Theology: Did God set up Adam and Eve?

God is essentially depicted in Abrahamic narratives as nothing more than a disturbed child 'playing' with ants.

God is essentially depicted in Abrahamic narratives as nothing more than a disturbed child 'playing' with ants.

Yes I agree

You can both ride off on your pink unicorn.

I prefer the seven-headed Red Dragon of the New Testament for a cooler ride. Or the Quran's Buraq when I'm in a hurry.

Honestly, Buraq is a great choice. Cuz it's gotta fuel enough to ride at the speed of light. Pretty cool as well, cuz Buraq was known to carry the most honourable people in the world. So yea tis a great choice!

I'm currently revising some Augustine for ALEVEL RS and I was just thinking: God set up Adam and Eve.
God is omniscient, he knows everything that has ever happened and everything that will, he is everywhere at all times (Holy Spirit) and he is all-loving, purely good with no hint of evil.

But then why did he place the tree in the Garden of Eden? By putting it there, he knew that one day Adam and Eve would sin, and that they would create original sin. In my opinion, putting a tree to tempt your creations, all in knowing that they will definitely be tempted isn't purely good. And then He has the audacity to be mad about their sin after?

What do you think?

Talking from an Islamic point of view here:
Essentially u're right, God did know exactly what will happen to Adam, God knew exactly what Satan would do AND etc and etc. He knew everything and had a full record of it. Now from the very beginning of creating Adam God had the plan to produce human, send us to Earth and allow us to be represented as TEST takers of this life. Before I go to responding to your opinion on "putting a tree to tempt your creations, all in knowing that they will definitely be tempted isn't purely good". I'd like to present a case.
Look at the difference of what Satan and Adam did...and the parallelism of their situation:
- Was Satan elevated in ranks (yes/no) YES
- Did Satan disobey God's direct orders (yes/no) YES
- Did Satan take responsibility for these actions or did he complain and challenge God (responsibility/complain) COMPLAIN & CHALLENGE
- Was Satan's complain logical (yes/no) YES

Now looking at Adam:
- Was Adam elevated in ranks (yes/no) YES:- as in every angel were ordered to bow towards him (Islamically)
- Did Adam disobey God's direct orders (yes/no) YES
- Did Adam take responsibility for his actions or did he complain (responsibility/complain) RESPONSIBILITY
- Did Adam ask a logical question that reflected this responsibility (yes/no) YES


The whole idea towards why God set the whole case with the Garden of EDEN and the Forbidden Fruit was to assign Humans as TEST taker of this life and Satan as the one to work on his challenge against God, that he'd do everything in his power to draw humans from their Creator and into damnation. That was the plan, not for the sake of putting Satan into this world just to cause evil and lead people to hell but rather put humans in a situation of free will, because God wants us to choose Him with our own free will and resisting the whispers of Satan.
And honestly, it seems like u've opened this thread relating the topic to the problem of evil. Basically, it's like saying if God knows everything evil that will happen and he lets it happen, how is that good?
Look simply understand the situation like this: God's the teacher, and if the teacher gives u all the freaking resources u need to pass an examination and u being an idiot don't use those resource, then is it teacher's FAULT?
That being said...
lemme come back to responding to your opinion that you've presented. Islamically speaking, when Adam was being moved from Heaven, he asked God a similar question you are asking, he asked as recorded in Ibn Kathir's exegesis, that "Did You not Know I was going to eat from that tree" God says, "Yes". Then, Adam says, "Can you not forgive me then, and put me back into the Garden one day"...God taught him a prayer from which he took responsibility for his action by repenting for his sins on earth, and God granted him Paradise.
The whole thing is, that God knew yes and that he purposely placed that tree to test ADAM's obedience. But in the end, it was Adam who disobeyed God's orders and he disobeyed and got tempted and therefore made that call of disobedience based on his free will and that's why he's punished. Note, IMO God wasn't mad at Adam (I mean, Adam did earn his displeasure due to his disobedience) but really, in general, He was mad at satan as he challenged Him while Adam took responsibility for his actions. But you may ask...REALLY? Just for the sake of one SIN, Adam is banished??? WHAT??? How's that fair? This is the interesting bit, Satan said the same thing, that Adam is made of dirt and God is saying Satan should bow towards him and he's banished from Heaven just for that one disobedience?!?! Satan not only disobeyed God he CHALLENGED him. While Adam did disobey but he took responsibility.
To conclude, what I gotta say is that based on ISLAMIC theology, all children of Adam (except the prophets) are bound to sin, but what we do about the sin, if we take responsibility or not, is up to us.

PS: I know there's a lot that I've mentioned, and it may seem overwhelming and confusing. Cuz honestly, I can't sometimes make out if I am writing things that are properly digestible. So, I'd recommend you watch this video, it explains some of what I've explained in a well-structured manner.
Peace ✌️!

If u have any questions or doubts, I'll try my best!

Wow that's such an amazing answer thank you so much! You seem to be very knowledgeable in this subject and this was exactly what I was looking for! Thank you for your efforts

I'm currently revising some Augustine for ALEVEL RS and I was just thinking: God set up Adam and Eve.
God is omniscient, he knows everything that has ever happened and everything that will, he is everywhere at all times (Holy Spirit) and he is all-loving, purely good with no hint of evil.

But then why did he place the tree in the Garden of Eden? By putting it there, he knew that one day Adam and Eve would sin, and that they would create original sin. In my opinion, putting a tree to tempt your creations, all in knowing that they will definitely be tempted isn't purely good. And then He has the audacity to be mad about their sin after?

What do you think?

I am quite GLAD that my efforts have come great use to you. Honestly, I myself was pretty confused on the subject on the relationship between free will and determinism for the past few days and my research yielded the huge answer I have produced. It's funny, it almost feels like the post u created, only to be found by me as a way of demonstrating my findings from my research and also it was in some way or form done for the sake of providing you with the answer. Basically "God works in mysterious ways"...

Also, btw I srsly felt like my answer lacked LOGICAL structure, weird explanation such and such and such. The fact that it was actually understandable by you, feels like an immense win for me. Cuz I have never written an extended response to any question before. So I'd say again, thank you for the post and thank you for the compliment. Means a LOT!

Yes that is quite an interesting coincidence! And no your answer was perfectly logical, you actually seem to be very educated in this subject, do you study it and if so at what level!
But thanks again

Honestly, it doesn't really study it. But call it, getting to know my religion well. That's essentially it. Basically my goal is to know anything and everything I can about my religion, so if doubt presents itself in me or in others or if there's an external agent that hits me with doubts....I'd have the knowledge to fight it.

Ah that's really lovely!

St. Augustine has some interesting things to say about this question:

In City of God, Book XII, Chapter 24: Augustine writes,

‘God was well aware that man would sin, and so becoming liable to death... He knew also that mortals would reach a pitch of boundless iniquity...
But God also foresaw that by His grace a community of godly men was to be called His sons and were to be justified by the Holy Spirit.’

Indeed, God knew of all this and St. Augustine wants to also consider that God knew that man would also be saved too - personally, it isn’t really satisfactory for me but it does provide a good point. God knew Adam and Eve would sin, but He also knew that Adam and Eve would come back to Him of their own free will. He gave them reason and intelligence and they used it against Him, so it will also be used for Him too.

But why did God place the Tree of Knowledge in the first place?

I think God knew they were to sin, it would be best if they were to sin in the most simple way possible - to disobey God. God simply asked them not to eat from the tree - the tree itself may be a metaphor for the disobedience of any form to God. It was the best way to keep them closest to Him. If it was a tree that is. Even still, I think the Tree is nullified by the Son. For as the

Apostle Paul says, ‘For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness ereign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.’

And I think this is the main point St. Augustine is alluding to, that even though we sinned - God provided a provision for us through His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Indeed, St. Thomas Aquinas considers this to be one of the reasons why it is fitting for Christ to be incarnate.

In the Summa Contra Gentiles, Book IV, Chapter 54, Aquinas says:

‘The Incarnation of God was the most effective assistance to man in his road to Heaven... The whole human race is infected with sin, divine justice requires atonement for forgiveness and no mere man was able to do so for all the human race.. Consequently, for man to obtain Heaven, it was necessary for God to become man, in order to take away the sin from the human race.’

From the Christian perspective, although God knew Adam would sin. He made sure Adam and Eve would sin in the least harmful way, so that when the time would come - that Christ would enter the world - the free will of man should allow for them to accept Him and reverse the Tree.

Other than St. Augustine, St. Athanasius’ On the Incarnation and St. Iranaeus of Lyons’ Against the Heretics would be quite useful if you are looking for more Patristic sources. Anyways, good luck on your revision - I hope this would be useful!