Why did God put the tree of knowledge in the garden of eden if he did not want Adam and Eve to eat from it?

Answer 1

God didn't want Adam and Eve to eat from the tree, but He wanted to give them the freedom to choose. It is much like today, where we have the freedom to make good and bad choices. We are free to choose whichever we please, but there are consequences for each choice, and God wants us to choose the right one.

Answer 2

To test them. From Genesis to Revelation God is building a nation of people who willingly and whole heartedly forsake every other offer and chose to serve him.

ANSWER

It appears God wanted to test his disobedient creation on its obediency. Although it says Adam & Eve were created perfect, so it seems God must be the one who is flawed.

Answer 3

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Genesis says that there were two forbidden trees in the Garden of Eden - the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life. To eat the fruit of the first was to become like one of the gods and to know good and evil (Genesis 3:22). To eat the fruit of the other was to become immortal.

Genesis does not say why God placed the two strange trees in the Garden of Eden, but it is instructive that the same two trees featured in many of the ancient Near Eastern creation stories. Leon R. Kass (The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis) says that we should not think of the Garden of Eden as a historical and blissful existence we once enjoyed but lost, but can learn most from the story by regarding it as a mythical portrait of permanent truths about our own humanity. There was no Garden of Eden, and God did not really place the two trees there.

Answer 4

He didn't.

In Genesis we read that he made the Tree of the Knowledgeof Good and Evil (something VERY different) and placed it in the Garden of Eden.

You have to realise that part of Genesis is not an historical account but was written originally as an allegorical poem. In the original Hebrew the poetry is obvious, but in an English translation this is lost - leading to all sorts of misconceptions made by those who insist on reading Genesis literally.

The question arises - if God is a God of love, why 'place' this 'tree' in the garden in the first place? To tempt Adam? No - for the devil is the tempter, not God. To trip up Adam and catch him out? Hardly - for that is not the deed of a God of love.

There must be a real reaon, and a loving reason why it was there. And that is because of God's love. Before the knowledge of good and evil, Adam had no free will. He was made in the image of God, but without any ability to love his creator because he chose to, but because he had to. And compelling someone to love someone else isn't true love.

So I believe that the Tree was all part of God's plan. The truth behind this poem is that as humans we are all given free will. Free will is essential if we are to chose to love God because we want to, and that sort of love is true love.

Of course, the downside of this plan is that we are mortal and die. But God realised that free will is important enough to pay this price. But he didn't leave us like that - in the plan was also our own salvation - through Jesus Christ - for all those who choose the way of love over the way of hatred.

So this 'Tree' was all part of God's plan for the human race - to give us free will to love him if we wished, in return for the unconditional love he gives us, but also to be part of the great plan for our own salvation in Jesus Christ.

Answer

The real question behind this is "Why did God permit the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to actually exist?" and the non-theological answer is: "Give a person enough rope and they'll hang themselves" . With free-will, a person's true nature is revealed, those who see themselves as good with no need to be saved, and those who see themselves as needing a Saviour to save themselves from [the evil] one.

Answer 5

It is properly called (in The Bible) "the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil", and all but the most fundamental theologians today accept it as an allegory for free will: one of God's greatest gifts to man. God so loved man, he allowed him to choose God - or something else - if he desired. When man does not choose God, misery follows. But God does not require man to choose him. Thomas Aquinas wrote extensively on the theological aspects of Free Will.

Answer

He didn't.

In Genesis we read that he made the Tree of the Knowledgeof Good and Evil (something VERY different) and placed it in the Garden of Eden.

You have to realise that part of Genesis is not an historical account but was written originally as an allegorical poem. In the original Hebrew the poetry is obvious, but in an English translation this is lost - leading to all sorts of misconceptions made by those who insist on reading Genesis literally.

The question arises - if God is a God of love, why 'place' this 'tree' in the garden in the first place? To tempt Adam? No - for the devil is the tempter, not God. To trip up Adam and catch him out? Hardly - for that is not the deed of a God of love.

There must be a real reaon, and a loving reason why it was there. And that is because of God's love. Before the knowledge of good and evil, Adam had no free will. He was made in the image of God, but without any ability to love his creator because he chose to, but because he had to. And complling someone to love someone else isn't true love.

So I believe that the Tree was all part of God's plan. The truth behind this poem is that as humans we are all given free will. Free will is essential if we are to chose to love God because we want to, and that sort of love is true love.

Of course, the downside of this plan is that we are mortal and die. But God realised that free will is important enough to pay this price. But he didn't leave us like that - in the plan was also our own salvation - through Jesus Christ - for all those who choose the way of love over the way of hatred.

So this 'Tree' was all part of God's plan for the human race - to give us free will to love him if we wished, in return for the unconditional love he gives us, but also to be part of the great plan fr our own salvation in Jesus Christ.

Additionally:

And... in so choosing -- CHARACTER is built; our unique, individual personalities [good or bad] that result from those choices.

Answer 6

To test them.