Did Yahweh stack the cards against Adam and Eve?

Question

Why wouldn't Adam and Eve listen to the serpent? They were forbidden the knowledge to recognize him as evil. They would have seen him as good. If he is thought to be good then why not listen to him? They had no concept of evil, so they wouldn't know any better. How could they have possibly known what the serpent's intentions were when they had no concept of it? Why would Yahweh allow evil to run free around the garden, then forbid Adam and Eve the knowledge to recognize it?

Even though Yahweh had warned Adam & Eve about eating from the tree, they still would not have recognized the serpent as lying or evil. They would not have any concept of someone or something going against Yahweh. They wouldn't even know what that meant. This was their first encounter, and they were left utterly defenseless against it.

How could Adam and Eve identify a lie, when they had no concept of it?

JohnFromNC, you kinda make my point. That child does that even without someone there prodding him to do it. Eve had someone there that she would have perceived as being good, since she had no perception of evil, telling her it was ok. At the very least, shouldn't Yahweh have warned them about the serpent?

Answer 1

Adam and Eve was given free will. They were perfect and they followed a lie. Jesus died perfect in a very cruel world, a lot worse than Adam and Eve's paradise. What about Satan he was perfect too.

Origin. The Scriptures indicate that the creature known as Satan did not always have that name. Rather, this descriptive name was given to him because of his taking a course of opposition and resistance to God. The name he had before this is not given. God is the only Creator, and ‘his activity is perfect,’ with no injustice or unrighteousness. (De 32:4) Therefore, the one becoming Satan was, when created, a perfect, righteous creature of God. He is a spirit person, for he appeared in heaven in the presence of God. (Job chaps 1, 2; Re 12:9) Jesus Christ said of him: “That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him.” (Joh 8:44; 1Jo 3:8) Jesus here shows that Satan was once in the truth, but forsook it. Beginning with his first overt act in turning Adam and Eve away from God, he was a manslayer, for he thereby brought about the death of Adam and Eve, which, in turn, brought sin and death to their offspring. (Ro 5:12) Throughout the Scriptures the qualities and actions attributed to him could be attributed only to a person, not to an abstract principle of evil. It is clear that the Jews, and Jesus and his disciples, knew that Satan existed as a person.

So, from a righteous, perfect start, this spirit person deviated into sin and degradation. The process bringing this about is described by James when he writes: “Each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin; in turn, sin, when it has been accomplished, brings forth death.” (Jas 1:14, 15) In the course that Satan took, there seems to be, in some respects, a parallel with that of the king of Tyre as described in Ezekiel 28:11-19.—See PERFECTION (The first sinner and the king of Tyre).

The Scriptural account, therefore, makes it plain that it was Satan who spoke through the medium of a serpent, seducing Eve into disobedience to God’s command. In turn, Eve induced Adam to take the same rebellious course. (Ge 3:1-7; 2Co 11:3) As a consequence of Satan’s use of the serpent, the Bible gives Satan the title “Serpent,” which came to signify “deceiver”; he also became “the Tempter” (Mt 4:3) and a liar, “the father of the lie.”—Joh 8:44; Re 12:9.

Answer 2

This is in reply to your reply to JohnFromNC (Update 3): Think about it, who did Adam and Eve chose as someone with good and trusting authority? Who did they listen to for what is right and wrong? Who did they learn from? For a time they chose God as the good and trusting authority ... for a time they chose to listen to God to know what is right and wrong ... for a time they learned from God. The point is ... they always chose. God already warned them not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How many warnings does a person need, if there is no trust? Imagine if you woke up from being created and someone told him, "Hi there, I made you. Follow me." You'd follow for awhile, but you'd question this. At some point you'd do something to test the relationship of the this someone who seems to know everything. The only way to test the boundaries of a relationship is to break through those boundaries. Their boundary with God was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If God is the end all be all thing of all reality, there is no final way to prove His uniqueness, His authority, His Goodness. How do we trust someone who has control of all things? God allows us to choose to trust Him. He didn't need to warn about the serpent because it wouldn't be enough. He would then need to warn about what the serpent said, then He would need to warn about specific things the serpent said, then He would need to disprove all the things the serpent said, then He would need to continue to disprove everything the serpent says forever. That's not a solution, to the problem of trust.

Answer 3

Great question!
Here's my little theory:
The tree represents the tithe. Yahweh set aside a portion for Himself. There was nothing inherently evil about the tree or knowledge, but Yahweh had set it aside nonetheless.
With that background, I believe free will is an important aspect of our relationship with Yahweh. Without choice we are robots and nothing more than the stewards of a creative work (earth).
With the introduction of the ideas that the serpent presented, Adam and Eve had the choice to honor Yahweh's edict or "to taste and see."
Again, great question!

Answer 4

The serpent, the Satan. Satan can travel anywhere but human has more power to dominate Satan. Only Eve talks to the serpent, not Adam. Adam was sitting next to while Eve was talking to the serpent. Eve was curious she wants to take a chance. She does not want be controlled by god. She wants to have knowledge's of good and evil.

Answer 5

Simply because the serpent was not an evil being as portrayed by religions today. He was actually speaking the truth if u analyze it. God said they would surely die if they partake of the fruit but the serpent said that u will not die but be like god and lo and behold, in Gen 3:22 god said the man has become like 1 of us. can't see how this was an act of evil or how he became attributed as an evil being by this event.

Symbols of the serpent has been used for healing by many cultures like the Egyptians in their head pieces but through time the real purpose of the serpent was lost.

Answer 6

Adam or "God" could have at least warned Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, seeing as how Eve hadn't been created when God told Adam. The God of the JCMs has quite an evil streak. Why couldn't He have spoken loudly to those of Sodom and Gomorrah or given them chosen status and a prophet, not just whack them. You might say the JCM God has all the attributes of those He created, but in overwhelming proportions.

Hmmmmm, come to think of it. I've never studied a God that didn't have all the same good and bad attributes of humans--though proportions of each atttribute did vary.

Answer 7

Is simple first the bible says that the angel that we know as Satan was a cherub (Ezekiel 28:11-19) looks like he was one of the guardian or something like that, the problem was that the order was given to Adam a nothing happens when Eve ate of the fruit because she did not receive directly the order but Adam was he recieve a warning as soon as Adam desobey the problem begin because eve was descendant of Adan (not vicecersa) and the roder was directly from God and Adam instead of hearing the warning he pay attention to Eve. He violate the Hierarchy of order.

Answer 8

And for that matter who did Cain marry? Adam and eve were ignorant of evil, but they were definitely told not to eat from that tree. So, no, God didn't cheat, he set the rules, the serpent convinced Eve to break the rules.

Answer 9

That's right you are not sure you are ignorant of the facts. Total expenditure for foreign air is greatest from the USA and has been for the past 100 years. Other countries give a greater amount to certain countries, but the USA gives the most overall.

Answer 10

What in the world are you talking about? If you told your child not to touch the hot grill because it will burn them, and they do, they get burned. Does that mean the child knew no better? No it doesn't. It means they didn't believe you and were going to find out for themselves. (this is an experienced I witnessed)

Adam and Eve knew it was wrong (evil) before they did it. Reason? God told them. Therefore the knowledge of doing what was evil and good was set. Adam even questioned it before he ate. It was their own desire and choice that caused them to disobey. You know something is wrong to do when you are told by an authority not to do it. At that point you choose whether to listen or not.