How did Adam and Eve know that eating the forbidden fruit would be wrong?

Question

The tree was the tree of knowledge, therefore they had no idea that what they were doing was wrong. "Death" and "sin" were just words to them, they had no meaning to them because they didnt know right from wrong. And before you say that it was wrong because "God told them not to", why would God plant that tree there in the first place then? Because he was testing them right? Why would he do that? Like I said before, they didnt know right from wrong, so the "test" would have been a failure from the beginning. Also, God knows everything, so he would have known that they would disobey him / get tricked, whatever you want to call it, so he bascially premeditated the downfall of man and knew it was gonna happen. And before you start with the "free will" stuff, Adam and Eve were completely ignorant of right and wrong, so therefore had nothing to base a decision off of to choose freely.

you are the same ppl who say that God has a plan for us all yet we have free will, which in itself is a paradox. It was the tree of knowledge, hence they were ignorant until they ate from it.

Congrats Fred, your post has been offically submitted on "Fundies Say the Darndest Things"...you might even fine the "Fundie of the Week" award for that reply.

Answer 1

he warned them then they knew the right from the wrong ...
and GOD knows every thing so why we r living then ?
he can judge us without living to go to hell or heaven because he know what really will happen ... actually i always asked about that question ...
but the answer is that we have to live so when we are judged we can't say that we didn't live to judge us ... that we can't say maybe i if i lived i would sth else not that
...i liked the way u think .. i think that way sometimes

Answer 2

great answer- Johnathan H. Before the fall , God literally walked in the garden with Adam and Eve- God told them NOT to eat of the tree- the fruit on the tree, was not the problem, it was disobedience that God was talking about here. If I told my child not to eat a cookie before dinner, because it would ruin their appetite, and he/she did then they would know it was wrong too, because I said not too and the reason. So did God, however, God is God and I am not- so disobedience to God is a higher stake than a child, taking a cookie from the cookie jar- which by the way also stems from the original sin- we all have choices to make, when you are born and live in this world, you make choices every day, how do you know it is right or wrong? Same thing- you are told- we are accountable to God for what we do- God did know that we would sin, that is why even before the foundation of the world, Jesus knew He was going to be sent to the cross to cover our sins. God loves us that much!!!!!!!!!!! I am thankful that He gives us free will, wouldn't it be horrible to be programmed?

Answer 3

Kappa, I think a few of your assumptions are incorrect....

(1) You assume Adam and Eve didn't know right from wrong because they hadn't eaten of the tree. But they DID know God's command: "And the LORD God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.' " (Gen. 2: 16-17). Eve parroted the command back to the serpant in Gen. 3:2, so obviously they knew of the command. But they DID CHOOSE to disregard it. Indeed, the Fall was NOT the eating of the fruit and the opening of the eyes of Adam and Eve -- that was all the consequence of what they did. The choice and the act to disobey (the fundamental deifintion of sin) is what condemned them.

Also notice... this was the ONLY rule, THE ONLY rule in the Garden. God had not commanded Adam and Eve to do ANYthing else. They could eat anything else, have sex anytime (I presume), play in the river, sleep until noon, party til dawn -- ANYTHING. And yet, they could not obey this one directive. It is a picture perfect world, a picture perfect setup for humanity -- and yet, mankind screws it up.

(2) As for God "knowing" that this would happen and "setting them up," the argument is a slippery slope. One could argue the same about the Holocaust, the Crusades, cancer, and on on... (i.e., if God is all powerful and all knowing why does He let all this stuff happen). Granted it is not an easy question to answer -- if it was easy, faith would be easy. My opinion is that God created man with the unique "image" of himself to actually have the freedom and power to choose NOT to follow -- something nothing else in creation possessed. He gave Adam and Eve every chance to get it right -- and yet they didn't. It grieved him, it saddened him -- and yet He still couldn't bring himself to totally abandon humanity. He never has. He always found a way to bring humanity back to Himself -- ultimately, in Christian theology through the sacrifice of His own Son, Jesus Christ.

When you truly look at the depth of this story, it tells more about the human condition and how a loving God responds to it than volumes of commentaries. It is really powerful to me. Look a little closer...

Answer 4

They were not ignorant of God as they fellowshiped with him everyday. They knew what it was to be in the glory of presence and they were so "God conscious" that they didn't realize they were naked. You don't get more "right" than that.

God told them not to eat of the tree. Period. If they wanted to know more about why they had every opportunity to ask Him. If your parents forbid you to do something, you don't go ask a stranger, "Why?"

I use to wonder about the tree myself. But we were created with a purpose - to have dominion over the earth and spread God's design and purpose over it. Just as you can't drive until you are 16 or vote until you are 18, we would have eventually had access to the tree -when we had evolved enough to show God that we were ready, committed to Him and our fellowship with Him.

So if your parents tell you not to drive their car (because you don't know how) and you get the keys, drive it and wreck it - its their fault for putting the car where you can see it?

Can you explain to a 6 old why he can't drive the car? Or why he shouldn't play in the street? NO! You can't "explain" what its like to be hit by a car or killed by a car, but everyday millions of children stay out of the street because their parents told them to and they acknowledge that authority.

I "know" that if a child puts their hand on a hot stove or walks in front of a car, they will be hurt. I can even tell a child that it will hurt, but if they do it anyway it doesn't mean I forced them to. God knows the beginning from the end - because time is an earthly concept.

Adam and Eve knew enough - don't eat from that tree.... pretty simple. Don't make it more complicated as God is pretty straight forward and easy to understand once you start studying........

Answer 5

The tree was there because they had Free Will. God placed it there, because if He were to make certain there would never be any harm or mistakes possible, what would be the point of Free Will?? There had to be a choice available to them. As for understanding the consequences of right and wrong, the choice was either to trust God or not. Period. If God hadn't placed the tree there, there would be no choice and hence no Free Will.

Answer 6

Adam and Eve, if they actually real people, were born with free-will and the knowledge of right and wrong, just as every person is born with those things.

If you deny that human beings have free-will and a soul, there's nothing that anybody can do or say to refute your argument.

Anybody is free to do right or wrong at any time, regardless of what they are told. I know that rape is wrong, even though I've never done it nor suffered through it.

Answer 7

God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of knowledge. He told them that in the day they ate of the tree, they would surely die.

Yet, in the day they ate of the fruit, they did not die in the flesh. So if God told them that in the day they ate of the fruit they would surely die, but they remained alive in the flesh, what was God referring to?

When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, though they did not die physically, they died in spirit. God's spirit cannot have association with sin and when Adam and Eve sinned, God removed his spirit from them, thus making them dead in spirit and held under the bondage of death.

By Adam and Eve's sin, it changed the natural estate of all mankind, making all men born in flesh that perishes over time and making the souls held captive in the place known as death and hell.

It was for that reason God had to send his only begotten Son. For if he didn't men would have had no hope of escaping eternal death.

Answer 8

God said "do not eat of this tree." have you ever tried to make someone love you? would it be love if you were able to make them? how would you feel if the person said "i love you" only because they had, there was no feeling or meaning to it? same thing here. God gave free will because he wanted us to truely love him by our own choice, not because he made us. and adam and eve were not ignorant, they were told not to. it is like tellling a child it is ok to play in the street, they won't get hurt, because they are ignorant. your argument breaks down quickly and hold no water.

Answer 9

The correct answer to your question is too complex to explain in this forum. There's a great book that addresses all of the various issues. It's called SonPlacing by Garrison Russell. Available from http://www.amazon.com

Answer 10

Untrue, for they knew it was wrong because God told them not to eat from that particular tree. Once they disobeyed him, they knew sin.