A Literal Genesis Entails An Evil God

[Esquilax]

I'm not stuck, I'm the one who brought up the omnipresence of God.

So, your theology concerns a god that allows the embodiment of evil to tempt his creations, and waits so that he can get pissy after. Awesome.

You must be real dense, how many times have this been explained, ok let's try one more time. The tree was there so Adam and Eve could show their love for God through obedience, the same thing parents desire from their children.

And yet, strangely, you were the one who was too dense to spot that I accounted for that possibility in my original post, in the hopes that there was some alternative answer. Interestingly, you seem happy to accept the most petty, manipulative, hucksterish answer as the motivation of your all good creator being.

You really are a mindless cheerleader in the most fascinating way, GC.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil: why did it exist in the first place? What reason did god have to create a tree that he would forbid anyone to eat the fruit thereof? What is the purpose of this tree, other than to act as a reason to boot Adam and Eve from the garden?

Tell me what would make your parents happy, your money or (not and/or) your respect for them.

You seem to be missing that respect and obedience are different things; you just seem happy with Adam and Eve just doing whatever god wants. That's not respect, it's the illusion of respect. It's what you and your kind seem to want; actual belief doesn't matter, sincerity doesn't matter, all that matters is that you follow the crowd, observe the traditions, donate at church, keep cheerleading, don't ever stop, god is good, no thinking...

But that's not truthful, and that's not respect. Respect is earned, and a god who would indulge in entrapment and then bully his children throughout creation, even the ones who had nothing to do with the initial "crime" isn't even worth pity, much less respect.