God Almighty (Part 2): In the Garden of Eden

We all (pretty much) know the story of the Garden of Eden: God creates man and woman, and thrusts them into paradise. He lets them do as they please, except for one rule: Do not eat from the Tree of Knowledge*A*. They abide by this rule for awhile, and then are tempted by the serpent to break it. They do so, and God casts them out of paradise to suffer and toil, to have their knowledge kill them*B*.

Simple Enough.

But God is all powerful, isn't He? Doesn't the bible also make Him out to be omnipresent and otherwise omniscient? This brings to mind several very pressing questions:

Why did God put the tree of the knowledge in the Garden of Eden? Why did God allow the serpent into the garden? How did the serpent have the knowledge of good and evil? Why did God make no effort to stop the serpent from tempting us? Once we had eaten of its fruit, if he truly loved us and wanted us to be happy, why did he not just simply strip us of the knowledge and remove the tree so we could remain in the garden?

Two possible answers spring to mind:

1: God's a Dick. (Not very likely, unless you're religious)

2: God wanted us to eat of the tree.

He put the tree in the garden because he knew we would eat of it. He allowed the serpent*C* into the garden to tempt us, because he knew we would take the bait. Why? Because the unexamined life is not worth living. Would you choose a life of ignorant bliss over knowledge? It's easy to say you would, but in the end, it's the ability to fall and learn from the fall that gives life value. Imagine day in and day out the same thing over and over again. What kind of life is that, with no struggle, and with no worthwhile triumph over it?

On top of that, God gave us one of the most worthwhile gifts: the ability to choose for ourselves. Once we consumed the fruit, we were given a *very* strange option: the ability to turn from loving God. Now that we have the knowledge, we can choose to throw Him away if we so choose. This makes our love of Him worthwhile. We are not mindless robots loving him because we are told, we love him because we choose to.

When you look at it from the perspective of God being all powerful, the Garden of Eden story stops being a story of God booting us to the curb because we were bad, and starts being a story of a creator's true love for His creation: To let us go, to let us suffer and grow from that suffering all on our own, and to bring joy to the Lord because when we love him, it's because we choose to, and that is meaningful, and not just blind, love.

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Subplot *A*
The Knowledge of Good and Evil:
What defines a sin? In the simplest of terms, it's defiance of the will of God. To do other than what God would want you to, is a Sin. Eating of the fruit gave us knowledge that there was a way that was other than what God feels is best for us.

Subplot *B*
If you eat of the tree, you shall surely die:
God tells Adam and Eve that eating of the tree will cause them to die. What does this mean? It means once they eat of the tree, a meaningful existence can occur. They now have choices. They can progress in their life, which has truly begun, now that they have knowledge. Now they are not mindless shells. Now that it has a beginning, it will have an end too.

Subplot *C*
The Serpent in the Garden:
The serpent, Ha-Satan, or even the devil have one thing in common:
But what is it? More in part three!