What does the story of the Fall teach us about God?

Answer 1

A:

The story of Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, read literally, shows God to be capricious since he would have realised that by placing the tree in the Garden they would sooner or later eat its fruit and he would then exact terrible retribution. Gods response when he saw that Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit is very instructive: ""now the man is become like one of us" (Genesis 3:22). By this, God was referring to others who were also like himself and were his equals. This reflects the polytheistic beginnings of the Hebrew religion, which has since established by Archaeology.

The Christian view that this was the Fall of man, condemning all to hell because of this 'original sin', goes further and shows God as being eternally vindictive, punishing all generations in perpetuity for an infringement that (apart from Adam and Eve becoming god-like) did no harm, committed by just two people. That the mere act of baptism (even infant baptism) removes this sin according to Christian teaching, is an anachronism that shows little genuine commitment by God to this terrible punishment.