The backbone of the most prominent religions today — rooted in arrogance.
There Was No “Sin”
Adam and Eve were not “punished” for “disobeying” God.
Adam and Eve were creations of God, of his numerous creations. That which is created is fundamentally incapable of fathoming the powers of the Creator. That which is created is, by nature, on a separate plane of existence from its Creator. The “metaphysics” of the world in which the created can perceive are therefore different from that of the Creator.
A World Created
Goku (Dragon Ball) exists in a universe. He has parents, a wife, children, friends, family, aspirations, desires, needs, fears, etc… Despite this, Goku is a creation of Akira Toriyama. Goku has “god-like” powers in his universe that were granted by his Creator, Akira Toriyama. Goku has “god-like” powers, bestowed upon him by his Creator, Akira Toriyama, and is yet, a fictional character that does not exist outside of his universe.
This universe exists in many forms: text, illustration, animation. But most importantly, it exists in our minds. Absent text, illustration, or animation, the existence of the Dragon Ball universe persists in our minds. So much so, that individuals create theories, alternative timelines, and past/future realities of the Dragon Ball universe which may then be replicated in text, illustration or animation.
In the Dragon Ball universe, there are rules, laws, and powers that don’t necessarily exist in our own world, at least to most people. You likely do not know of anyone who has become a Super Saiyan and as far as we know, it doesn’t actually exist. Despite it essentially not being a “real” thing, we all acknowledge that there are “rules” and “abilities” and “weaknesses” associated with becoming a Super Saiyan. We “know” that strong emotion is the key to becoming a Super Saiyan. Most of us have had strong emotional moments, yet none of our hair turns spiky blond and eyes turn blue!
The Error of “Disobeyal”
That which is created cannot disobey its Creator. Goku cannot “disobey” Akira Toriyama. In fact, Goku cannot DO anything that Akira Toriyama does not want him to do.
Unless, of course, there are beings that the Creator is also beholden to.
Unless, of course, there are multiple Creators.
If that is the case, any perceived contradiction of God’s actions are no longer valid. In that scenario, our existence is simply a story written by more than one Creator with possibly different “opinions” on how things should go.
Even if that is not the case, God’s actions toward Adam and Eve can, in no way, be perceived as “punishment.” Punishing implies that an action was taken that caused harm; whether physical, emotional or spiritual.
Adam and Eve’s actions literally could not have harmed God as all of their existence is according to God’s will AND God is unfathomably more powerful than they are. God doesn’t even imply that eating the fruit would harm anything else, either. Therefore, there is no “wrong-doing” happening in Genesis.
Stick to the Text
Upon eating the fruit, Adam and Eve did not commit “evil.” They didn’t destroy Eden, they didn’t insult God. They literally just became self-conscious and started FEARING God.
God warned Adam that he would “die” if the fruit was eaten. Upon eating the fruit, they didn’t immediately “die.” Therefore, did God lie to Adam?
Whether or not God “knew” the fruit would be eaten via temptation from the Serpent or another Creator is impossible to know.
What we do “know” is that upon eating the fruit, Adam and Eve, whose eyes were “closed” and didn’t have knowledge of “good and evil” did “die.” The death may not have been a physical one, but a spiritual one. No longer were they simply beings formed from the dust and the rib to till and keep the land. No longer were they simply beings who were “naked and not ashamed.”
A Logistical Nightmare
Adam and Eve were now beings who decided for themselves what was “best.” They were beings who obtained the knowledge of the gods and were thus, god-like. No longer were they capable of tilling and keeping the land and remaining fully surrendered to God. They “forgot” that they are simply creations of God and were never designed to be able to fathom the world around them. Not only are they now “powerless” beings in a world they don’t understand, they also no longer trust that God knows best. No longer were they able to exist naked without feeling shame, despite never being told by God that nakedness is shameful. They created their own rules.
Now, they “can” question God. Because they are simply creations who’ve obtained god-like knowledge, they no longer “know their place.” Their existence and the knowledge they came to possess were incredibly disproportionate to the extent that they cannot just accept the existence of themselves and that around them without question.
They had become “children.” They could no longer be content with the world as it was presented to them. They now possess incredible potential to grow and learn, but lack the body and full-scope of wisdom/knowledge to navigate existence without guidance. They see the actions of their “Parent”, God, and wonder why their “Parent” does what they do. Further, they seek to rebel in order to find truth for themselves and question why they are incapable of doing what their Parent does.
Essentially, humanity went from infancy to adolescence in mere seconds as a result of eating the fruit.
The question now becomes, if you were a parent and this was your child, what could you do? How do you raise a child appropriately whose body was formed of dust a little while ago, but now suddenly has god-like knowledge and self-awareness.
Perhaps, you let them out into the world and allow them to learn their own lessons while occasionally dropping by to give guidance?
It’s Not About the Fruit
The fruit is largely inconsequential to the story. Adam and Eve did not “do” anything upon consuming the fruit. The only thing that happened was they became self-conscious and started to fear God.
Consumption of the fruit was never stated to have any other effect on literally anything other than the death of Adam.
Literally the only reason Adam and Eve would have to not eat the fruit is the fear of their death. But it raises the question: what does death even mean to them? Beings created from nothing tilling land surrounded by, presumably, God and other god-like beings and also plants and animals.
We fear death because we do not know what is on the other side of it. We do not know if we will go to heaven or hell. We do not want to leave our loved ones behind, nor do we want to be left behind.
Why would Adam and Eve fear death? Would they miss tilling the land? Being with the animals? Being around God, or their god-like neighbors?
Much like a child warned to not touch a hot stove, the warning itself means absolutely nothing. Why would a child who has never been burned fear being burned? Fire looks cool, why would you not want to touch it? The fruit of the tree not only looked good, but it also came with a cool upgrade!
Whether or not it actually tasted good or the knowledge would be valuable was totally irrelevant. The simple fact was that God created beings capable of curiosity and for that reason alone, Adam and Eve would never have been able to “just chill” in Eden forever.
They probably didn’t even need the Serpent to convince them. They barely put up an argument. The Serpent didn’t create a convincing argument at all, it just told them that God was lying and they would be perfectly fine. And that’s all it took! Before even consuming the fruit and gaining “knowledge,” Adam and Eve had to have already been comfortable with the idea that “we’re not going to listen to this guy forever.”
It speaks volumes that the Serpent would even think to tempt Adam and Eve and that they would actually listen to him over God. That alone implies disobedience was already brimming and just waiting for an excuse.
Do You Think You Know Better than God?
Unless you believe God is a fool, it is incredibly obvious that this was God’s plan.
Unless you believe God is a fool, there is no logical way Adam and Eve “disobeyed” God and were punished, and likely neither was the Serpent.
To imply that any of these events could’ve occurred inconsistent with God’s will is deeply blasphemous. To believe that Adam and Eve committed “wrong-doing” or “evil” is to believe that God created beings that were capable of acting outside of God’s will.
The fact that the belief in the “original sin” is so persistent is absolute proof that humanity does not belong in the Garden of Eden. Humans cannot enjoy paradise because humans question the fundamental nature of paradise.
And it is as God has willed.
– Virg
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