why were adam and eve to blame?

Question

Eating the apple of the tree of knowledge gave them the knowledge of right and wrong. This means they didn't have this knowledge before. So they could not possibly have known that is was bad to disobey the command not to eat from this tree before they ate of its fruit.
Why then were they punished for something they had absolutely no chance of understanding?

to emphasize my question: as the snake said: "then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" that clearly means they did not know good and evil before the eating of the fruit.
Without a concept of good and evil how could they be expected to understand that it is bad to disobey?

It does not matter if this is a argument just in a story or in a real situation....

Answer 1

I don't think they were to blame for anything, and I don't think they were punished. There was no need or reason to punish them. They did nothing wrong. They simple made a choice. The possiblity that they would choose as they did was built into the universe from the beginning.

Eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a metaphor. What the first humans did was not a bad thing, It was necesary to bring humans to the next level. If first humans had not made the choice they did, somewhere along the line, someone would have.

Human beings, made in the image of God, wanted to be able to create. It was all well and good being in a paradise where everything was perfect, for awhile.

After awhile humans realized there was nothing for them to do, they were bored and needed to feel a sense of worth and accomplishment.

They wanted to be able to create. Since everything was perfect, there was no reason to be creative. They were as one with God and creation.

In order for them to expression creativity, they had to somehow not see everything as perfect, (even though it was and is perfection). In order for them to see imperfection, they had to lose the feeling of oneness with God and creation.

God knew that this was a distinct possiblity when man came to physical existance. Thus the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil". It was a choice made by man and honored by God to begin a new kind of existance where man saw opposites. Man entered a new plane of duality. Where things could be percieved as bad/good, here/there, me/not me, God/not God. So man could create by correcting the imperfections.

Man's entire reason for being is to create an earthly existance.

Sandra F

Answer 2

They WERE to blame because, in spite of being perfect, they nonetheless made a conscious decision to disobey God. (It's not the same as with us today; if we stumble we can use our imperfection as a reason--IF what we did was not intentional.) They had no such thing to fall back on. True, the Bible says Eve was tricked; but that doesn't lessen her guilt, since she could have gone to her husband and told him what had transpired and asked for his opinion as to what to do.
Eating of the tree did not give them knowledge they didn't formerly possess. (It is illogical to think, or say, that God would create humans without specific knowledge to make a specific decision, then tell them to keep away from a particular tree without saying why. Basically, what you're saying is they were automatons--robots--programmed to act a certain way. They weren't, we're not.) The tree represented God's right to choose what's good and bad for humans. Humans were made to be dependant on God in matters of right and wrong--Jeremiah 10:23. If you think they were suddenly given knowledge they didn't have before eating the fruit, then just look at all mankind's history: filled with bad decisions, bad choices, wrong turns. We are supposedly smarter today than our ancestors, but crime is increasing, pornography is rampant (can you say that's a good thing?), wars are non-stop, the earth is being raped, newborn babies are being dumped in trash container and in the ocean, on and on ad nauseum. The good being done is FAR outweighed be the bad.

Answer 3

Don't you understand, that the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil did not itself contain the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Adam and Eve understood that they were created by God and that he asked them not to eat from that particular tree, because it would cause them to die. They were tempted into believing that someone other than God knew what was best for them and had the answers, and they directly disobeyed God. It was the moment that they realized they could disobey God in which they gained this knowledge.

Answer 4

OK let's look at this a little different. You are told that they are painting in your place of business. You go down the hall and A sign is on the door. You are able to push open the door without touching the paint but you put your hand on door and paint is all over it. The painter who is nearby starts to yell.

Or how about the hot pot, Do Not Touch you
will get burned. You touch and you get burned. These are people that obviously did not have prior knowledge. Who wants paint on their hand or to burn (that hurts)

Answer 5

I believe the Adam & Eve story is a mixed up version of several very ancient stories that were passed down verbaly for millinu.
In the begining "Elohim" is the word used in Hebrew to name our Creator. Literal translation means something like "embodying the male and female qualities".
Certian spirits needing our minds to further their own evolution opened our eyes to the ouside world at the cost of our awareness of death. They are not all evil, some are, but most follow the natural course of their being in service

Answer 6

10. God worried that Adam would frequently become lost in the garden because he would not ask for directions.

9. God knew that Adam would one day require someone to locate and hand him the TV remote.

8. God knew that Adam would never go out and get himself a new fig leaf when his seat wore out and would therefore need Eve to get one for him.

7. God knew that Adam would never be able to make a doctor's, dentist or haircut appointment for himself.

6. God knew that Adam would never be able to remember which night to put the garbage on the curb.

5. God knew that if the world was to be populated, men would never be able to handle the pain and discomfort of childbearing.

4. As Keeper of the Garden, Adam would never remember where he left his tools.

3. Adam needed someone to blame his troubles on when God caught him hiding in the garden.

2. As the Bible says, It is not good for man to be alone!

And -- the number ONE reason that God created Eve...


1. When God finished creating Adam, He stepped back, scratched His head and said, "I can do better than that."

Answer 7

I am not sure about this, but I think it was because God had specifically told them that they were not allowed to eat the fruit, and God expected them to just "do as they were told to, simply because He said so", just as parents often do with their children. Children are supposed to be innocent, because they are supposed to be too small to know the difference between right and wrong, but yet parents still insist on disciplining their child, just because the child did not "obey them and/or respect their authority as the parent."

Answer 8

They were told not to eat from the tree, but they chose to, so they already had the knowledge of good and evil, they just decided to embrace it then.

Answer 9

They were told by God himself not to eat of the fruit of the tree. What else did they need to be told. He is the creator of the universe and everything in it. I believe if He came to me specifically and told me not to do something i wouldn't and if I did then i would accept the consequences.

Answer 10

Adam and Eve and their talking snake were not to blame, and therefore god forgave them. Yes, they were driven from the Garden of Eden, but outside of it was a larger garden, and there they lived happily ever after. Amen.

Say "Hallelujah" to Jesus and his half-cousin Bob.