Nathan Toronga Christian Elder.

Hi Bobby. 

Yours is an interesting and probing question. 

These issues are all intertwined:

A. The rebellion in heaven. Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:11-18.

B. The creation of Adam. Genesis 1:27.

C. The tree of knowledge. Genesis 2:9

D. The casting of satan to earth and not anywhere else. Revelation 12:9

E. The substitutionary death of the Messiah before time began. Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8

F. The creation of time. Genesis 1:3-5

G. The end of time. Revelation 21:23-25.

H. The fact that Adam was created a mortal. Genesis 2:7 (see also Genesis 3:19.....until you return to the ground, SINCE FROM IT YOU WERE TAKEN, for dust you are, and to dust you will return). The reason for returning to the ground was NOT sin; rather, it was because we came from dust.

I. The purposed change to immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:50-54. From verse 50, we can know that Adam could never have inherited the Kingdom of God.

J. The immutability of the Law of God. Revelation 11:19; Revelation 15:5.

In short, the story of Adam eating the forbidden fruit cannot be understood in isolation. It's part of a bigger story.

You may want to read my post under 'Why did God create us'.

Blessed is he who does not take offence with the truth.

Bless.

December 26 2013 • 4 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Rotimi EWEDEMI Very keen Bible Researcher

The simple straight forward answer to the question is that you, along with other humans, would have been happy undying inhabitants of the earth. It was Adam's disobedience that brought death, sickness, sorrow, bad government etc to the world. 

"And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:15-17AMP),

"But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity" (Genesis 3:4-5AMP). 

And to Adam He said, Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you eat [of the fruits] of it all the days of your life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return (Genesis 3:17 - 3:19 AMP).

The tree of life, which was not forbidden by God, was planted so that Adam would eventually eat of it and live for ever. Unfortunately, he was misled by the wicked one to eat of the forbidden fruit before he qualified, so to say, to eat of the tree of life. "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us [the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit], to know [how to distinguish between] good and evil and blessing and calamity; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever-- Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So [God] drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden the cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep and guard the way to the tree of life"(Genesis 3:22-24) AMP).

God, in his infinite mercy, provided a way of escape for Adams children who obey him, as indicated in Gen 3:15; 22:18; John 3:16; 17:3.

Due to the redemption work of Jesus, the current situation of mankind will be reversed, as promised in the Bible:

"Cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not yourself--it tends only to evildoing. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait and hope and look for the Lord [in the end] shall inherit the earth" (Psalm 37:8 AMP).

"For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the men of integrity, blameless and complete [in God’s sight], shall remain in it; But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the treacherous shall be rooted out of it"(Proverbs 2:21-22) AMP)

Then I heard a mighty voice from the throne and I perceived its distinct words, saying, See! The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away (Revelation 21:3 - 21:4 AMP).

The curse placed on the eart would be removed. Man was sent out of God's presence in Eden; but God would draw near to us as promised in Rev 21:3-4, and then those who qualify will live for ever under the rulership of Jesus Christ as king of the kingdom and head of Government. 

This is the good news that Jesus directed his followers to brodcast to the world:.And this good news of the kingdom (the Gospel) will be preached in all the earth....and then the end will come

January 01 2014 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Ezekiel Kimosop - Pastor & Bible Scholar

What would happen if Adam did not eat the fruit offered to him by Eve?

There are a two implications to this question.
First, God could have in his infinite wisdom created another woman from the rib of Adam as he did earlier with Eve. This reasoning can be pegged on God’s nature as a gracious God. He permitted Moses to go back to the mountain to have a new tablet after he broke the first one in anger. There is a catch here however. Under the federal headship theology, Adam was overly responsible for his wife of whom he was head and her disobedience implies that he too shared in the guilt because he allowed his wife to stray into unguarded territory without his knowledge of what she was doing. The fact the he also ate the fruit was a second offense.

If this theology is introduced into our argument then Adam was still fallible on this basis.
The second supposition is to assume that God finds Eve exclusively guilty of the sin and he charges her and the snake and both are expelled leaving, Adam alone in the garden. Since God intended that the first couple should multiply and exploit the resources that God had placed at their disposal, it may then be fair to assume that God, who is not being limited by anything, would under his unsearchable divine wisdom either create another woman from the man (another surgery on Adam!) or bring about his own solution which is outside our limited human comprehension.

I believe that God is a just God and would render his justice fairly and objectively giving regard to the gravity of the disobedience according to his own exclusive divine authority. Looking at the judgment process in Gen 3:14-19, we notice that God dispensed justice in a systematic manner. First upon the serpent whom the Hebrew Bible refers to as Nakhash. This was a snake not Satan as many have imagined. Of course Satan the fallen angel must have inhabited him at that hour because he is the father of disobedience and lies. He was on feet before his fall and the judgment is decisive. His enmity with the woman and her seed will be generational until the coming of Christ, the perfect seed from God who put an end to the enmity by making a crushing defeat of Satan. The next judgment was upon the woman and finally Adam himself was punished and the first couple was expelled from the Garden (Gen 3:22-24). 

Both Adam and Eve were warned not to partake of the fruit in the midst of the garden and both disobeyed in their own ways. It is logical to argue that Eve would have been punished and Adam would have retained his immortality. How God would have proceeded to provide for human procreation is a matter that rests in his divine wisdom not ours. 
By the way the Hebrew Scripture (looking at the WTT) alludes to a single tree and not two as modern translations suggest. There was also one large broad leaf from a tree that covered both Adam and Eve. We have often been made to believe that there were pieces of leaves that they used to cover their nakedness. These trees were therefore very large trees which perhaps were never replicated after the Noah flood. The conditions for human radically worsened after the flood such that people lived much fewer years compared to the Noah and pre-Noah generation. Some have suggested that the rains emptied up the water above the sky and permitted ultra violet rays into the earth and this has seriously continued to impair the condition and quality of human life as well as plant and animal life.

February 25 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report