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]

edited by Skeptical

[Gracchus]

[Replying to Skeptical in post #21]
For most Christians and Muslims, discussing religion is always proselytizing. The more people who believe the nonsense the easier they find it to believe.

[Skeptical]

Please show where in the Bible he tells that?

1 Timothy 2:14 and 2 Corinthians 11:3.

What I meant is, Bible tells God said "God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good". Gen. 1:31. Because of that, maybe Adam and Eve thought that is why God created, because it was very good.

I'm just going by verses like 1 Timothy 2:14, 2 Corinthians 11:3, and Romans 5:12, etc.

[Skeptical]

Or in other words, why would God put within reach a magical fruit that would make Adam and Eve gods themselves?

I disagree with the premise that the tree was "magical"; it seems that it was just a fruit tree like any other ; no doubt there were other similar trees throughout the garden from which rhey could have eaten if rhey had a cracing dor that particular flavor of fruit.

Its fruits had no special properties and certainly there is no good reason to believe it was "magical".

Not according to Genesis 3:22:

22 Jehovah God then said: “Here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad.+ Now in order that he may not put his hand out and take fruit also from the tree of life+ and eat and live forever,*

And from what I understand, JWs don't believe that the book of Genesis is a symbolic book like Revelation, but believe that everything in it is literal and historical. Therefore, according to this verse, conversely, if Adam and Eve did put their hands out and take fruit (or perhaps, continue to take fruit) from the tree of life, then they would have lived forever. (I.e. As long as they continued to eat the fruit.)

[Skeptical]

Okay I think I see the ...deviation now. I dealt with the question ...

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

... you're deviating from what I was actually asking in the OP.

But what you really wanted to know is ...

... why would God put [the tree]within reach...?

I looked at ..."Why didn't God put the tree out of reach ?" .... But you wanted to know "Why did he put the tree within reach?" ie not out of reach.

I see now your accusation of deviation was entirely reasonsble.

Fortunately the answer to your entirely different question is entirely the same...because it was a TEST.

Well, yes. According to God's straightforward test of Adam and Eve. However, when the serpent said differently from what God told them, why didn't Adam and Eve's perfect adult brains reason: Now why would God's test include a tree that was in our reach that he didn't want us to get to because it would give us magical or godly abilities? Because that would be like if someone has something that they really didn't want someone else to have, however, at the same time, they would leave it right out in the open where that someone else could take it from them or have some of it for themselves. It doesn't make sense.

Also, according to Bible chronology, we're all supposed to be 6000 plus years removed from Adam and Eve. But why is it that I am able to figure something like that out, but they couldn't?

[JehovahsWitness]

Well, yes. According to God's straightforward test of Adam and Eve. ...

Exactly! You are correct, it was indeed a straight forward test that they both evidently understood: do not eat from the tree. Their deliberate violation if that simple command was a direct act of rebellion.




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[otseng]

[Replying to Skeptical in post #21]
For most Christians and Muslims, discussing religion is always proselytizing. The more people who believe the nonsense the easier they find it to believe.

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[JehovahsWitness]

And from what I understand, JWs ... believe that everything in it is literal and historical.

Not at all, Jehovah's Witnesses believe the bible including the book of Genesis has many expressions that should not be taken literally,. For example the creative "days" in Genesis chapters 1 and two, should not be taken to be literal 24 hour days and the "evening " and "morning" refered to not literal moments of sunset but periods that mark the end of each period.

So while we hold that the events in Genesis were all historical realities, some of the expressions should be taken contextually to be poetic or non-literal.




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[bjs1]

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?

Nothing in the Bible suggests that Adam and Eve were childlike. Nor does it suggest that they were much smarter than those who came after them. My assumption, and it is nothing but an assumption since we have no evidence to go on, is that in terms of intelligence they were of roughly normal human intelligence.

We have no way of knowing if Eve questioned why the Tree was there. Maybe she did; maybe she didn’t. We don’t know that detail.

As for why God put the Tree in the Garden, again it we can only speculate. Lewis put forth the idea that the Tree was there so that Adam and Eve could experience the joy of willing obedience. Augustine argued that faith – trusting that God is good and honest and trustworthy – is an inherent part of any relationship with God. Adam and Even could never really know God if they never had the opportunity to trust Him in practice.

Both seem at least somewhat valid. However, the Christian understanding of God includes the idea that God rarely does (and never needs to) explain Himself to us. So I don’t have a definitive answer to any question that begins with “Why did God…”

[1213]

Please show where in the Bible he tells that?

1 Timothy 2:14 and 2 Corinthians 11:3.

Sorry, maybe I don't understand what you meant with those, but I don't think they tell the answer to the question why didn't they question the serpent.

Adam wasn’t deceived, but the woman, being deceived, has fallen into disobedience;
1 Timothy 2:14

But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3

Those tell Eve was deceived, but not the reason why.