This question was posted by a friend of mine.
God created man in his own image. He saw that man was alone, and He was never alone, since He is Almighty, Spirit and Flesh. God never wished for his people to be alone or separate from him, but sin existed BEFORE Adam and Eve, as evidenced by satan’s (lucifer) fall from grace. God took woman out of man’s body in order that he should have a companion and since she was a part of him was one with Him, since they were created in God's image.
God created ALL things, INCLUDING free will. It is not good or perfect for God to create beings with no choice but to love them and obey them. If ever there was an experiment conducted by God, it was creating free will, not giving loving instruction to his children and hoping they chose rightly. If they didn’t have free will to choose to obey or to love him, why would he have had to give them instructions on what tree not to eat from? As parents, do we not tell our children what we want them to do for their own good, knowing already that they will disobey? But we still tell them because we love them, and we want them to learn from the mistakes we already know they are going to make?
It is important also to note that there are TWO specific trees mentioned in the Garden of Eden, only one from which he forbade them to eat. One is the Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil, and the other is the Tree Of Life. My father in law (Pastor Dave Williamson) explained it to me further: The Tree Of Life is the spiritual choice. If they had chosen to eat from it by relying on their faith and CHOOSING to turn away from the temptation of lucifer and also the temptation of their own five senses (the flesh), God says that they would live in innocence and paradise forever (which we who accept Christ still will). The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil cannot be described as simply the Tree of knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is LITERALLY the tree that first revealed to Adam and Eve, by their CHOICE, the very EXISTENCE of good and evil. The Tree Of Life is Christ. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the LAW. Without the Tree of Life (Christ) Humans are bound by the LAW (the knowledge of good and evil), and the law can only condemn. Christ and Christ alone can only redeem. So, really God did know that his people would disobey, but to say that he tricked or manipulated them into making the wrong choice is contrary to the very nature of God. Temptation came from satan’s temptation and the temptation of their senses (they saw that it was good for food), and then satan’s temptation of Adam THROUGH Eve, whom he had already attacked (meaning you can’t put all the blame off on Eve :). The choice was always theirs, even from the very BEGINNING. :)
God created man in his own image. He saw that man was alone, and He was never alone, since He is Almighty, Spirit and Flesh. God never wished for his people to be alone or separate from him, but sin existed BEFORE Adam and Eve, as evidenced by satan’s (lucifer) fall from grace. God took woman out of man’s body in order that he should have a companion and since she was a part of him was one with Him, since they were created in God's image.
God created ALL things, INCLUDING free will. It is not good or perfect for God to create beings with no choice but to love them and obey them. If ever there was an experiment conducted by God, it was creating free will, not giving loving instruction to his children and hoping they chose rightly. If they didn’t have free will to choose to obey or to love him, why would he have had to give them instructions on what tree not to eat from? As parents, do we not tell our children what we want them to do for their own good, knowing already that they will disobey? But we still tell them because we love them, and we want them to learn from the mistakes we already know they are going to make?
It is important also to note that there are TWO specific trees mentioned in the Garden of Eden, only one from which he forbade them to eat. One is the Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil, and the other is the Tree Of Life. My father in law (Pastor Dave Williamson) explained it to me further: The Tree Of Life is the spiritual choice. If they had chosen to eat from it by relying on their faith and CHOOSING to turn away from the temptation of lucifer and also the temptation of their own five senses (the flesh), God says that they would live in innocence and paradise forever (which we who accept Christ still will). The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil cannot be described as simply the Tree of knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is LITERALLY the tree that first revealed to Adam and Eve, by their CHOICE, the very EXISTENCE of good and evil. The Tree Of Life is Christ. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the LAW. Without the Tree of Life (Christ) Humans are bound by the LAW (the knowledge of good and evil), and the law can only condemn. Christ and Christ alone can only redeem. So, really God did know that his people would disobey, but to say that he tricked or manipulated them into making the wrong choice is contrary to the very nature of God. Temptation came from satan’s temptation and the temptation of their senses (they saw that it was good for food), and then satan’s temptation of Adam THROUGH Eve, whom he had already attacked (meaning you can’t put all the blame off on Eve :). The choice was always theirs, even from the very BEGINNING. :)
