"Didn't God Know that Adam & Eve Would Sin?"

And the questions continue coming. I was enjoying my chicken salad with my wife and child, digging into the blue corn organic chips, when my daughter asked me one of those theological questions. "Dad, why did God test Adam and Eve if he knew they were going to sin anyway?" I finished swallowing the piece of grilled chicken, sipped once again from my tea drink, and prayed, "Lord, help me explain this one to her in a simple way."

"Well think of it like this," I began. I spread some of the blue chips close to her plate and placed a little piece of red tomato in the middle. "Think of it like this. God told Adam that he could eat from all the trees in the garden (chips), but he told him that he must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (tomato) because he would surely die." I hadn't concluded my illustration when she had already picked up the tomato from the middle and eaten it. I did this a few times over and each time she messed up my illustration. I was loosing her.

"You see, you must truly be able to choose between eating these chips or eating the tomato, or you really are not free. And this is what happened to Adam and Eve. God had told Adam and Eve that they were free to eat of any tree, but not from one particular tree. God created them with the freedom to choose. Do you get it?" I wasn't sure she got it, and the distractions during dinner time didn't help any.

This was once again a good question from the lips of a child. Think about it. Without a test our love and response for God would only have been possible if we were simple automatons, or mere robot like creatures. Instead, God created Adam and Eve as free moral agents with the ability not to sin. Anything less would have been bland automation, and loveless existence.

If she was a blossoming teenager I could have said it like this: "Adam did not have inability to sin; he had ability not to sin; he could choose." Yes, God did know the outcome of the test. But God wanted to establish the principle of obedience from the beginning, and to establish his rule or Kingdom on earth. God's desire to establish his rule on earth is the central theme of the Bible. We were created to know God, but also to obey him as King and Sovereign. Man has struggled ever sin creation with the issue of God's rule.

I'm not too sure how much of my explanation sunk in, but I'm glad that she's asking these kinds of questions and that the topics discussed around the table include issues concerning God and not just school homework, grades and politics. I like that.
Por Su Gracia y Poder