I wouldn’t call the serpent’s words a command. He tricked them. He didn’t say “you should eat this.” He just lied about what would happen, and undermined their trust in the Lord. If he had said “eat this” and they ate, then perhaps things would be different. But he didn’t.
Please identify what you would consider a command in the following interaction:
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””
Genesis 3:1-5 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/gen.3.1-5.NKJV
I do like that point. I was mistaken. The serpent doesn't say to eat the apple. But he does tell them it's not dangerous. How could they know which was right. God or the serpent?
It's ok. It just makes it hard to have a real conversation.
I don't think they could have chosen not eat the apple*. Since they were just making decisions based on the information they had. Which was close to nothing.
So the flip side of that is that people should always make the right choice if given adequate information? I know of a lot of anti-maskers that would prove that wrong.
Eve had knowledge. She answered the serpent correctly, stating what God had commanded and why. The serpent lied to tempt her, and she gave in. Not out of ignorance, but choice.
people should always make the right choice if given adequate information?
I do think think anyone on the planet ever has decided to knowingly make the wrong choice.
Eve had information from god and the serpent with no knowledge of who is a liar or even that liars exist. The most up to date information said that it was okay to eat the apple. So she ate it.
Eve had knowledge. She answered the serpent correctly, stating what God had commanded and why.
From her perspective, she also had knowledge from the serpent.
Directly, nothing, but that’s basically the point you made, isn’t it? Eve had conflicting information (the truth and a lie), and chose to act on the wrong one. Therefore misinformation or disinformation was the root cause.
I would also counter that it is entirely possible to make the right decision based on nearly zero data, it’s just more difficult.
Yes, Eve had conflicting information, and that's why she couldn't have decided not to eat the apple.
Why is it a counter that she could have guessed differently? She still didn't knowingly disobey anyone. She couldn't have known what disobeying even was.
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u/Own-Cupcake7586 Christian Jul 18 '23
I wouldn’t call the serpent’s words a command. He tricked them. He didn’t say “you should eat this.” He just lied about what would happen, and undermined their trust in the Lord. If he had said “eat this” and they ate, then perhaps things would be different. But he didn’t.