So what was Adams sin? Adam listened, then sinned. The sin was what, listening or eating the fruit? Satan convinced Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. If they had not eaten the fruit, they would have never fallen. The sin was eating the fruit, and their NATURE was corrupted. The fruit is integral to the problem of sin. See {HL 288} and {PP 48}

• The Lord has given me a view of other worlds. Wings were given me, and an angel attended me from the city to a place that was bright and glorious. The grass of the place was living green, and the birds there warbled a sweet song. The inhabitants of the place were of all sizes; they were noble, majestic, and lovely. They bore the express image of Jesus, and their countenances beamed with holy joy, expressive of the freedom and happiness of the place. I asked one of them why they were so much more lovely than those on the earth. The reply was, "We have lived in strict obedience to the commandments of God, and have not fallen by disobedience, like those on the earth." Then I saw two trees, one looked much like the tree of life in the city. The fruit of both looked beautiful, but of one they could not eat. They had power to eat of both, but were forbidden to eat of one. Then my attending angel said to me, "None in this place have tasted of the forbidden tree; but if they should eat, they would fall." {EW 39.3}

The physical act of eating of the fruit was integral to the fall. No eating of the fruit, no fall.

Only if you believe the 1st and 10th commandment aren't valid.

It is written:
Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.

Are coveting what God forbade and disbelieving God sins or not?

That was a very good quote, Rosangela. It almost seems to say that Adam sinned before he ate the fruit, but that by eating the fruit, he opened the forbidden door to all of its evils. Regarding disbelieving or doubting God, though, I don't think in Eve's case they were sufficiently "sinful" to incur guilt. She did not have full knowledge of what her senses were taking in, and she was deceived. While it may not have been right for her to question God, it was hardly avoidable given the serpent's suggestions. She was forced to analyze what she was hearing, and that included questioning all that she had thus far been told. Her major misstep had been to leave her husband and go off on her own. I guess women have always wanted their independence. But she, as is true for most women, did not have the same capacity to analyze and to reason that God had given to Adam. Had he been with her, he would not have been deceived, and would have been able to alert her. Their sins were different. She sinned in a desire to achieve a higher status, and he sinned in a desire to have her. Still today these sins are strongly exhibited in society: men weak for women, and women coveting positions of importance and independence.

If there was anything "genetic" to this sin, it seems they had it before their fall already.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

So Green and Rosangela, was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil irrelevant?

I suppose that depends on what you are asking. In terms of the fruit itself, yes, it was irrelevant. In terms of obedience to the divine command, no, it was not irrelevant. It was their disobedience to the express command of God that introduced sin into this world.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Here's a quote that supports what I just said above.


Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

The express command was to not eat the fruit. Eve believed the words of Satan that eating the fruit would make her more knowledgeable. The direct violation of God's expressed command was in eating the fruit. The fruit was integral to the fall. No eating of the fruit, no fall, as with the quotes I gave earlier about other worlds.

Yes.

Yes. Satan did not lie in this aspect, and Eve did indeed become more knowledgeable. It was a knowledge that God had not designed for them to have.

The only reason the fruit was "evil" was that God had commanded them not to eat it. He used it as a test of their loyalty. You are right that the fruit was "integral to the fall." That's because God had forbidden it. But the fruit itself was good to eat, and had nothing evil in it in terms of its properties.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.