ANSWERS: 53
  • There would be no world, at least not as we know it.
  • I doubt we would be perfect. Even the Biblical Adam and Eve from the Christian perspective were not perfect. After all, they disobeyed Yahweh and ate the fruit. Isn't disobeying Yahweh considered a sin from the Christian perspective? If so, then sin preceded the eating of the fruit. If not, then there is no such thing as sin, because the laws are set forth by Yahweh and disobeying Him is not a sin. The whole idea is logically flawed. On a side note, I don't believe in sin. Support the return of the avatar: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/111472
  • In never got why the called it Heaven. If there was a place where having sex was against the rules, would you call it Heaven? I wouldn't
  • No, there would still be sin. It was the existence of sin that gave Adam and Eve the free will to eat fruit off the tree to start off with.
  • I believe that there would certainly be more joy. I think that maybe many of the smaller 'acts' that are considered sin would still occur on occasion, but there would be no conviction, or guilt. Perhaps the 'fruit' caused us to be 'aware' of our sins, and therefore guilty of them. Just a thought, I don't know for sure.
  • I believe that what occurred (non-metaphorically) after Adam and Eve "ate the apple" was that they became conscious of themselves; conscious of being human beings. They stopped BEING bodies (like other instinct-driven animals) and they realized that they HAD bodies. With that realization came things like shame which is why they felt the need to cover themselves. Imagine dogs and cats suddenly refusing to leave their homes unless their private parts were covered. Mind you some pets HAVE absorbed the neurosis of their owners and do have quirks not inherent to their species. The concept of "sin" (had humans not evolved beyond "the apple" stage) couldn't really exist. Using the pet analogy again, We (the sane among us) don't consider dogs breeding with more than one partner as sin. Well, that's where humans would be, in terms of "sin", if the fruits of evolution ("the apple") had not been encountered (had not been "eaten"). Check out "The Power of Now" by Tolle. His take on it is one of the most refreshing I've run across.
  • All I know is that my three labors wouldn't have hurt as badly!
  • Maybe not, but if they had have started with heroin where would we be???
  • I'm sure god would have found some other agent to introduce self awareness/"sin" into the world. God must have wanted that to happen from the start, otherwise, why put the tree in the garden in the first place if you didn't want them to ever eat from it. It's not like he had a storage space problem or anything. And technically speaking, the all knowing, omniscient god already knew what was going to happen even before he put the tree there, so it wasn't a test, since he knew the outcome..
  • it was supposed to have been.
  • Sin entered the world through Adam. The serpent was more cunning than all the other animals. Eve blamed the serpent for tricking her into thinking she could become a God. Before sin, there was no knowledge of good and evil.
  • Yes the world would be a perfect place, it was only their disobedience that caused the sin in the first place, they were told not to eat the fruit but they choose to, they had loads of other trees to choose from but chose to want the one they couldn't have, its the same old story today, mankind genrally wants what it can't have, so after they had sinned they lost the chance for all their offspring to have everlasting life, we were born from 2 imperfect people, but thanks to Gods kindness, Jesus came to earth and gave the perfect sacrifice, his perfect life and gained back for us all what adam lost, the chance of everlasting life, but that won't be available until, the earth in cleansed of all the wicked one who still want to do everything their own way, well look at all the trouble thats caused up until now, selfish mankind attitude to good balanced moral guidance, is previlent, what a mess, but each one must choose who they will follow, the one who encouraged adam and eve to sin or the one who gives everlasting life as a free gift.
  • nar, the snake would of made something eat the apple
  • it would be perfect coz no other people will exist, only adam and eve :p
  • No, cause we wouldnt even be here right now.
  • Their kids might have taken thebait.
  • We acctually wouldent be born because if Adam and Eve never at the fruit they wouldent of figured out the Re-production of humans!
  • yes. it would but the TRUTH is (not the fact) that adam and eve at the apple and this is our life now. and we are still serving God
  • Probably no. They were meant to eat the apple from the tree in the first place. Just the plain existance of the wicked tree was the provoking sin to encourage them. God knew they were going to eat it and all the effect. It was a rigged test, but what can we do, He's god, and we're his disobidient puppets.
  • No, someone would have screwed up sooner or later
  • Propably not. The way it happened, god seems like the kind of person who glues coins to the pavement, or leaves bricks under hats on the street - they keep doing it and doing it until they can finally leap out and say "AH! I got you!"
  • If the bible is true then in theory I think the answer would be yes. But, it seems apparent to me that God went out of his way to ensure they ate the fruit. God knew in advance they would eat it if he put it there, yet he put it there anyways, and proceeds to be surprised and upset by an outcome he knew would happen and therefore caused himself.
  • Probably. The 2 trees in the garden were Jesus & Satan. Jesus is the Tree of Life & Satan is the tree of knowledge of good & evil. The garden was a place where the angels educated Adam & Eve. To eat the fruit of a tree in the garden would be to gain knowledge from that particular angel. God was telling Adam & Eve to stay away from that angel in the midst of the garden and don't be influenced by him. Eve was more than influenced, she was 'wholly seduced'.. impregnated by the crafty serpent. Adam walks by and it turns into a threesome. This is why Cain was evil. He was the son of evil. Cain & Abel were paternal twins.. different fathers God tells the crafty serpent & Eve... Gen.3:15: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy *seed*(sperma) and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16: Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. They didn't put the leaf over their mouth. They put them over the parts that were used in their disobedience. The parts that suddenly became shameful and needed covering.
  • If Adam and Eve hadn't, one of their children, or children's children (and on and on) would eventually do so. Curiosity killed the cat, people will do what they are told not to.
  • The story of Adam and Eve is a story, a teaching story. The key to the tree part is: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat...." Meditate on that for a few minutes every day for a few days/weeks/months/years.
  • If the tree Would have never been eaten off of there would be no sin because we would have no sin nature(desire to do wrong). But unfortantly we will never know weather any one else whould have eaten off of the tree so it is hard tos say if their would be no sin if Adam and Eve would have left it alone but if it was still not being messed with today the world would be a perfect sinless place.
  • No, because the events are myth, not fact. It never happened. Now, let us for a moment assume that it did happen. Sin is basically being outside the will of Yahweh. Eve and Adam were outside the will of Yahweh when they decided to eat the fruit. Therefore, sin pre-existed the fall. However, if they didn't eat the fruit, humanity would still be stupid (having not eaten the fruit of knowledge); therefore, it is likely that we'd be too dumb to know that the world wasn't perfect.
  • Yes and we would all be walking around with no clothes on
  • Jehovah told them that if they eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad that they would positively die. It is not that they didn't already know what was right or wrong. It was that now by eating the forbidden fruit, Jehovah said to his son "they have become like us", that they now decided for themselves what was right or wrong for themselves. Essencially saying that they did not need anybody to rule them but that they could rule themselves. This is why God has given mankind the opportunity to try to rule themselves. He gave us Jesus also in place of Adam, perfect man for perfect man. Not that he had to but showing undeserved kindness on his part. Gods original plan, which is for man to live in a paradise like condition on earth is still going to come to be. The reason that he has given mankind so long of a time now is that the point had to be proven once for all time that man needs God to rule over them. No more could someone say that they know what is best for themselves, which is shown in todays governments, mans greed for money, pollution, hunger, disease, etc... Jesus's main thing he preached about was God's kingdom and making Jehovahs name known. All of the miracles that he performed were to show us what he will accomplish when God instills Jesus as king. It will bring the earth and mankind back to his original purpose, before they decided to eat of the fruit. All mankind living peacefully on a paradise earth. Probably more than what you were looking for but hope it helps :)
  • man would be over populated,and starve to death and the bible was given so man doe's not go after sin for sin it self will destroy man.
  • A practical person deals with what is, not with what might have been. It brings peace to deal with reality rather than making up things to worry or speculate about, of which we have no control. And remember, the world has more questions than answers. So keep things simple and in perspective of what they really are, and be better off for it. After all, aren't there enough problems to deal with already? That's how I look at things like that. I believe there was a "plan" already in motion by that point anyway, His name is Jesus. :)
  • correct unless the devil tempted another person in later generations. Also we would b running around naked and would never know it.
  • I think the fruit was potential sin (of knowledge, remember). So there would be potential but not realized sin. God likes 'em dumb and pretty.
  • what do you mean "if"? there are no "ifs" in life. Thats what was susposed to happen
  • yes, perfect with no sin, and you wouldnt be here today.
  • No this was just an analogy and not to be taken at face value. It was meant to teach how the search for knowledge leads to understanding. Man was unaware of his nakedness until he became self conscious and unaware of death until he learned of his own mortality.
  • No, somebody else would have screwed it up sooner or later!
  • No. There would be someone to eat the fruit, sooner or later. The world would be full of blissful ignorants, until then.
  • As with all myths, there are stories to be told, the biblical myth of Adam and Eve is no different. It's all a metaphor for the choice Adam and Eve are confronted with; Knowledge or Life; BEFORE they eat of the Tree of Knowledge,Adam and Eve are NEVER told NOT to eat from the Tree of Life....so they were made to leave the Garden of Eden BEFORE they also ate of the Tree of Life.There was only ONE choice and they chose to eat of the Tree of Knowledge and it made them fully aware & grown up; with that choice they then were forced out of their parents(Yahweh)house and go out into the real world and make their own way as adults. They were no longer the "ignorant little children" they once were prior too eating of the Tree of Knowledge. If they would have chosen the Tree of Life, they would have lived in the garden with Yahweh, his ignorant little children forever. They chose knowledge and knowledge meant that they had to move forward, grow up and have kids and till the soil and die. Understanding that bible is not "truth" but speaks in metaphors (just as Jesus spoke in parables to teach) then we know that IF Adam and Eve never ate from the Tree of Knowledge, they would have been the ONLY TWO human beings to ever exist, forever. The Garden was made for THEM. It is because of Adam and Eve choosing Knowledge over Life that the human race exists because with out that, everything would have remained in stasis for eternity. Their eating of the "Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge" was NOT the "Fall of man" but rather,"The Rise of man" respectively.
  • That seems to be the point of the story.
  • Lady Gaga said it best "The story of us always starts the same, with a boy and a girl and a 'huh'! and a game; I LOVE GAME!" I suspect Eve said "Let's have some fun - this Eden's sick. I wanna take a ride on your disco Snake." So she brought him an apple to get him in the mood. Baba-bing, the rest is history.
  • If you agree with a literal interpretation of Genesis, yes.
  • If Rapunzel didn't let down her hair would she still be stuck in the Tower?
  • I concur!
  • it wouldn't be much of a world because they wouldn't have had children
  • Then answer depends upon ones theology. The traditional Christian answer has been "YES" - not only would man be morally/spiritually perfect and sinless, but the whole world itself would be Edenic with no suffering, sickness, death, or even predatory behavior by animals. The traditional (pre-modern) Jewish view was about the same, though it never became an essential part of doctrine, and many Jews would have probably just said, "That's one interpretation." I think a more careful reading of the text suggests otherwise. Adam & Eve in the Garden is the analog/forshadowing of Israel in the Promised Land, and the Tree of the DECIDING of Good Evil represents the Torah - or even more importantly God's role as the only source of Law - just as the Tree of Life represents the Presence of God (the Shekina Glory) in the Holy of Holies). While Israel abides by that Law, God is present among them and blesses them; when they corrupt or ignore the Law (presuming to make up their own rules) God disciplines them and - ultimately - exiles them from the Land and His Glory/Presence. In Genesis 1-4, it seems evident that Adam is not the first man, but a man raised out of "the mud" (as Israel had been raised out of the mud pits of Egypt) and given a special role as God's priest and representative on Earth (as was Israel's role). It is only INSIDE the Garden where the Land provides for Adam's needs (though he still had to tend it) and predators were pacified or kept at bay. These are the two same promises made to Israel concerning agricultural bounty and protection from beasts inside the Promised Land. When Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden, they enter a populated world (unless one imagines that Cain was just too stupid to realize that there weren't any other people to be afraid of). That there was sin and death in this world would seem to go without saying. What Adam had in the Garden was the clearly expressed Divine "Law": God spends the first chapter and a half of Genesis going around declaring "This is good [for man].... This is good [for man] ... This is NOT good [for man] ... The is VERY good [for man]" -- a power which man wants for himself and tries to take. The only clearly expressed statement to the contrary in the Bible comes from Paul when he says: "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come." The thing is, Paul is making a literary argument (exploring and expanding on Biblical themes and images), not an historical one - something he often does, and which many Rabbis then and now also do.
  • Yes, the world would have been perfect, Adam and Eve would not have passed sin on to their offspring and they would have fulfilled Jehovah's commission to "fill the earth and subdue it". However, my question is, if they had not sinned and no one ever died, would I have been born? If you change one person in history, especially that far back, that does change the future? So would I have been born?
    • Chromeman
      No, none of us would have, but at some point the earth would have been filled and Jehovah would had to stop the population from expanding. But, do you think the tree of "Knowledge of Good and Bad" [NWT] would still be present?
  • Well Beezyboo, you opened a Pandora's box with this question. But basically you are right. That was the choice, they had freewill, they exercised their freewill and choose to eat the fruit, then they suffered the consequences along with everyone of us who are decedents of them. So is that the end of the matter? By no means No. Here is a link to the brochure" Listen to God and live Forever" I hope you enjoy it https://www.jw.org/finder?srcid=jwlshare&wtlocale=E&prefer=lang&pub=ll
  • One would have to believe they ever existed in the first place for that to happen.
  • Right you are! Just think about it for a second. If God created Adam and Eve with sin, then, He caused them to sin and He would be the blame for sin today. But! That is not what happened. We have only to open the first Book of the Bible to see this. At Genesis 2:16,17 say's 16 "And God Jehovah gave the man orders: “From all the trees of the garden you are to eat,17 but from the tree of knowledge of good and bad you are not to eat, because on the day you eat from it you shall die.” (Byington version) Do you see that here is a choice. What was it? To comply with the request or not. So, we know from the Bible what happened, BUT, let's just imagine that Adam didn't eat of the Apple? There was only two outcomes, eat and die; or not eat and live. Nothing was said about sin until Adam ate from the fruit. So, for me, it's only logical that Adam and Eve would be here on Earth still. Having as the Bible says in the American Standard Version at Genesis 1:28 "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Here is a link that asks this question; If Adam Was Perfect, How Was It Possible for Him to Sin? I hope you find it helpful... https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&issue=2008-10-01&pub=w08&srcid=share
  • Presumably not.* First: one wonders if their willfulness and natural human curiosity would not have inevitably led them to eat the fruit. Not this year? What about the next? What about the 1,000th year? The 10,000th? * Second: even if they were faithful and obedient to God, one cannot suppose that all of their descendants would likewise be so. In such a difficult-to-imagine case we would have two races of humans: the immortals of Eden and the sinful mortals populating the rest of the world. One can imagine that such a situation would not last very long without Divine intervention protecting the less-powerful race.
  • The story demonstrates man's nature today, and Adam meaning red earth "represents all mankind." Note: God said you can eat all the fruit except from one tree, stating that they would die. God made man different to the other animals, he made him in his image, with the freewill to choose. When the nachash (meaning shining one, one that whispers) it was the way he twisted the story saying God said you can't eat of any tree, changing God into a stingy God, he then made them believe they could be like God, the same thing he'd wanted to be, as such in taking the fruit they not only disobeyed God, they obeyed Satan, where God had given earth to man to rule over, man gave the serpent the land to rule over in obeying him, hence the kingdom of earth now belonged to Satan, on top of which on eating the fruit itself they are eating a seed, and taking it into them, the tree was called the knowledge of good and evil but also the tree of death. It immediately changed them, where they felt safe walking with God in the garden, they now hid, they knew they were naked, naked means more than nudity, it means exposed, God even says where are you, this isn't because God wants to know where they are, it's because he is acknowledging their different state of being altogether. Then when God asked them what happened, giving them the chance to tell him and repent, the deceit starts, Adam blames God and the women for his eating of the fruit, he doesn't accept responsibility, as such what happens is they are separated from God, they are no longer the same, death now enters the garden and so they are driven out, the coat of skin means an animal had to die, and their own eating of the fruit should mean their death, but God allows them to kill an animal for atonement in the act of killing an animal they look upon the death they should of had, and the cost. This of course ended with Christ. Hence, from the beginning God knew that the answer to the earthly Adam through which death came, he would send the second Adam Christ, through which his holy spirit would come uniting man back to God and restoring his immortality.which again would be his choice. Through faith in Satan he fell, through faith in Christ he'll be saved.
  • The tree of knowledge of good and evil was placed in the Garden of Eden as a test of obedience. If Adam or Eve had not eaten from the forbidden tree, the tree would have remained, but then as the population grew, more and more people would have been tempted to eat from it. The basis of this teaching is how sin entered the world by one man's sin. Romans 5:12 "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-"

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