who can answer this question?   why did God plant the tree of knowledge of good and evil when he knows that man will eat.  note; please answer carefully

That is for God to know and you to wonder if God wanted us to know, the reason he would have revealed it to us.

rotflmao @topic

or simply there was never adam and eve.

lol

abi oh

It may have had another function in the garden which wasnt explained.

Lets look at Eden as an ecosystem. Everything is connected.

@Poster:

Remember Adam was aware the tree because God explained to him before he created Eve, that he (Adam) was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What you need to comprehend is that God did not create humans like a robots. He gave us a choice. Adam and Eve had a choice do what was right and wrong. They made a choice to eat from the tree, . . . .God did not forced them.

Don't blame God, blame Eve for "seducing" Adam and made him eat the apple

Peace

@ cayon,

sorry to say but that your response was too shallow, even when God created us with choice, He still knew we were going to eat from that tree , it's like He predetermined everything that happened thereafter because He is omniscience, okay.

I think what really happened was that, the account of creation and development of man as contained in the book of  Genesis is truncated, incomplete and therefore, not to be relied upon.

I believe there's more to the phenomenon called God and the creation of man as contained in that book of Genesis.

Why do teachers set an exam when they know some will fail anyway?

DavidDylan:

Why do teachers set an exam when they know some will fail anyway?

Of what use is the answer to your question if I may ask?
And why did God create fire or water since He knew how much disaster and damage they could cause

DavidDylan:

Why do teachers set an exam when they know some will fail anyway?

Exactly! But the teachers can't tell who will fail and who wouldn't, however, they sure do know the right answers to every question!

My view:
God gave man freewill to choose whatever he wants to do. God knows the result of every action we take but He cannot predict a priori what man will choose to do. I know some may disagree because it sounds ridiculous to use "God" and "cannot" in the same sentence, but that seems to be the only explanation. Even in the Bible, God "regretted" creating man; regret is attributed to disappointment, and to disappoint is "to fail to satisfy the hope, desire, or expectation of".

Genesis 6:5-6 (Amplified Bible)
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually.
6 And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart.


For those who disagree, I'll be the first to confess that religion is not my forte, so please teach me, I'm all ears and willing to learn. Biko, don't insult me, abeg. Thanks.

RichyBlacK:

Exactly! But the teachers can't tell who will fail and who wouldn't, however, they sure do know the right answers to every question!

My view:
God gave man freewill to choose whatever he wants to do. God knows the result of every action we take but He cannot predict a priori what man will choose to do. I know some may disagree because it sounds ridiculous to use "God" and "cannot" in the same sentence, but that seems to be the only explanation. Even in the Bible, God "regretted" creating man; regret is attributed to disappointment, and to disappoint is "to fail to satisfy the hope, desire, or expectation of".

Genesis 6:5-6 (Amplified Bible)
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually.
6 And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart.


For those who disagree, I'll be the first to confess that religion is not my forte, so please teach me, I'm all ears and willing to learn. Biko, don't insult me, abeg. Thanks.

you have captured my own view in a nutshell.

@Richyblack
You're right, I think.I wondered the same some years back. 

It appears that free will is one of the strongest principles that undergirds God's created universe, and it is revealing to realise that every single creature in heaven(Angels and  other creatures we know nothing about because they had no commerce with man and so weren't mentioned in the Bible)every single one of those creatures choose God. They are with God of their own free will, and remain with God of their own free will. If they didn't have free will one of them couldn't have rebelled,and a third of the angels in heaven wouldn't have chosen Satan over God. 

I wondered at one time, Why did God create Satan in the first place,knowing that he would rebel and consequently be thrown to earth and cause mankind great suffering? So sending Christ was a panacea to a headache God created in the first place. And then I understood about choices and free will, and the fact he did not create the Devil,he created Lucifer,just like he created Jesus, called the first born because he was the very first creature God made, and so was present at every other thing that was made, and perhaps even did some creating himself,since God said 'Let us make man,' and not, 'Let me make man.' He created Lucifer and Lucifer rebelled, and to rebel was only one of several choices Lucifer could have made. If God 'knew' Adam would rebel and not choose him,and that mankind would reject him, why did he create man? And why was He distressed when man choose evil?

You are the sum of all the choices you have ever made in your life, which school you chose to attend,which job you chose to apply for,whom you choose to marry (a choice entirely ours;it's the greatest absurdity to say God told you to go and marry so-so,even if you aren't remotely attracted to that person and don't love them), there are so many roads and they lead to different places, and so 'the future' is in a state of flux,it's not rigid,it depends on your choices. So I still don't get how God can know our choices in advance, and I begin to suspect that He does NOT. At least,not at the beginning. But now he knows our natures and can predict what each individual would do with a great degree of accuracy.   

He hadn't created Angels with free will before,and so had no way of predicting the choices they would make. Just like He hadn't created Adam (Man)before,and so couldn't predict their choices,but He certainly hoped for the best from his creation. NOW of course,he can predict man's choices,because he knows our nature now, after thousands of years, and he certainly can predict the choices of the creatures in heaven,knowing each individual's personality. But in the two beginnings, I conjecture, He had no way of knowing Lucifer would rebel,since he was an early creation whose nature he wasn't familiar with, and no way of knowing for sure Adam would rebel,since he didn't know the newly created man very well either. You don't know what a stranger would do,under a given set of circumstances,but you can predict what your brother or father or sister might do under the same set of circumstances.
       
One might also wonder why,when Job was going about minding his own business, God says to the Devil, Have you seen my servant Job?,and the race was on to see whom Job would choose  to listen to,believe and follow, of his own free will. Essentially the same thing happened with Adam and Eve and the tree, which wasn't just a tree, and the same thing happens now with us,every individual one of us, only our trees are different.

We have free will. And a myriad of choices. Now he says preach the gospel so men might choose to believe and follow Christ.

Anyways, that's just my conjecture.

@post
  anything God does is, everything is created for his pleasure , how will thewhole story be interesting, it is all within and in his Game plan A-Z, why bother ?? as his creation lets just accept his salvation and watch the whole scenario fall into place, no need for that question!!because deep down you can never get the true anwer precicely, any answer by humans can only be hypothetical and does not improve your xtian fath in anyway!!

You propose we go to God and ask? He gave us the facility to ask questions and to reason and to make choices,not believe everything we're told blindly and foolishly,without asking questions.He said 'Come, let us reason together.'  Add  some reasoning to your faith. I promise it won't hurt.

Mad_Max:

@Richyblack
You're right, I think.I wondered the same some years back. 

@Mad_Max,

Good to know I'm not alone.

DavidDylan:

you have captured my own view in a nutshell.

@DavidDylan,

Great!

But this is one of the pillars of my "juju is just fraud" argument:

*God gave man freewill.
*Devil cannot take away God's gift to man.
*Devil is the supposed head of all juju.
*So, juju cannot take away man's freewill.
*Juju cannot dictate a man's action.

But some proponents of juju seem to attribute more powers to it than even the Devil has, given the Devil's inability to take away man's freewill. Some claim that juju can force a man do what he would normally be unwilling to do. This is not just possible because it means that juju can take away man's freewill.

@post
anything God does is, everything is created for his pleasure , how will thewhole story be interesting, it is all within and in his Game plan A-Z, why bother ?? as his creation lets just accept his salvation and watch the whole scenario fall into place, no need for that question!!because deep down you can never get the true anwer precicely, any answer by humans can only be hypothetical and does not improve your Christian fath in anyway!!

Whenever the topic of Adam and eve comes up, Freewill is never too far behind. To understand the nature of God and his ways we need to have a better understanding of freewill.

To get a better grasp of freewill, we need to ask ourselves certain questions;

Can man's freewill change the will of God?

Is it possible for man to work against the will of God and succeed?

Can the Devil, Satan or Lucifer change, impede or stop the will of God?

In answering these questions, we must realize that God's supremacy supersedes all else. Nothing ever gets in the way of God's will or his grand design, not even the devil!

You must realize that the day that God's will is not supreme is the day he ceases to be omnipotent, omniscient or omnipresent.

Everything created by God succumbs to his will, always.

Now, on the question of Evil, all those in the know please explain its origin:

1 Samuel 2:6-8

6The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

7The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.

8He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he hath set the world upon them.

1 Samuel 18: 10

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand.

1 Samuel 19: 9

And the evil spirit from the LORD [/b]was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.

[b]Isaiah 45: 5 - 7

5I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

6That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

7I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.



If you can follow my train of thought from the above, hopefully you'll start to make sense of what follows next:

Contrary to the belief of many, we live in a perfect-imperfect world where everything is in balance.

Consider all the professions that exist in the world today, now consider if we lived in this utopia where all is perfect and good, if these same professions would still exist?

The doctor and the health care system in existence would no longer exist, since there would be no illness!

The judicial system, lawyers, police, prison system will no longer exist since there would be no crime!

Governments will cease, since God would be in total control and we would all be perfect self-sufficient law abiding citizens!

Now, if we were all perfect, what need would there be to learn from each other? Do foresee a need for God in such a scenario? We need God because we are sinners! We need God because we are dependent on him!

What follows is my understanding of the story of Adam and Eve:


THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

The dream of every good parent is to see their children prosper and excel and achieve beyond themselves.  The process of making this dream a reality begins with you the parents. What kind of traits you have and exhibit. Your level of spiritual, emotional, and mental development and ultimately God’s will or design for you and what role your linage is ordained to play in the grand scheme of things.
The traits you pass on children are imprinted in your genes/genetic codes, both physically and spiritually. The spiritual part of it is determined by God. He decides whether you will be a good or bad spirit from the start. Invariably, the type of sprit God has made you, informs/directs/shapen who you are and what manner of individual you turn out to be.

Essentially, this earthly situation is a reflection of the heavenly one. God’s will for us as his children, from the start is for us to be like him, which is means God-like.  But one crucial point to remember is that we are gods, because our Father is God. Adam and Eve were the first children of God. They were essentially the first babies to exists, but in adult form. This however made no difference to their level of understanding; they still were babies to all intents and purposes with the reasoning levels of babies at infancy.

Since God’s intention is for man to be like him, he had to set in place /put in motion a situation whereby we can learn to become like him. Becoming like God means having the ability and power to discern good from evil.  The ability to discern good from evil requires having these virtues; tolerance, mercy, compassion, love, long-suffering, humility, kindness etc. The ability to be God-like (telling right from wrong) is what many Christians arrogate to themselves without realizing that no man truly knows the difference between right and wrong, good or bad.

Ecclesiastes 9: 1

For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
The qualities that make God who he is cannot be taught, neither can it be bestowed on anyone, they can however be learnt and acquired over a period of time. A period of time being thousands, if not millions of years!

Adam and Eve being the first children of God did not have the comprehension or capability to know or discern right from wrong.  They were basically toddlers being told by their parent what to do and what not to do.  But as we all know, being part and parcel of God and having trace elements of him within us, we all have a desire, a yearning, a quest for knowledge, understanding and awareness because God himself is Knowledge, Understanding and Awareness.  However, unlike God who is Knowledge, Understanding and Awareness, we crave to know, to understand and be aware.

Hence the only way we can satisfy/quench this void in/within ourselves is to seek fulfilment.  Seeking fulfilment of that which we lack requires experience and the very act of experience which later becomes knowledge, understanding and awareness which also results in wisdom, can usually be good or bad, right or wrong, sweet or sour.

To this end, it starts becoming apparent that Adam and Eve had to fall so as to rise. Their fall was inevitable owing to the fact that their inherent God traits would not permit them to do otherwise. You could very well say God had pre-programmed them to act so. But why punish them if their action is as a result of being created in the image and likeness of God?

Owing to the manner in which God operates, he could not ask, tell or force Adam and Eve to become God-like.  This was a decision they had to “arrive” at themselves. To “arrive” at this decision, Adam and Eve were tormented by the longing and yearning to know, understand and be aware and the conflict of being told this was something they should not do. This is similar to saying a lion cub should not have the innate desire to kill prey for its meal or that a dog will not have the innate desire to eat meat.

The turmoil, conflict and indecision experienced by Adam and Eve, but which overwhelmed Eve more, is what the bible symbolizes as “the serpent, the most subtle of all beasts of the field, made by God” The serpent is used to symbolize indecision because of its “slithering back and forth movement” or in the case of Adam and Eve, should we or shouldn’t we become God-like, should I or shouldn’t I become God-like?

So, in reality God did not punish Adam and Eve, for choosing to become God-like, rather he put in place a process whereby Adam and Eve, and therefore all mankind would be able to learn from experience how to become God-like. And this process by its very nature is bitter and sweet, wrong and right, good and bad, which is synonymous with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the very essence of God.

So, in order to understand this dance of life, you must be aware that because God is a spirit, man also is a spirit and since the spirit of God cannot die, neither can the spirit of God in man die.  The spirit of God in man is an adaptive resilient spirit. Where ever it finds itself it thrives, prospers, grows and regenerates. This is simply why, no matter the trial, tribulation or temptation faced by any man with the spirit of God within him, will always be overcome.

Take for instance the story of Esau and Jacob, their paths in life was already carved out before they were born. The elder was supposed to serve the younger, so why should it be that their mother did wrong by helping Jacob “steal” Esau’s blessings? What kind of hunger could possess a man to sell his birthright for food, when he himself was not crippled or were there no fruits he could have eaten? Why did it happen that their father was also conveniently blind, preventing him from identifying Jacob as the wrong son? Which begs the question how can God be just and fair in light of these occurrences? The answer to these questions will hopefully become clearer as we proceed.

A similar story worthy of mention is that of Job. We are told how Satan came along with the sons of God to pay homage to God. During this visit, God drew Satan’s attention to Job. He sang Job’s praise to the point Satan had to retort haba! Are you not the one protecting him? Comot protection and let us see if he will continue to praise you. God then gave authority to Satan to do whatever he pleased to Job but not take his life. In a nutshell, God gave Satan the authority to destroy all that he owed wealth and family, yet Job remained faithful to God. After a period of time had passed and Satan had exercised him might to no avail, God replaced everything he lost.

The question many would ask is how can God be just if he allowed Satan to kill his family? Many would ask, what could possibly justify such actions? What lesson or lessons can one possibly learn from this occurrence?

Job represents the adaptive resilient spirit of God in man that triumphs through trials, tribulations and temptations and highlights a very crucial point in aspiring to be God-like; you must be tried, proven and tested at every level before you can proceed to the next. At another level, we start to realize that life is a school through which we learn different modules of a subject; we learn about the different aspects of love, compassion, tolerance etc.

In this school we all are the students. God provides all the opportunities we require to learn about the different aspects of a subject and Satan is the Chief examiner who tests our competence at every stage or level before we can proceed to the next, which gives meaning to the phrase, no cross (trials, tribulations & temptation), no crown (the glory of passing each stage of examination).

At another level, we are made aware of the impotence of Satan. The combined visit of the sons of God and Satan at the same time draws attention to the co-existence of good and evil in man, but when a man has a good spirit as the dominant force within him, he is more able and drawn towards good and Satan is powerless against him since God always protects his own.  For a child of God to experience “evil” permission has to be granted by God. Put into proper perspective, what we would call “evil” to God, is a necessary test to prove us worthy children of God.

Contrary to the belief of many, there are two sides to God which also reflects the dual nature of man. We have the inherent ability to either be good or evil, wrong or right, sweet or sour. Good on its own is an extreme form of Evil. Likewise, Evil on its own is also an extreme form of Good. A true balance is only possible with the present of both spirits simultaneously, but only God has the full power, authority and ability to control all spirits since they all emanate from him.

Hence, if we are to become God-like, the requirement is that we learn to balance and effectively utilize the existence of good and evil within us.  To further clarity things, how can anyone possibly appreciate good or evil without the presence of the other to compare or contrast with? How can anyone appreciate good health without the contrast of sickness or ill-health? This is where Ecclesiastes 3: 1 – 8, begins to have better clarification;

1.   To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2.   A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3.   A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4.   A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5.   A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6.   A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7.   A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8.   A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

netsurf:

@ cayon,

sorry to say but that your response was too shallow, even when God created us with choice, He still knew we were going to eat from that tree , it's like He predetermined everything that happened thereafter because He is omniscience, okay.

I think what really happened was that, the account of creation and development of man as contained in the book of Genesis is truncated, incomplete and therefore, not to be relied upon.

I believe there's more to the phenomenon called God and the creation of man as contained in that book of Genesis.

you know the danger of having sex without condom. . . .right? so tell me, why would you choose to wear a condom?

hmmm
i just don't understand why its so hard for us to comprehend a simple direct question and face it rather than diverting to other dimensons.
WHY DID GOD PLANT THAT TREE IN THE GARDEN WHEN HE KNOWS THAT MAN WILL EAT IT?

Answer: Because there is/was no god, no garden of eden, no tree. its a mythical story conjured by our archaic ancestors several centuries ago , as a guide for morals and justice. maybe it worked that time but it can't work now because this is modern times and archaic stuffs cannot fit in. we are wiser now, so lets summon the courage to abandon all these ancient doctrines that does not belong in this our present times.

just think about it, the whole story is totally absurd. An all powerful god plants a tree? a dangeerous tree? hmm?  and then creates a man, and mandated him to back off from the damn tree or he willl be doomed.
As if it was all his game plan, circumstances prompted this his creatures to eat from this dangerous tree and they were doomed forever , including their future generations who do do not have anything to do with the damn apple tree. 

Imagining the whole stuff just freaks me out. We are all wise and reasonable here, lets use our brilliant minds to figure out the absurdity of this whole superstitious origin, before we transcend to a higher level of confusion.
i resst my case