.

We all deserve death - Without God we are spiritually dead; we are all sinners.

Adam & Eve walked with the Lord but would no longer walk with Him-and thus became spiritually dead, separated from God with no hope of eternity.

Thank God that He so loved the world so much that he gave His only begotten Son so that who shall ever believeth in Him shall have eternal life...

satan is still a liar...day and night looking to trap you, day and night testifying against you...just like he lied to Adam & Eve, he lies to us. But Jesus Christ is our advocate against him and Jesus wants to save you from the accuser and from eternal death- it was finished at the cross. All you have to do is accept our heavenly Father's beautiful free gift of grace....

There are many who are still blind even though the eyes of them are open.... They have not repented nor accepted God's grace through His precious Son's blood shed for their sins.

I was blind but now I see
through spiritual eyes...oh how beautiful He is
Sista C

P.S. God can do anything He wants to ....He can change His mind without changing who He is, but he cannot have anything to do with evil for He is Holy. Let God fill you with His love. Your heavenly Father does love you very much and if you hear anything different from that, it is a lie. God is love. He puts before us blessings or cursings; choose blessings, choose life.

Apologize to God and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior ...and Praise Him!!! Your eyes will open and you will be spiritually born.....seek first His kingdom and His righteousness ...

Answer 5

This story in Genesis tells of man's first disobedience to God. It is this disobedience that has led to everything we have today. The liar was Satan. His deception was leading Eve to believe that she would be like God, would be a god herself, knowing all things good and evil - in essence, if she would be a god, why would she need her creator? The same applies to Adam.

By disobeying God they chose sinful pride in themselves, chose to be the Creator (which could never happen) instead of being the created (their natural place) and remaining loyal and obedient to the One Who had given them life in the first place. This prideful sin was a rejection of God, therefore cutting them off from Him, and from life. This Satan knew, which is why he did it. And so, it's why we're in the state we're in now.

God saved us, though, by humbling Himself into flesh, dying for our sins, and rising from the dead. He gave us a way back to Him. No greater gift exists.

God bless.

Answer 6

God was not referring to "Death" in the physical sense.
God was referring to the breaking of fellowship with Him in the spiritual sense. This would cause the continual degenerization of mankind into the world we see ourselves living in today.
The wages of sin is death, these are Jesus' own words.

Answer 7

actuall your wrong. the word die in the original text, hebrew is translated litterally "dieing, you will begin dieing until your dead". ie a process. english is such a indesisive and lazy launguage.

Answer 8

You idiot. satan is the father of lies and the father of flies. he has decieved you into believing a lie as the truth and a truth as a lie.

Answer 9

Check and read on that link
http://www.alazhr.com/aboutislam_u/default.asp