The Fruit of Knowledge

[Saint of Eight]

This is a question not even I have been able to figure out.

Why did God make the fruit forbidden to Adam and Eve?
I personally love and can't live without knowledge. And if
Satan convinced us to eat this fruit, you know where it
goes from there. I am totally lost on this topic. I am sure
it is a simple explanation that I am just missing.

-S8  

[Testicular Diabeetus]

I think it was a test, a test of their faith.
i mean god told them to not eat it no matter what.
They should have listened.
But they were tempted and well turns out their faith wasn't as strong as we thought.
I mean God tests us all the time, maybe it was his way of testing them.

 

[Saint Crazy The Follower]

I think the fact that they chose to eat the fruit is used to point out that they had free will.

As in, they weren't like the other animals there. At first, they acted like the other animals, being content with what they had, and following the rules, but they had the ability to break the rules.

Not saying it's a good thing to break the rules but it was a choice they had to make, and it had to happen so we could make the choice to return to God.

...does that make sense? :S  

[Shadows-shine]

Adam and Eve were given agency, the ability to choose for themselves. God told them not to eat of the tree, but He gave them leave to act according to how they felt was right, just like we are given leave to do so. They ate of it and thus the consequences were administered. We are on this earth, not to test God's faithfulness to us, but our faithfulness to Him. Adam and Eve were no different. They had to slip up to learn, just like we have to slip up to learn. Without them partaking of the fruit, they would have known no joy for they knew no sorrow, they would have known no love because they knew no hate, etc. It was a necessary part of their learning and development in this mortal life. Just like our trials and mishaps are part of our learning and development.

The fact is, God never specified why He said the fruit of the tree was forbidden. That part is irrelevant. It was a necessary step that Adam and Eve had to take though to bring forth the plan of salvation and it was necessary for their development, as I said. The tree was there because there has to be opposition in all things. It is a must, because God created it that way and ordained that it should be that.  

[WoodSorrelWitch]

John 14:15
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

That's the first thing that pops into my head.  

[Saint of Eight]

@ Testicular Diabetes (odd, it recognizes the first word,
but not Obama)
Er, I understand where your coming from,
but I am not convinced that this was a test.
With this 'test' it would totally change the
history of humanity. I don't think God would
do a test of that magnitude and of those
consequences.

@ Saint Crazy The Follower
I very much like my fellow Saint's explanation.
Although, if they had never had eaten the fruit,
we wouldn't have needed that choice and
we'd all be happy. Sorry, that's the best reason
I can think of why this is wrong at the moment XD.
I still like this explanation very much and I wish
you to expand on this
a tad.

@ Shadows-shine
Hmm, a few things I would consider wrong
in this. You said that without sorrow there
is no joy, without hate there is no love, etc.
If this is correct, won't Heaven suck? Are
you also saying that, in this case, rules
are meant to broken? I like this explanation
as well.

@ PawzPrint
I do not see how this relates to anything in
any way, at all.
 

[Testicular Diabeetus]

I think what Pawzprint means is that, God told them to not eat it.
So in a way i can see that it is sorta like a commandment.
If they loved God they shouldn't have done it, and they shouldn't have fallen for the devils tricks.

But what about Obama? I don't get it... sweatdrop

 

[faithful quenga]

I am a sinner... "1 John 1:8"

God gave us free will and with that free will he gave us a "don't". It was up to Adam and Eve to have faith and trust God that he would take care of them no matter what.

God doesn't want mindless beings that he controls on a string. God wants us to CHOOSE him. Think about it, would you want your friends to love you because they are forced to and have no choice, or rather they love you because of who you are and their genuine care.

It also relies a lot on faith. If we didn't have a choice there would be no need for faith. With our choice to live for God or for the enemy we learn faith in completely relying on God to take care of us. Also in faith we don't need all the answers. If we have questions about the who, what, where, when and why's of it all we will over think the simplicity of just Loving God. What difference will it really make to know this? I trust that God's reasons are his own and can be explained as easy as "It doesn't matter" and "Just have faith"

You may want to argue my answer, but know this, I don't mind if you think I'm right or if you think I'm wrong. What matters most to me is what God has to say and what I hear from him is "Be faithful" and I don't need to know to know the why's of this in order for me to do that.

... Saved by God's grace "Acts 15:11"

 

[Shadows-shine]

Saint of Eight

@ Shadows-shine
Hmm, a few things I would consider wrong
in this. You said that without sorrow there
is no joy, without hate there is no love, etc.
If this is correct, won't Heaven suck? Are
you also saying that, in this case, rules
are meant to broken? I like this explanation
as well.

Who said that there wasn't sorrow in Heaven? Who said that there wasn't hate in Heaven? God feels sorrow, He hates certain things. I never said rules are meant to be broken, but if you don't stumble, you never learn, you don't gain wisdom or knowledge. I love the quote from Batman Begins that says, "Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up." It is so true.  

[WoodSorrelWitch]

Saint of Eight

@ PawzPrint
I do not see how this relates to anything in
any way, at all.

God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit. Why should it matter what the reason is or was? The point is that God said not to do it. And so, the thing that popped into my head was that verse. We love God, therefore we'll keep His commandments.  

[Saint Crazy The Follower]

Saint of Eight

@ Saint Crazy The Follower
I very much like my fellow Saint's explanation.
Although, if they had never had eaten the fruit,
we wouldn't have needed that choice and
we'd all be happy. Sorry, that's the best reason
I can think of why this is wrong at the moment XD.
I still like this explanation very much and I wish
you to expand on this
a tad.

Expand? What am I, writing an essay? razz (It's finals week, ugh)

And well, yes we'd be happy, but we wouldn't have much of a story to tell, would we?

Think of God as an author, and this world he created one big story, and we are the characters.
A good book never starts with "And they lived happily ever after...", even though that's the eventual goal.
The characters in the book always have some sort of conflict, maybe some mistake they made or some evil imposed on them, something that they have to overcome in order to earn their happiness. And they don't realize how great and thankful they are for that happiness until they've been through all the misery first.

Yes, we live in a cursed world. But it is in the hardest times that we appreciate our blessings so much more. God saw that humans have a lot more potential then just to laze around a garden all day - by giving us the challenge of living in a world ruled by evil, He makes us strong, patient, wise, and thankful.

They say you don't know love until you've been heartbroken...
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, God left the earth.
Not only was the earth cursed, but imagine how it must have felt for them. The world is still heartbroken today. But by the time the story ends, we will return to God and we will see love face to face, and then we get our happy ending.

EDIT: I would go further but I am restricted by time atm.  

[Green_Fuu]

Knowledge is worthless without God.
So WHY why why why would you choose "knowledge" over "God"?
That is the real question.
The problem here is that, God was not enough for them any more.
Wisdom and knowledge come from God.
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise."
-Psalm 111:10

Once you try to do it without God, it's not the same, it's void and lacking.
They had it all, they just thought they could become greater than God. (Which is the greatest lie the devil continues to implant on people's mind).
There is no way, no how.....with all the knowledge in the world. A human will never have the intelligence, the know how, in how to make life.
If eating that fruit was really the beginning of knowledge then why are we still trying to figure out a way to cure cancer?

If you have fear of the LORD and love and keep his commandments ( Love)
then you are already more knowledgeable than the smartest scientist to existence.

 

[Shadows-shine]

Acquiring knowledge is a necessity in this life. You have to have it to survive. God knows that. Adam and Eve had to learn to take care of themselves otherwise they would perish. God wasn't going to hand every thing to them, just like He isn't going to hand every thing to us. God provides for those who provide for themselves.