There's always the possibility that we're just imposing our views on fair and unfair on God. But also, if any of you have better explanations, I would much appreciate it. Thanks
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By whose standards?Ivellious wrote:If you had the mental/emotional experience and capacity of a newborn baby, would you have been able to resist the ultimate incarnation of lies and deceit because of a handful of disembodied words? Of course that law and the punishment thereafter were unreasonable and a setup for failure!
That is your opinion, and there is nothing within scripture to back this up. We simply don't know their level of reasoning. But we can be sure that God gave them clear instruction. They had direct communion with God. Plus, how do you know how many years they lived in the garden before being tempted? one year, a million? You simply don't know. If you take out of the equation your opinion, you are left with nothing in the facts to substantiate your conclusions. They are highly speculative and I would say intent on skeptically finding the loop holes.First of all, barring God giving Adam and Eve an entire lifetime's worth of experience and knowledge, there is no way they could have been capable of reasoning beyond that of a modern day 2 year old. Unless Adam and Eve were, in fact, non-human, that would have to be expected, especially considering Adam and Eve act childish and impulsive and highly impressionable when confronted by Satan.
Also, consider this: God is good. Satan is evil. Without the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam and Eve should not be able to distinguish them. Basically, it comes down to a handful of disembodied words versus a talking snake and a tree that is everything that they should want (pleasurable and containing wisdom). God rather explicitly states that prior to them being deceived and eating the fruit, they had not been "like one of us," and did not "know good and evil." Again, if you took a child (or a grown person even) and then took two disembodied voices, giving opposite orders, who does that person follow? Especially if they have explicitly zero knowledge of which one is good and evil?
This.jlay wrote:Oh, and where are you qualified to judge the mental capacities of A&E?
And? How does this make them less culpable for not following the Lords instructions? We know from the parts of the conversation with the serpent that Eve most certainly was able to reason. The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” Gen. 3:2-3The Bible explicitly states that Adam and Eve had no knowledge of good and evil
How do you figure? Just read the text for pete's sake. In Gen. 3:1 the serpent ask a question, "‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”It's still just one voice against another. God gave a clear instruction, and someone else gave an equally clear instruction. Without knowing who was good and who was evil, there is no way to justify an eternal punishment based on ignorance.
koopa184 wrote:Why did God give a law that we absolutely cannot live up to? I'm an honest Christian seeker who wants to know.
Tina wrote:What law?
mum1983 wrote:Oh, probably all of them...
If that's where God left it, then I can see it unreasonable. And yet, that is not where God left it.Ivellious wrote:If you had the mental/emotional experience and capacity of a newborn baby, would you have been able to resist the ultimate incarnation of lies and deceit because of a handful of disembodied words? Of course that law and the punishment thereafter were unreasonable and a setup for failure!