More questions about Genesis/Fall of Man?

Question

This is kind of a follow up to this question:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqR_OZWAZuIHFnce1UoqVM3d7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20071123120348AAbTP7F


I have wondered about this as well. The snake didn't really say anything decieving. But I have some other questions.

1. God commanded that Adam not eat from the tree of knowledge...he never made that same command to Eve. Technically, she could eat the fruit of that tree. So was she only wrong in giving the fruit to Adam?

2. They did not die because they ate from the Tree of knowledge, they died because they could not eat of the tree of life....correct?

3. "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil." Who exactly is "us"? It is frequently refered to as "us" or "our" in genesis. Does anyone believe there is more than one God? It would explain a lot of things.

If "us" is the trinity, then why does God sometimes refer to himself singularly and sometimes plural?

Answer 1

Eve explained back to Satan (the serpent) the restriction regarding eating from that tree, so she knew it also, and was responsible for her actions.

The eating from the tree of life was not granted to them because they had eaten from the restricted tree.

Us referring to God, and his other spirit creatures in heaven, namely his son, and possibly the other angels.

(PS: The silly idea of a trinity talking to himself does not explain the us, as it's suppose to be one god. Trinity = dumb)

Answer 2

1. Well, if God told Adam what not to do, we can be assured that he would inform his wife, wouldn't he? And when we read the account, it seems pretty clear that Eve knew the fruit was forbidden.

2. Incorrect. They died because they gave into temptation by eating the forbidden fruit. The funny part is, they had an over-abundance of everything! They could've done without that one fruit.

3. Interesting question! This is similar to what God said when he was making man. He said "Let US make man in OUR image." Who was He talking to? He was talking to his only-begotten Son, "the firstborn of all creation" who was there when God was creating everything. Colossians 1:16-18 proves this nicely.

:) Jenny

Answer 3

1. God said don't eat of the tree
Eve came from Adam.
Now if it were ok for her, then nobody but Adam would've been hiding in the bushes with fig leaves all over themselves right?!

2. They didn't die right away and they wouldn't have died at all if they'd listened......They died because they disobeyed God....its not like the fruit was poison.

3. God comes in three....believe me there's only one up there
Father God, Son [Jesus], and The Comforter [The Holy Spirit].

You are best off referring to the Trinity as one, God. Otherwise you'll just confuse yourself.

Answer 4

1. The commandment applied to both Adam and Eve.

2. Spiritual Death (separation from God) occured because they disobeyed God.

3) God referring to himself as us is consistent with the concept of the Trinity.

Cordially,
John
http://www.GodSci.org

Answer 5

1) Eve was tricked into eating from the fruit, Adam was wrong for allowing her to do it. As the man in their family, it was his job to protect her, and he didn't. He was right there when she ate the fruit, then out of greed ( because now she knew more than him ), he ate it also.
2) The death was more than physical, it was spiritual death, they allowed sin to enter into the world. The punishment for sin is death.
3) This is just plain and simple Christianity : God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God in three persons.

Answer 6

god crated adam first gen 2:7 then he crated then he told HIM not to eat from the tree gen 2:16,17 then he created eve gen 2:22

they did not die rite there but we were suppose to be alive for ever no illness no suffering by them eating this look the world now they died because the did not obey gods words they trusteda snake instead.

gen1:26 to OUR image god was talking to jesus jesus was in heaven before he came to earth but that does not mean that Jesus is God is god the father jesus the son

Answer 7

Genesis is not just the first story in the Bible, it is probably much older than the Bible. It may be one of the oldest written stories we have! In fact, it could have lived for a long time in oral history before it was even possible to write it down.

Stories this old, it's hard to tell exactly what they mean. If you read samples of ancient literature you see that stories were often not meant to be taken literally, they were symbolic or allegorical. This is especially true of primitive creation stories. Often there were talking animals and spirits that represented intangible things like light and water and the earth.

I was brought up in a liberal Jewish tradition where there were many different ways to look at Genesis--none of them literal. I don't disparage -anyone's- religion, I believe people ought to be allowed to believe whatever seems reasonable to them, but I really think taking Genesis strictly literally shows a frightening lack of imagination.

You're right--God never told Eve not to eat the fruit. That's an interesting trivia question, also who was Adam and Eve's third son, the one who stayed out of trouble? 8^) It might be that Eve was not considered fully human, as women weren't in those days. Women were weaker, they never grew beards or body hair, and their voices didn't deepen, so it was thought they never 'matured'. They were not accorded the same rights of citizenship as a man, for instance a woman couldn't own property in her own name. That might have something to do with it.

Over the millennia a lot of thought has gone into trying to explain why God, who is perfect and who can't, by definition, make a mistake, created a human race so imperfect, even so self-destructive. It seems reasonable (to me) to believe that God made Adam and Eve imperfect deliberately. Putting them in a garden where there was this one tree of fruit they couldn't eat is like leaving a 4-year-old alone in a room with a wedding cake. He must have -expected- them to eat the fruit! This would justify him kicking them out of the nest, as all good parents eventually have to do with their 'creations'. He obviously didn't intend for them to live forever because he gave them bodies designed to age and die, bodies suited to living on earth, breathing a 20% oxygen atmosphere, eating the available flora and fauna. Were Adam and Eve created with reproductive equipment? If not, they must have looked pretty strange!

Also, God's referral to himself as 'us' could be the 'royal we'. Or it could be a mistranslation from a language that handled pronouns differently. Or it could be a hint that the belief in those days was not 'monotheism' but 'monalatry', i.e. not that there was only one God but that there were several, but we only -worshipped- one. There are also passages in the first few passages of Genesis that seem to refer to gods coming to earth to have sex with human beings, something common in early paganism and even Greek and Roman mythology.

Answer 8

Eve came out of Adam-- same species "mankind"

could be, but either way, god fulfilled his promise that if they ate from the tree they would die.

Father, Son, Holy spirit

Answer 9

Adam and Eve didn't die instantly ..but they lost immortality, and died. The Trinity explains the Us, to me. Eve was deceived but Adam sinned.

Answer 10

Ummmmm sweety, you've not considered my driveway or you'll not be asking this question. :-) i'm no longer lesbian, or gay, or purchase -sexual and that i dont even comprehend what transgendered is. yet i comprehend that existence is type of a container of goodies, the proper ones have already been eaten and something have a bite taken out.