The Logic of Satan's Temptation to Eve

[Skeptical]

I was just thinking about this today for the first time. But I was wondering if anyone else has ever thought about the logic of Satan's words and temptation to Eve that I'm about to discuss.

So, Genesis 3:1-5 says...

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

So, the thing that I was wondering about is that if Eve was created a perfect individual and who apparently was much smarter than anyone who according to Bible chronology who lives now, 6000 years later, then why didn't she question why God would even place this "tree" in the middle of the garden within reach of Adam and Eve if God didn't want them to eat from it?

And I know that some Christians have the argument that Adam and Eve were childlike, but there's nowhere in the Bible that says that. Because if anything, one of their God-ordained commands that God gave them before they sinned is found in Genesis 1:28. And procreating is not a command that you give to children. Also, Deuteronomy 32:4 says that...

He is the Rock, his works are perfect

Therefore, I'm not sure how an imperfect person 6 thousand years removed from Adam and Eve could figure that out, but Eve couldn't. Any thoughts?

[Skeptical]

An article from Got Questions makes an interesting point.

Why didn’t Adam and Eve find it strange that a serpent was talking to them?

Lastly, it was not unreasonable for Eve to answer the snake. After all, the snake was evidently speaking in a language that she understood and asking an intelligible question. It is also likely that Adam was nearby and could verify that she was not imagining things. It was not the serpent speaking that should have alarmed them. Rather, it was the fact that he was causing them to doubt God’s instructions (Genesis 3:1), contradicting God (Genesis 3:4), and calling God’s motives into question (Genesis 3:5). That should have been enough to cause both Eve and Adam to stop talking to the serpent.

Yeah, this is very related to my thread topic. Because it was just too easy for Adam and Eve to sin against God.

Also, Christianity is a great religion for comfort and hope, except when you're deep into it and you come to discover that there are exclusions that you didn't know about beforehand. And then you start to try to make sense of everything and then you try to see if everything makes sense. But I guess for some people it does. And perhaps that's the key. Like any religion, it's a "for some people" religion and is not a universal religion as it claims to be.

[Skeptical]

Also, it wasn't as if Eve was aged and was a bit confused in the mind.

[William]

The question that needs to be asked first is how the Serpent knew that God knew Good & Evil.

Secondly, while it is often believed that the Serpent was a snake, and the fruit was an apple, no bible version I have read, appears to say or even imply those things.

Eves main slipup appears to be the telling a lie to the Serpent re touching the fruit. There was no such command from the God.

That is not to say that Eve knew she was not telling the truth, because she may have simply have repeated something she had been told by Adam, and in that, being misinformed.

It may even be that the Serpent picked up on the discrepancy and used this to its own advantage.

And where was Adam while the event was taking place?

[1213]

....if Eve was created a perfect individual and who apparently was much smarter than anyone who according to Bible chronology who lives now, 6000 years later, then why didn't she question why God would even place this "tree" in the middle of the garden within reach of Adam and Eve if God didn't want them to eat from it? ...

I don't think Bible tells Eve was perfect. But, I think it is a good question, why didn't they ask, why didn't they question the snake who told the opposite what God had told. I don't know the answer, and I don't think anyone else knows. Maybe the reason for not asking about the tree from God was that they knew that God had created, or formed things, because God thought it is good.

But, I think it is silly idea to think that there should have been only edible fruits in the garden. Many gardens have plants that can't be eaten and people still are not eating them.

[Skeptical]

The question that needs to be asked first is how the Serpent knew that God knew Good & Evil.

I'm not sure what your belief background is, but I thought that most Christians or former Christians have/had the belief that Satan was the Serpent and was a former angel of God and therefore, knew what Good & Evil was.

Secondly, while it is often believed that the Serpent was a snake, and the fruit was an apple, no bible version I have read, appears to say or even imply those things.

That sounds like a non-issue because this is the first time where I've seen that point mentioned.

Eves main slipup appears to be the telling a lie to the Serpent re touching the fruit. There was no such command from the God.

That is not to say that Eve knew she was not telling the truth, because she may have simply have repeated something she had been told by Adam, and in that, being misinformed.

Well, you just explained your own point.

It may even be that the Serpent picked up on the discrepancy and used this to its own advantage.

And where was Adam while the event was taking place?

Cutting his fingernails?

[JehovahsWitness]

WHY DIDN'T GOD JUST PUT THE TREE SOMEWHERE THAT ADAM AND EVE COULD NOT REACH IT?

Because it was a test. What would be the point of devising a test that nobody could take?

[JehovahsWitness]

HOW CAN A PERFECT INDIVIDUAL SIN?

If we understand perfect to mean free from default, then that which is perfect will do that for which it was designed. God made the first man and woman as intelligent free moral agents, meaning they were designed capable of deciding to do good or to do bad. This does not mean God put a little "bad" inside them, it just means they were capable of thought and imagination so they could could understand the notion of good and bad and were capable of choosing to do either.

If that was the case doesn't that mean that bad was inevitable?

No because God designed them "in his own image" meaning they were endowed with an instinctive love of what is good, and had a conscience that automatically warned them of the potential danger of straying from it. But they were not robots and had free will so they were capable of ignoring their natural leaning towards the good if they were determined that is what they wanted to do.

If Eve was perfect how could she be deceived?

Because perfect should not be confused with omniscient. If one has perfect 20/20 vision that doesn't mean you will be able to see through walls; your "perfect vision" is still limited by your biology. Eve was perfect but limited by her age and lack of experience. This was no a design flaw, humans are designed to start of with little or no head knowledge and gain experience through life. Eve was deceived not because she was defective but because she failed to listen to her conscience and consult both her more experiened husband and her heavenly Father.




JEHOVAH'S WITNESS



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For more details please go to other posts related to...

ORIGINAL SIN , THE DECEPTION OF EVE and ..THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND BAD

[myth-one.com]

So, the thing that I was wondering about is that if Eve was created a perfect individual and who apparently was much smarter than anyone who according to Bible chronology who lives now, 6000 years later, then why didn't she question why God would even place this "tree" in the middle of the garden within reach of Adam and Eve if God didn't want them to eat from it?

And I know that some Christians have the argument that Adam and Eve were childlike, but there's nowhere in the Bible that says that. Because if anything, one of their God-ordained commands that God gave them before they sinned is found in Genesis 1:28. And procreating is not a command that you give to children. Also, Deuteronomy 32:4 says that...

He is the Rock, his works are perfect

Therefore, I'm not sure how an imperfect person 6 thousand years removed from Adam and Eve could figure that out, but Eve couldn't. Any thoughts?

Most people still haven't figured it out.

Eating from the forbidden tree is not directly what caused Eve to die.

The wages of sin is death:

...the wages of sin is death; (Romans 6:23)

Eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the tree in the center of the garden) caused Eve to die because God had commanded her not to do so.

Sin is the transgression of God's laws:

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: ...for sin is the transgression of the law. (I John 3:4)

All of mankind at that time (both Adam & Eve) sinned by eating from the forbidden tree. Therefore, all of mankind will perish.

[Skeptical]

WHY DIDN'T GOD JUST PUT THE TREE SOMEWHERE THAT ADAM AND EVE COULD NOT REACH IT?

Because it was a test. What would be the point of devising a test that nobody could take?

Nice effort, but you're deviating from what I was actually asking in the OP. As a matter of fact, I noticed that you didn't even quote what I stated in my OP. But instead, you reconfigured what I said to fit it in your own words in order to give your own answer. However, unfortunately, that's called a strawman argument. But here is what I actually said. Therefore, please reply to what I actually said...

So, the thing that I was wondering about is that if Eve was created a perfect individual and who apparently was much smarter than anyone who according to Bible chronology who lives now, 6000 years later, then why didn't she question why God would even place this "tree" in the middle of the garden within reach of Adam and Eve if God didn't want them to eat from it?

Or in other words, why would God put within reach a magical fruit that would make Adam and Eve gods themselves? A test is one thing, but anyone with half a brain, (and Adam and Eve were supposed to have had full brains) would have figured that you would never test someone by putting something within their reach that could give them the power of gods.