Why was eating the forbidden fruit a sin, if Adam and Eve did not have knowledge yet?

Question

The tree of knowledge of good and evil taught Adam and Eve right from wrong. How could they be held responsible for their actions before eating the fruit? Eating the fruit itself couldn't be a sin. They didn't know any better.

Answer 1

The three religions agree on one basic fact: Both women and men are created by God, The Creator of the whole universe.

However, disagreement starts soon after the creation of the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve. The Judaeo-Christian conception of the creation of Adam and Eve is narrated in detail in Genesis (2:4-24).

God prohibited both of them from eating the fruits of the forbidden tree. The serpent seduced Eve to eat from it and Eve, in turn, seduced Adam to eat with her.

When God rebuked Adam for what he did, he put all the blame on Eve,

"The woman you put here with me --she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it."(Genesis, 3: 12).

Consequently, God said to Eve:

"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you." (Genesis, 3: 16).

To Adam He said:

"Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I forbideen you to eat, “ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life..." (Genesis, 3: 17).

The Islamic conception of the first creation is found in several places in the Qur’an, for example:

"O Adam dwell with your wife in the Garden and enjoy as you wish but approach not this tree or you run into harm and transgression. Then Satan whispered to them in order to reveal to them their shame that was hidden from them and he said: 'Your Lord only forbade you this tree lest you become angels or such beings as live forever.' And he swore to them both that he was their sincere adviser. So by deceit he brought them to their fall: when they tasted the tree their shame became manifest to them and they began to sew together the leaves of the Garden over their bodies. And their Lord called unto them: 'Did I not forbid you that tree and tell you that Satan was your avowed enemy?' They said: 'Our Lord we have wronged our own souls and if You forgive us not and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be lost' " (7:19:23).

A careful look into the two accounts of the story of the Creation reveals some essential differences.

The Qur’an, contrary to the Bible, places equal blame on both Adam and Eve for their mistake. Nowhere in the Qur’an can one find even the slightest hint that Eve tempted Adam to eat from the tree or even that she had eaten before him. Eve in the Qur’an is no temptress, no seducer, and no deceiver. Moreover, Eve is not to be blamed for the pains of childbearing. God, according to the Qur’an, punishes no one for another's faults. Both Adam and Eve committed a sin and then asked God for forgiveness and He forgave them both.

Muslims do not subscribe to the belief that Adam and Eve committed a ‘sin’. They argue that Adam was a prophet and prophets do not sin. Furthermore Adam eating from the tree was before he was sent to the earth {where the ‘Permissible & Forbidden’ (halal & haram) and ‘Obedience & Disobedience’ are applicable and possible}.

Answer 2

It has to do with what defines "knowledge" in this particular phrase.

God creatred Adam and Eve with average or normal knowledge and because of it, they can feel that the fruit is pleasant to the eyes and look good for them.

The minconception about this passage is that many people do not realize the two terms for "knowledge of good and evel" and knowledge of whether there there is something to eat or not.

The fact that Adam and Eve know that God forbits to eat the fruit is a knowlede already and hence, they are responsible for their action against the command of God.

Moreover, the knowledge of good and evil and the knowlede of God's likes and dislike are different as they already have the knowledge to know that God command them not to eat.

It seems to be a matter of scrutinizing the linguistic usage and the whole story about the Fall of Man in Genesis 3.
There is no problem in understanding the passage if we also read other parts of the chapter.
Thanks.

Answer 3

before they ate from the tree, they didnt sin, so they didnt need to be held responsible for their actions.

God had given them everything they could ever need but the only thing withheld from them was fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.

He SPECIFICALLY told them not too eat from that one tree. They were living in a lush garden basically and did not need to even look at that tree. But the Serpent tempted and tricked both Adam and Eve into eating the fruit. Had they obeyed, sin would not be present in this world.

Answer 4

Well what if meant die metaphorically because after they ate the apple god denied them of access to the Tree of Life which provides immortality and placed them on earth to live and then die. Also after eating the apple they were separated from god and to be separated from god means spiritual death and another thing that died was their innocence. So therefore god did not lie to her. Christian doctrine of original sin: "Sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned." Eve did not lie either because she didn't have any knowledge of what a lie was or how to lie until she ate the apple and then she realized the mistake that she had made afterwards.

Answer 5

You didn't need to Know the Difference between Right and Wrong to live a Blessed Life.

Wouldn't it be Wonderful if all of the Evil and Wickedness would just go to Hell?

And all that was left was GOOD?
So that all you could choose between was Good and Gooder?
Wouldn't that be Wonderful?

You DO NOT have to Experience Evil and Wickedness to understand GOOD.
Adam and Eve had nothing But GOOD untill they Ate form the Tree!

Why would you have to have Evil to enjoy GOOD?
Ditto..............

Answer 6

Consider that they held intelligent conversation with God as they "walked in the garden with Him." I am sure He imparted enough understanding in them so that they knew they should obey Him. That was sufficient for them to know that they were disobedient when they took of the fruit. They were capable of making a moral decision or God would not have given them "free will." Then after they did what they were told not to do they hid from the presence of God later even though they felt perfectly comfortable in His presence prior to eating the fruit.

One other thing is that God gave them a conscience so that they would understand without reading or studying what was right from wrong. Everyone who turns their back on God is guilty of violating their conscience and rejecting truth.


EDIT: IT NEVER CEASES TO BE A SOURCE OF AMAZEMENT TO ME THAT SOME PEOPLE ARE SO VERY QUICK WITH THE THUMBS DOWN. PROBABLY DIDN'T EVEN THINK THROUGH THE RESPONSE BUT REJECTED IT BECAUSE IT DIDN'T MATCH WHAT THEY BELIEVE IN THEIR SUBJECTIVE THINKING.

Answer 7

Adam and Eve actually had it already. They were talked out of knowing this by the Serpent. Their sin was TRYING to be themselves in lieu of just being themselves. In the beginning, God made them in his image, so by default they had the knowledge of good and evil. Good existed and Evil did not. After they ate the fruit, they began to wear clothes and deem certain things like Nakedness as bad.

They fell away from their God nature, because no matter what God Created he called it Good. Never doubted himself or his creation.

Adam and Eve doubted AND acted on the doubt.


ORDO ab CHAO

Answer 8

Wrong.They were mature and intelligent as they communed with God.The fruit[psyhcotropic] tripped them into the spiritual realm were Satan could give them esoteric knowledge.That's what LSD does as well.It rips the protective veil of the physical realm open.That's why those fruits or drugs are used in so many pagan rituals to this very day.

Answer 9

Because they did not have knowledge yet. They didn't eat knowledge, they ate judgement. Knowledge takes time to acquire, and experience.

The tree is like knowledge, the fruit is like judgement. The tree didn't teach them knowledge at all. Nor did the fruit. The curse, teachs, and is a school of hard knocks.

Answer 10

They where told by GOD to eat anything they wanted in the Garden of Eden...but NOT eat from the tree of Knowledge...
Quite a temptation if you ask me.