Eternal punishment is pointless.

[Godscreated]

Man had gained understanding. Had his eyes opened. And it angered god. The only reasonable conclusion is that god didn't want creations that dared disobey, dared gain knowledge that he and he alone (through circular reasoning) deemed unworthy for them to obtain. He wanted them to be sheltered children in perpetuity.

And to point out a contradiction of sorts not often mentioned in this passage: death is one of the punishments received for the applebite (according to Genesis 2:17), which implies that before the sin, humans were immortal.

You're correct they were going to live for eternity, scripture makes it clear that sin leaded to death, no sin no death.

And yet when then see this curiously ignorant deity ("might"? Wasn't he supposed to know everything?) worried that humans might live forever.

God wasn't worried about them living forever after they sinned, He was worried they would live forever in sin, having to grow more miserable day by day forever, they would be living in hell without the possibility of forgiveness. Hell on earth. God's plan was to redeem man so they could return to a relationship with Him.

If they weren't immortal before the first sin, then death was no punishment.

Now you're getting it, keep looking and you can see more of the truth.

And if they were immortal before the first sin, why should there be created a tree of life and death,

Oops, now you have slipped back into not actually knowing what the scriptures say, you need to get these things correct if you plan on arguing against them. It was and is the Tree of Life, no death is associated with it. The tree of life was there for them to eat from, it wasn't put off limit.

and why should the deity worry that humans might become immortal?

Like I explained above, God did not want them to live forever in sin because they would grow more miserable each day. Every atheist that has talked about death on this forum has expressed they wouldn't want to live forever, ever wonder why, living in misery is something no one looks forward to.

GC