Is becoming like God good or evil?

[Rev. Rye]

Obedience isn't supposed to be about expressing love. It's supposed to be about protecting your loved ones and yourself. People don't just set up arbitrary restrictions just for the sake of setting up restrictions, and if they did, then they need to seriously be kept from being in charge of anyone else.

If they know enough to recognise that it's arbitrary, they're going to test the waters and see just what happens if they do eat from the tree. The same thing will probably happen if they're just plain ignorant. Since Adam and Eve were apparently as curious as their descendants would be, this was particularly inevitable. In particular, God's warning that they would die when they ate it wouldn't seem like it would be a particularly strong deterrent, since nothing seems to indicate that the newly-created humans would have much of an idea as to what death even is. It seems like, given the popularity of ideas like the afterlife, many humans today can't really process what death would really be like. It's like Peter Pan running away from home the day he was born so he wouldn't have to grow up. So, assuming the Garden of Eden story is true, we are left to assume one of three options:

A) God is not only not omniscient, but an idiot for assuming that the naive people he created would have enough sense to stay away from something in a garden that was apparently created for them.
B) God is a sadist (Clearly not benevolent) who was looking for an excuse to punish his creation, even if it means entrapment. The fact that he waited no less than four millenia (if the Ussher chronology is to be taken seriously) to do something that would only partially undo this doesn't exactly help matters.
C) God is not responsible for the creation of that tree, so, therefore, he didn't create everything, and thus, his power is undermined, and he comes out as less than omnipotent.

At this point, it makes the most sense to say it's all bullshit. If you've got a D that explains the events of Genesis 3 better, I'd like to hear it.

Edit: For what it's worth, the traditional Jewish perspective is that their sin wasn't eating the fruit, but hiding the fact that they ate it. It certainly makes much more sense than the Christian interpretations.