# Why were Adam and Eve cast out of Eden?

**URL:** <https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/why-were-adam-and-eve-cast-out-of-eden/12029>\
**Category:** Conversation\
**Tags:** Adam, Theology\
**Created:** [October 4, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/why-were-adam-and-eve-cast-out-of-eden/12029 "2020-10-04T01:48:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 30

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**Author:** ![Faizal\_Ali](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/faizal_ali/32/12416_2.png) [@Faizal\_Ali](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Faizal_Ali)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 12:45pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/why-were-adam-and-eve-cast-out-of-eden/12029/30 "2020-10-05T12:45:47Z")

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Sorry for the delay in responding. Yesterday was a busy day.

> [@dga471](#):
>
> You didn’t do any exegesis of the original Hebrew of the text, or relate it to its ANE cultural context. Instead you use an English translation originally published in 1611. I also don’t remember you demonstrating competence in these areas.

I don’t claim any. I assume the translations are accurate. If they are not, please feel free to share the scholarship that would affect my conclusions.

> [@dga471](#):
>
> Even if you’re not influenced much by Christian theology, how are you sure you’re not influenced by the philosophical and cultural assumptions inherent in being a Canadian atheist psychiatrist living in the 21st century?

That’s why I’ve tried to stick to the text as close as possible. I don’t see any other feasible interpretation of the story, taken on its own terms. But if you can see how that interpretation reflects my being a Canadian psychiatrist, point it out.

> [@Mark10.45](#):
>
> my interpretation of the bible comes more through revelation than teaching, and I am open to other views if they make sense.

And I am just talking about the text. “Revelation” has nothing

> [@Mark10.45](#):
>
> God cannot lie, he is a perfect being and commands truth (do not bear false witness), so this is in error.

The text says otherwise.

> [@Mark10.45](#):
>
> The lie came from the devil, who is the “father of lies”.

The text also nothing about “the devil”. Just a very clever serpent.

> [@Mark10.45](#):
>
> The rest of your interpretation is pretty accurate in my opinion, except this part, God was never concerned with being challenged, He is God. He kicked them out and refused the fruit of the tree of life because they were no longer righteous, having committed sin in disobedience and condemned humanity to death. Sin brings forth death and Satan knew that, that’s why he lied to Eve.

Please support that with text from the story itself, not the subsequent centuries of theological extrapolations.

> [@swamidass](#):
>
> It is man’s misreading of His Word that is the problem.

I don’t think I misread anything, and as told neither did Eve or Adam. God purposely gave misleading information.

> [@thoughtful](#):
>
> It’s not a coincidence that atheists take the serpent’s point of view and believe the lie He told Eve, which is that God lied and they could have actually had a better status, which is the whole reason they fell into sin to begin with.
> 
> Again, I say: The image of God is being like God in every way, except for being a being such as God is: eternal, omnipotent, etc. Satan was just a blatant liar. God is good, and atheists will never believe that and they will always, always read this text wrong.

Genesis 3:22 contradicts this. This is God talking to himself.

> [@A Spirited and Eclectic Discussion on Evolution and the Bible](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/a-spirited-and-eclectic-discussion-on-evolution-and-the-bible/12028/70):
>
> THEODORET OF CYRUS. What is the meaning of the verse “ _Lo, Adam has become like one of us?”_ Though the devil had declared, “You will be like gods, knowing good and evil,” Adam incurred the sentence of death for breaking the commandment. So the God of the universe said this ironically to bring out the lie in the devil’s promise.

That’s a real stretch.

> [@Mark10.45](#):
>
> God said they would die, which they did. The snake said they would be like God, which they did not become, so he lied…I am honestly not understanding your point.

No, they did not die. They lived a long a fruitful life thereafter. And God himself says “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.”

You’re really ignoring the text to make it say what you’re taught it says.

> [@swamidass](#):
>
> Well that’s the interpretation my book points too. I thought you read it…

To be clear: I am saying God was fearful Adam and Eve would eat of the Tree of Life and become immortal, therefore more like God. God did not want this, so he kicked them out of the Garden. It had nothing to do with sin or punishment.

I do not recall that being your interpretation. Am I wrong?

> [@Mark10.45](#):
>
> So, you ask, “why”  
> I answer, “because of other scripture and the Holy Spirit”  
> You say, “other scripture doesn’t count” or “Holy Spirit doesn’t count”  
> I know they both count, and they all work together.

Which is bascially a bald admission that the text, as it stands on its own, does not say what you claim.

Thanks for playing…

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