Not a debate forum.
For those of you who are christians and believe in a literal interpetation of Adam and Eve...how could Adam and Eve know the serpent was lying? If they had no knowledge of good and evil until they ate the fruit how could they know that? Like they couldn't have known it was wrong to listen to the serpent if they didn't know good and evil?
Exactly - that is a very important thing to point out.
Without Knowledge of Good and Evil they were incapable of committing sin - but because they still had free will - they were capable of transgressing the commands given them by God.
The Genesis account records two possible levels of protection against condemnation extended to Eve when she partook of the fruit,
First - the record claims that the commandment to not partake of the fruit was given to Adam before Eve was formed - and it does not record God repeating Himself.
And it is apparent from her interaction with the serpent that Adam was the one who informed Eve about the commandment and that he even embellished upon it.
Because when the serpent asked Eve if she could eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil - she claimed that she could not even touch it lest she die - which is not what God told Adam.
Then later - after she had become convinced to partake of it - the record claims that she saw that the fruit was good for fruit - implying that up until that point she had not yet even looked at the fruit.
So - it becomes clear at least to me - that after Adam and Eve were married by God - Adam explained the commandment to her and told her that she would die if she were to even touch it and that she should refrain from even looking at it.
Why is this important?
She did not have a first-hand knowledge that that commandment came from God - she was only following that command based on her faith and trust in Adam.
This doubt is like a buffer - because if she had a perfect knowledge that the command came from God - she would have had no defense - no case to plead for mercy.
Second - she lacked a Knowledge of Good and Evil - she had no ability to detect deception - or to even comprehend such a concept.
So she acted - not in rebellion - but based on a desire to acquire wisdom - to become more like God - which is an admirable goal.
So it was her motivation - to be more like God - that also protects her from condemnation.
Adam - on the other hand - was not deceived - which implies to me that the serpent had most likely tried to entice him first.
Now - just like Eve - Adam also did not possess Knowledge of Good and Evil - so how did he avoid deception?
Simple - by hearing both the commandment to not partake and the consequence he would suffer if he were to partake straight from God - there was no room for doubt.
Unlike Eve - Adam
knew - no matter what anyone or anything said - that he would die if he partook of the fruit - because he heard it straight from God and God could not lie.
However - he decided to partake of the fruit because he had a desire to keep God's other commandment - to procreate - and that required his remaining with Eve.
So - even though he knew that his partaking of the fruit would lead to his death - and possibly even the subsequent deaths of all his descendants - he desired to remained faithful to God's other commandment.
It's a good thing that God gave them both of those commandments - because without the second one - would Adam have decided to partake and leave with Eve or would he have decided to stay alone in the Garden?
Either way - I am so grateful that Eve was insightful enough to look passed the letter of the Law - and reach for wisdom - because it has started Mankind on the path to eternal joy and life.
And I am grateful to Adam for his willingness to sacrifice his own life so that we could have the opportunity to exist in this world and work out our salvation.
I believe that all of this was according to God's Plan.