Why did God kick Adam and Eve out of Eden?

[MattRose]

Yes, why?

 

[bling]

Tell me this, would you prefer to be in a place where your eternal close relationship with God was dependent on your personal ability to obey God (the Garden before sinning) or would you prefer to be in a place where your eternal close relationship with God was dependent on your accepting God’s Love in the form of accepting God’s forgiveness (outside the Garden after sinning)?

 

[Bear.Fr00t]

The answer is found in Genesis 3:

22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24 NKJV)

 

[Uncle Floyd]

Yes, why?

Because they committed treason against God.

 

[razeontherock]

I think the first important thing is to confront the harsh reality that they WERE indeed kicked out. And the same goes for all the hard passages of the OT, the next being Noah's flood. IMHO, one of the main things this viewpoint establishes is that G-d is in fact G-d, and it helps to flesh out what that means:

"Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things [are] naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." (Hebrews 4:13)


In every instance, the answer to the question "why," is sin. The garden is the simplest, because it encompasses ALL sin, symbolically, in one unknown act. This has little practical value, since it doesn't define what "sin" is, other than intentionally violating G-d's clear command; but this story does "lay a foundation." Each hard passage of Scripture gives more insight with practical application for our own lives, about specific sin. Therefore, skipping over these is a terrible waste of wisdom! Simultaneously, we can very much try to tackle some of these stories when we're not ready to do so, and make shipwreck concerning our Faith. We see that all over CF on a fairly regular basis.

It's really important for a Christian to grow on the sincere milk of the Word, get grounded in the NT, and learn to be led by the Holy Spirit so the eyes of our understanding gets opened by the Lord Himself.

 

[drich0150]

Yes, why?

Because God is righteous, and righteousness demands God honor the choice of separation Adam and Eve made.

 

[singpeace]

I think the first important thing is to confront the harsh reality that they WERE indeed kicked out. And the same goes for all the hard passages of the OT, the next being Noah's flood. IMHO, one of the main things this viewpoint establishes is that G-d is in fact G-d, and it helps to flesh out what that means:

"Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things [are] naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." (Hebrews 4:13)


In every instance, the answer to the question "why," is sin. The garden is the simplest, because it encompasses ALL sin, symbolically, in one unknown act. This has little practical value, since it doesn't define what "sin" is, other than intentionally violating G-d's clear command; but this story does "lay a foundation." Each hard passage of Scripture gives more insight with practical application for our own lives, about specific sin. Therefore, skipping over these is a terrible waste of wisdom! Simultaneously, we can very much try to tackle some of these stories when we're not ready to do so, and make shipwreck concerning our Faith. We see that all over CF on a fairly regular basis.

It's really important for a Christian to grow on the sincere milk of the Word, get grounded in the NT, and learn to be led by the Holy Spirit so the eyes of our understanding gets opened by the Lord Himself.

They had come to the knowledge of the difference between good and evil when they sinned. But that's not why they had to leave.

The Tree of Life was there, and it was a source of food for them. Had they continued to eat it, they would have lived eternally in sin.

They had to go, but the Tree remained.

The Tree of Life! THAT'S the mystery!

 

[HarryCovert]

Some things are God's and some things are man's. God decides which is which. When man tries to usurp that which is God's, despite clear evidence from God of that which has been proscribed for man, sin is the result. God chooses not to abide sin, so out you go.

 

[wpage]

Disobedience.

 

[razeontherock]

They had come to the knowledge of the difference between good and evil when they sinned. But that's not why they had to leave.

The Tree of Life was there, and it was a source of food for them. Had they continued to eat it, they would have lived eternally in sin.

They had to go, but the Tree remained.

The Tree of Life! THAT'S the mystery!

great post! I have to disagree with your first point though. Adam and Eve already understood, mentally, the difference between good and evil. All the trees in the garden were good for food, except that one which would bring death. Pretty simple!

Eating of that one brought first-hand experience with death, and that's all it did. That's not really the way we normally use the word "knowledge" today, and while the difference may be subtle I think it's significant.

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"

That isn't what happened to A & E

 

[MattRose]

They had come to the knowledge of the difference between good and evil when they sinned. But that's not why they had to leave.

The Tree of Life was there, and it was a source of food for them. Had they continued to eat it, they would have lived eternally in sin.

They had to go, but the Tree remained.

The Tree of Life! THAT'S the mystery!

This didn't go as I expected. I was really looking for the standard, short answer i.e. Because they disobeyed God by eating the apple. I started this thread because I think most people are taught that. Much in the same way that most people think Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake." Yesterday, I read that it was actually because God thought they would probably be snacking on the tree of life next and become immortal. Many of you replied with well thought out answers. I wasn't looking for that. Bearfroot was first, but I feel Singpeace was most accurate as he has paraphrased pretty much what Genesis says.

 

[Emmy]

Dear MattRose. God is Love, and God wants loving children-becoming sons and daughters. If they had loved God, they would not have believed the lies of the Serpent. God still wants loving children-sons and daughters, Jesus came to show us God, as He really is: a loving Heavenly Father. Jesus gave us two Commandments, they say all what God wants from us in His ten Commandments: 1) love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds. 2) Love our neighbour as ourselves. Jesus then pointout: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Love is what God wants from us, selfless and without conditions asked. God wants changed children: loving and caring instead of selfish and unloving/uncaring. That is straightforward and easy to remember, and although it does not sound what we would like to hear, it is what God wants from us, Matt. It can be done, if we really try. Let us treat everyone we know or meet, AS WE would like to be treated, kindly and considerately, with a friendly smile, rather than looking the other way, or angry and unfriendly words. Jesus will help and guide us, the Holy Spirit will empower us with love, and Jesus told us to " Ask and we will receive," and God will see us and approve, and give us His Blessings. Loving as Jesus told us to, is to show God that we love Him and loving our neighbour as we love ourselves. People will notice and treat us the same, we will be children of our Heavenly Father, turn ing into the sons and daughters which God loves. Don`t be put off by those of us who say: that is impossible, if it was, our Heavenly Father would not ask it of us. He loves us and wants us back again. Why were Adam and Eve banished from God? BECAUSE they preferred to believe a LIAR and instead of loving God, they treated God as unimportant, not as the Loving God who made us in His image. I say this with love and Blessed Assurance. Greetings from Emmy, sister in Christ.

 

[Husky7]

Yes, why?

Scripture says in Genesis 3:22-24, " And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."

Adam and Eve were driven from the garden NOT because of the action of sinning, but because of sin itself.

To clarify this, Ezekiel 18:20 says, " The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. Anyone who sins, will naturally die. The moment Adam and Eve sinned their bodies began to decay, and die.

Romans 6:23 again confirms this principle, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Scripture makes it clear that the sin is equalivant to death. Heaven on the other hand is a place of eternal life. No death can reign in Heaven, because Eternal Life, and Death are complete opposites. This is the reason why God was forced to kick Adam and Eve out of the Garden. He couldn't allow them to eat from the tree of life, because then they would be living eternally in sin(death). If that happened, Heaven would not be eternal. God didn't want to kick Adam and Eve out, he was simply forced too, because of this rule. Revelation 21:27 says, " And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh abomination, or [maketh] a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."

^Again, no sin is allowed in heaven.

 

[Emmy]

Dear MattRose. God is Love, and love does not kick anybody, or any thing. I say this with love, Matt. Adam and Eve were banished from Eden, because they believed a lying Serpent, rather than trusted God: Not to eat of the tree of Knowledge. They and all who came after, you and me included, have to learn to love as God wants us to love, that is why we are on Earth. Jesus tells a Lawyer in Mathew: the first and great Commandment is to love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second Commandment is: love thy neighbour as thyself. Then Jesus points out: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Love is what God wants from us, selfless and beneficially, no conditions tagged on. We have to Repent: to exchange our selfish and unloving character for loving God and all we know or meet, as we love ourselves. Jesus will give us His Love and Joy to share with others, and the Holy Spirit will give us His Love,too. Jesus told us to " ask and we will receive" and God will see our sincere efforts, and bless us. The Prayer Jesus taught us tells us all: " Father forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, and give us our daily bread/needs. We have a loving Heavenly Father, Matt, who is waiting to receive us back again, where we came from. Greetings from Emmy, sister in Christ.