No one completely understands the ways of God. Many of us can come up withour own opinions, and justify his ways in our own minds, just as Milton did in ParadiseLost. Just as Adam and Eve, we all are gifted with free will and the responsibility ofmaking important decisions and choices in our life, which will determine our future. Butwe may well ask ourselves today, of what use would this free will be to us if we did notknow good from evil? When Eve ate the apple in the Garden of Eden she had twodifferent voices telling her what to do. God had said that Adam and Eve may eat anyfruit from any of the trees in the Garden of Eden except for the tree that contains theknowledge of good and evil. Satan (disguised as a serpent) told Eve that she would notdie from eating that fruit, that her eyes would be opened, knowing both good and evil. But at the time Eve made her decision, she did not have the knowledge of good and evil. Eve did not know the serpent could be Satan incarnate, nor did she know that her desireto become a goddess would be a sin. The main reason Eve eats the apple is because she wants to become a Goddess. The serpent said that he was a beast and after eating the fruit from the tree of knowledgeof good and evil he became more human like. Eve was enticed by the words of theserpent who said that “If the fruit makes a serpent like a man, it should make men likegods.”(Line 710: “That ye should be as Gods, since I as man, Internal Man, isbut proportion meet; I, of brute, human; ye, of human, Gods.)Other arguments that the serpent used to manipulate Eve included; 1,) You shallnot die, look at me, I have touched and tasted and I have not died. 2,) Should man not beallowed a fruit that a beast has? 3,) How can God’s tree give knowledge out against hiswill, if he already knows all?Eve also states that by God forbidding the fruit he made it more desirable. Whilecontemplating whether or not to eat the fruit, Eve wonders, why the beast did not dieafter eating the fruit? Why should such intellectual food be reserved for beasts? But hermain reason for eating their fruit is to acquire greater power, to become a “goddess”. Shetells Adam that “it was a divine effect which will open our eyes and makes us Gods.” She tells Adam that the snake ate the fruit and nothing bad happened to it. Adam inreturn eats the fruit because he doesn’t believe that he could take living without her. (Healso didn’t know if he could spare another rib for a second Eve.)God knew before warning Adam and Eve of the forbidden fruit that they wouldeat it anyway. By warning them of it, he only increased their desires. However, this mayhave been a necessary development in the creation of mankind. After consuming theapple, Adam and Eve were banished from the sacred garden, and sent to the outsideworld. They had committed a sin against God, by not only disobeying hiscommandment, but by wanting to be gods themselves. They were banished from thegarden not only as punishment, but also because God did not want them to eat of the treeof life, of immortality. They were not killed as God had originally threatened, but told tobe fruitful and multiply.According to Milton, in the outside world Adam and Eve repented their sins toJesus Christ who in turn asked God for forgiveness. God once again accepted them butstated that they would never again set foot in Paradise. But by this grace, his creationwas complete.
God’s warning was definitely effective because he accomplished exactly hispurpose : The creation of this magnificent world that we live in today, which was allstarted by God, Adam, and Eve. God didn’t give Adam and Eve a complete warningabout the tree because he did not tell them that it was only by his judgment whether ornot they would die or eat the fruit. So when the serpent ate the fruit and didn’t die, butbegan to speak like a man, they were more susceptible to his guile.
God works in mysterious ways, but never intended to hurt or kill Adam or Eve. He had a complete plan the entire time. To create the world we humans live in today.
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