Also, it seems that gaining knowledge from a plant led to the idea that all plant-based knowledge is deemed as evil in the west.
I´ve actually never heard heard of this - nor do I quite understand it, I must admit; biology is bad?
God was afraid that with knowledge mankind would one day rival his power and surpass it.
.... is almost a literal quote.
Did evil even exist before the snake?
Supposedly God created
everything; that would seem to include evil, as indicated by the presence of a Tree of Knowledge (of good and evil, amongst others).
It doesn't matter. The story is an allegorical explanation of why humans are the only animals capable of distinguishing good from evil: we did something bad a long time ago to God and he put the "good & evil" curse on us as a result.
I'm not sure why the details don't really make sense, but I suppose this was probably the best story floating around at the time.. or the most popular one maybe?
According to Plotinus, allegory doesn´t really apply here - though the story is ofcourse a typical example of mythological explanation.
I don't think you can separate the "badness" of the eating of the fruit from God's command not to. The taking of the fruit was done out of hubris, a desire to become like God. The eating seemed to open them up to the possibility of sin, which is generally viewed as a bad thing.
That doesn´t really concur with the story itself though; it was only
after the eating, which was a result of seduction (or temptation), that knowledge of good and bad occurred. Like children don´t realize something is bad until they´re told - and then don´t understand
why something is bad. Also, ofcourse, an all-knowing God must have foreseen this happening. I must say the whole story makes kind of a naive impression. (Like the author couldn´t come up with anything better.)
That's nonsensical. First, because God didn't just create life -- He created the universe. You can begin to talk about humanity beginning to rival God when we create our own stuff to make life out of; until then, we're still relying on God's initial creation. Second, that saying is extra-Biblical and modern, so it's pretty ridiculous to use to interpret a story that's thousands of years old. (Not to mention, it implies nothing of the kind; it's not necessary to the act of creation that you be able to destroy what you have created.)
Actually it literally says that God "feared" man to become his equal if he should have like knowledge as God. But I´d agree that mankind isn´t "on the verge of" creating life - nowhere near, in fact.
That's one (Christian) interpretation, but it's hardly the only one. The Jews originally thought that the snake was just that -- a snake -- and the idea of Lucifer was a later addition or interpolation.
Yes, why would a snake be anything but a snake? Well, for one it symbolizes temptation; when presented with the apple, man sees no harm (or difference) in eating this fruit or any other.
Man was created to serve God.
That´s not really in Genesis though; as an interpretation it hardly relates to it in fact. All that Genesis says is that God
created man and gave man the earth to rule over.
That is not the only instance of God appearing jealous of man, for instance, Genesis 11:5-7:
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
Indeed. God shows instances of negative emotions, such as anger and jealousy. (Not to mention vengefulness.)
...
Anyway, we do have an
Ask A Theologian thread and this seems like a perfect subject for it (if indeed it hasn´t been answered).
Im terribly dumb
