I've come up with another scenario recently that is along the same lines...
God is supposed to be the originator of EVERYTHING in existence, which means He is also the originator of sin. Almost all sins have are rooted in
pride or greed.
Of all of God's creations (before man), Lucifer was one of God's favorites. But he was filled with pride and tried to hijack God's throne.
That pride has to have come from God when he created the angels, yet He is said to have been greatly saddened when Lucifer rebelled and had to be
kicked out. This implies that He didn't expect it.
After Lucifer was banished from Heaven, Earth was created. Lucifer decided if he couldn't rule over Heaven, he'd take command over Earth.
What if creating life started off as trial and error?
What if, God didn't realize when he made the angels, that his own pride would become a part of their character?
God had to be proud in order to create innumerable angels for the sole purpose of worshiping him. This wasn't a weakness in Him, but in less
powerful beings, it was overwhelming.
God, inadvertently, enabled the rebellion to occur, and was very disappointed in His lack of forethought about this potential risk. He, then,
decided to try again by making man in his own image, only this time He knew what would happen if His pride infected a lesser being.
He couldn't create a living soul in his image without also transferring The Essence of Pride, but since He was creating an environment in which
Adam could live, He had the option of diverting the potentially hazardous character trait into a substituted life-form within the Garden. "Pride"
didn't have go into the soul He was making, as long as it was contained within the same physical environment, in which that soul resided. Hence,
He created the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil and infused it with the pride that would have infected Adam. Thus keeping Adam free from pride,
provided he didn't ingest the "poisoned apple". He warned Adam if he ate anything off of the tree, that the pure, perfect friendship they shared
would die and Adam would be separated from God indefinitely.
Unfortunately, since God was the One Who had to create the tree, it was perfect. Since it was the only tree infused with a part of His own
Personal Essence, it surpassed all of the other trees in beauty. This only added to the temptation to sample the forbidden fruit.
God had told Adam about the dangers of the tree, and Adam was supposed to convey the seriousness of it to Eve. Neither of them had a concept of
what sin or evil was, since they were still pure beings.
When Eve was confronted by the "Serpent", she couldn't have comprehended that he had evil intentions. She also wouldn't have been acting out
of pride, but rather, curiosity when told that the Tree would show her the wisdom and knowledge that God possessed. While, granted, the correct
thing to do would have been to consider how much she trusted God and how little she knew about the serpent (which would make choosing the serpent's
story over God's irrational), she was thinking with the simple, impulsive mind of a Child. She wouldn't have known that there was a creature in
God's Garden that was dishonest.
Adam should have been slightly more inclined to think about things first, but he was, nonetheless, naive and unfamiliar with deceit. How could
Eve have portrayed the fruit as a risk or possible trick, when she didn't know what those concepts even were? Of course, after they had both
succumbed to temptation, they were endowed with a sense of knowledge and confusion, right and wrong, morals and immorality. This is why they felt
naked and ashamed.
Before the fruit, they would have been essentially the same as any other creature in the garden. Incapable of malice, greed, or pride for selfish
purposes. They would have been able to make decisions regarding their immediate needs or desires, but would have had no reason to seek life's
purpose, since God was always near-by if they were curious about something.
Anyways, we all know the story from here on out...
I came up with this one day when I was trying to understand why God would put that damned tree in the Garden, knowing full well we would be condemned
to a life of misery and pain. It always seemed like a cruel joke to me. This is only an abstract theory. I haven't yet gone through it all, to see
what contradictions may be present. Feel free to expand on my idea or question it, as you deem necessary. That's what ideas are for.
[Edited on 4-9-2003 by jezebel]
[Edited on 4-9-2003 by jezebel]
[Edited on 4-9-2003 by jezebel]