Expert: Daniel Kimbril - 2/17/2008

Question
Peace be with you, Daniel! I am so happy to have discovered this web-site and your profile! I am a life-long Christian, and a mother of three, and while reading through Genesis with my little ones, a few questions of my own popped into my head and I am hoping you may have some insights.

I understand that there was a tree of life and a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and Adam and Eve were allowed to eat from the first, but not the second. In looking for answers, many people on chat groups have asked why God would allow them to eat from the tree of life, and then after they disobeyed to prevent them from eating it. My understanding was that God could not allow us to have eternal life and sin, because that eternal life would have to be apart from Him... is this correct?

But, my real question is this: Why would God put us to the test of obedience if we didn't have the knowledge of good and evil? And how could Adam and Eve be punished if they had no way to discriminate between good and evil when they were talking to the snake?

Can't wait to hear from you!
Blessings!
Loren

"Adam, you will not believe what just happened! This snake just started talking and he was in that tree that God told us not to eat from and I ate it and I know ALL this stuff now, so get some clothes on for goodness sake, and come with me..." :)

Answer
Eternal life is the opposite of sin because as Romans 6:23 puts it, "the wages of sin is death". Therefore it is difficult to die and yet live forever!
Second question. God didn't want slaves to do His bidding He wanted a friend that would do as He says just they loved Him. With your kids which is better for you when you ask your kids to do something and they say yes ma'am and then do it or when they say man why do I have to do it again and then leave and you have to discipline them for not doing what you asked. Kids don't know the benefits of doing homework its not for homework's sake it is for knowledge and for discipline's sake. They don't "know the reasons" Adam and Eve were "kids" knowing why either. But just like kids who have to trust their parents about things, they needed to trust God as well.

They were punished because of disobedience to what was said. Kids may not know what is right or wrong but they know what you say and will still get punished for disobeying you. Note: Adam was right there with Eve when the snake was talking. He could straightened the whole thing out and said NO God Said it was like this. It was a choice.
With the power of choice comes the power to reason. Adam chose to be silent and that is what destroyed toe relationship to God. Side note: That has been Satan's objective from the beginning to silence the man figure of the relationship.

Any way I hope this has helped you.  Ask another or comment again if you need more clarification.

In His Services,
Daniel