2-J

How can it be worthy of punishment if it wasn't evil in any sense? This is my question. I am aware that we can throw up our hands and say 'it doesn't matter', I just wondered if there were any cunning fundie reponses to this problem of God punishing Adam and Eve for doing something when they had no knowledge of good and evil.

Obviously if one interprets the story in a more metaphorical way then most of the problems disappear (however I would say it's a pretty poor metaphor for man's inherent sinfulness, given the fact that in the story Adam and Eve apparently have no knowledge of good and evil initially, whereas in general - even if we are all descended from Adam and Eve - humans do, plausibly, have a moral sense).

everettf

Adam and Eve could talk?? Anybody have any ideas about the language they spoke? Who was there taking notes about what went on in the garden? Oh I know, mental telepathy. WOW

Doug Shaver

I don't think there is one. I've seen the question asked in Christian forums several times, and the only thing common to the responses has been their incoherence.

spamandham

I've asked this question to several evangelicals, and it seems to catch them offguard - as if they've never considered the problem.

I don't think the evangelical faith engine has concoted a solution to this problem yet.

Earl IV

Are the concepts of right and wrong inherent knowledge?

Did god instruct them as to the difference?

If Adam & Eve had free will without the knowledge of right/wrong, wouldn't all options be open? God told them not to take from the tree, but he did not tell them why, or why they had to obey him, or what the consequences would be for disobedience.

How could there be a punishment for a decision made from that perspective?

"You have free will"
"Do as I say or else"

Sounds like bad parenting to me.

bacht

from the Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 (online):

Original Sin.

Man is responsible for sin because he is endowed with free will ("beḥirah"); yet he is by nature frail, and the tendency of the mind is to evil: "For the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Gen. viii. 21; Yoma 20a; Sanh. 105a). Therefore God in His mercy allowed man to repent and be forgiven. Jewish theologians are divided in regard to the cause of this so-called "original sin"; some teach that it was due to Adam's yielding to temptation in eating of the forbidden fruit and has been inherited by his descendants; the majority, however, do not hold Adam responsible for the sins of mankind.

...The motive ascribed as underlying the prohibition against sin is the benefit of man. Sin defiles the body and corrupts the mind; it is a perversion and distortion of the principles of nature; it creates disorder and confusion in society; it brings mischief, misery, and trouble into communal life. Man, not God, reaps the benefit of obedience to God's laws: "If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? . . . Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art" (Job xxxv. 6, 8).