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Can it be said that God deprived Adam and Eve from their freedom by prohibiting them to eat form the fruit of the tree of knowledge? After reading Genesis, one of the lessons we obtain is that of the two stories of creation. Even though the stories seem to be extremely alike, a contradiction is seen between both. Many colloquial believes and concerns are derived from these two stories. It is still in the present day that human beings are enlightened with meanings and explanation of these stories.
Now, the fact that the stories are contradictory causes conflict in some peoples minds and therefore non-believers do exist. The explanation that God created the world in seven days is narrated in the first story. God made a lot of accomplishments in these seven days. He created light and separated it from the darkness to establish day and night. He created sea and land, which he called earth. Within this earth He created all the vegetation and living creatures.
His last creation was the human being, both male and female, which He created by his own image. He gave them the power of dominion over all the living creatures on the earth and gave them all the trees and vegetation as alimentation source. All of Gods creations were done in six days except the human being, which he created it the seventh day making it holly since it was on that day that He rested from all his work. Genesis explains how God formed man out of the clay of the ground and made him into a human being in the second story of creation. Afterwards, He planted a garden in Eden in which the man He created was going to live in. Inside this garden, God planted what is called the tree of life in the middle and also planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
This part of the story is a highlight that needs to be taken in mind in order to obtain the true meaning of the story. At this point, God realized that the man needed a companion so that he was not alone. Out of the mans flesh, He created the woman. God had given the man orders that he was to take care of the Garden of Eden and that he could eat from any tree except from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. These orders were given to him before He created the woman out of his flesh.
Many people would say that at this point God had already deprived Adam and Eve from their freedom by giving him orders and telling him what to do. One of Gods creatures, the snake, addresses Eve and asks her why did God prohibit them from eating from the trees of the garden. Then, Eve clarifies that He only prohibited them to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The snake then tells Eve that the only reason that God did not want them to eat from that tree was because He knew that once they ate from it, they would open their eyes and were going to be able to determine what is good and what is evil just like gods. After saying this, Eve decided to take some fruits from the tree and gave some to her husband. After eating from it, they both realized they were naked and at this point, the reader can conclude that now they had their eyes open and now they could determine what is good and what is evil.
How can freedom be deprived? Well, freedom has many meanings. It is definitely not to do whatever one wants to do. Freedom, in this context, can be defined as the liberty human beings have to choose their own path towards the unknown end of their lives. There are some believes such as pre-destination that contradicts this meaning of freedom. People who believe that God already plans their lives do not have a sense of humanism.
The only people whose lives are planned are characters in a book, movie, or play. Are we fiction then? People who believe in pre-destination surely do believe we are. Others choose to believe that human beings choose who they are, their way of life and how are they going to end up being.
Well, the second belief could be taken into consideration, but the first one and the last one certainly not. First of all, God brought us into this world, which means He has control over us. At the moment of our creation He gave us certain traits and characteristics meaning that we do not choose who we want to be. How are we going to end up being is unpredictable. Nevertheless, it is impossible that one can choose how its end is going to be. For example, if someone struggles because its determination is set on ending his life being married and unfortunately that person has a car accident and cannot accomplish his goal, how can he could of once said that he could choose the closure of his life?
Having all this read, the question of whether God deprived Adam and Eve from their freedom comes into controversy. It is true that God restricted Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but do not we have restrictions in our daily life such as laws? The government allows us to be free and choose to do what we think is right as long as those decisions do not violate the laws. This forces human beings in having a code of conduct by which we live in creating a moral way of living instead of having anarchy where everyone does what pleases them. God made the same thing with Adam and Eve, except that instead of creating laws, He permitted them to do what they pleased without eating from the tree in the middle of the garden. It can be said that Gods purpose on restricting them from that specific tree was that if Adam and Eve were completely free, as if they could do what pleased them, then they would compare themselves to God himself and conflicts could of have developed.
God just wanted to remind Adam and Eve that He is the almighty and no ones greatness could be measured with His. It is not that God is tyrannical or nothing less, but that He just knew that a place with no rules or some sort of restrictions would end up in chaos. On the other hand, it can also be said that God did deprived Adam and Eve. How?
Well, before eating from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve had, as it is said, their eyes closed and did not knew what was right and what was wrong. It can de deferred from this statement that Adam and Eves actions were nave since they had moral absence. At this point, the reader begins to question whether Adam and Eva had a conscience or not. God deprived them from their freedom in the way that they were not given a fair chance having in mind that most of their actions were nave. Also, God knew that the snake was going to tempt them. Thus, He never alerted Adam and Eve from this knowing that they still had no moral conscience.
Now, if this situation is seen as if God was testing Adam and Eve on their temptation, then the story must be interpreted cautiously. In many cases, the question whether Eve is Adams conscience always appears since she was created from Adams flesh. Well, she was the one who ate from the forbidden tree and in a certain way tempted Adam into eating it too. Adam, being nave as he was, took the fruit his wife gave him and ate it not knowing what if he was doing is wrong or right. Adam had free will in deciding to eat what his wife was offering him or obey the orders God gave him. He could not have in mind his wife decision because she was created after the orders were given, and in a certain way she was not present in the moment of prohibition.
To wrap it up, free will is the liberty to choose the way of life one wants to undergo without violating conduct rules. Bibliography:
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