One misunderstanding of the ADAM & EVE story is the notion that it deals primarily with puritan agendas about sexual sins.
But, actually, it's about God's disdain of mankind's propensity for hubris.
God had no problem with mankind being sexual. In fact, after He metamorphosized the first human from being a singular unit to that of being two of the opposite gender (being physically similar to all the other conscious beasts of the earth in terms of now being able to reproduce, as symbolized by the story of "the rib of Adam" being removed and used in the creation of Eve), His first command was to "be fruitful and multiply".
Mankind was created with the gift of free will, the ability to decide for themselves which way they want to go in any given situation. But, in order to remain blessed, humans had to stay loyal to God unequivocally in heart, mind, and spirit.
So, in testing that loyalty, He commanded them to abstain from including a specific fruit of the garden as part of their diet (namely, the apple), warning them they could die if they disobeyed this particular directive.
As the story goes, temptation and curiousity (symbolized by Satan as a serpent sucessfully cajoling them by exploiting their weaknesses), a consequence of having aptitude for free will, eventually overtook them. So they took a bite of the "forbidden fruit". Of course they didn't die---not physically, anyway. God knew the apple wasn't actually toxic, that it's simply just another fruit. But that's not the idea, whether or not that particular fruit is or is not toxic. It was whether or not mankind would commit all their trust and faith in Him, knowing Him to be the Creator. Or whether they would develop a lust for power and control, including the desire to "control their own destiny" and rely on their own aptitudes in spite of man's limited capacity for ever being able to understand everything around him and in spite of never being able to learn about everything that exists around him either on earth or in the heavens (outer space).
That they chose the latter is now a matter of legend.
When they were ran out of the Garden of Eden it symbolized that mankind was now on his own to handle his affairs by using his own mettle and to suffer the results of his collective ignorances and limited perspectives, and to be subjected to his own ego and all other earthly desires.
Mortality, self-reliance, and detachment from the-all-knowing-source-of-all-things-created would be the sum total of human existence from that point on.
The "mortal sin" is hubris, which in turn leads to all the other mortal sins.
But, actually, it's about God's disdain of mankind's propensity for hubris.
God had no problem with mankind being sexual. In fact, after He metamorphosized the first human from being a singular unit to that of being two of the opposite gender (being physically similar to all the other conscious beasts of the earth in terms of now being able to reproduce, as symbolized by the story of "the rib of Adam" being removed and used in the creation of Eve), His first command was to "be fruitful and multiply".
Mankind was created with the gift of free will, the ability to decide for themselves which way they want to go in any given situation. But, in order to remain blessed, humans had to stay loyal to God unequivocally in heart, mind, and spirit.
So, in testing that loyalty, He commanded them to abstain from including a specific fruit of the garden as part of their diet (namely, the apple), warning them they could die if they disobeyed this particular directive.
As the story goes, temptation and curiousity (symbolized by Satan as a serpent sucessfully cajoling them by exploiting their weaknesses), a consequence of having aptitude for free will, eventually overtook them. So they took a bite of the "forbidden fruit". Of course they didn't die---not physically, anyway. God knew the apple wasn't actually toxic, that it's simply just another fruit. But that's not the idea, whether or not that particular fruit is or is not toxic. It was whether or not mankind would commit all their trust and faith in Him, knowing Him to be the Creator. Or whether they would develop a lust for power and control, including the desire to "control their own destiny" and rely on their own aptitudes in spite of man's limited capacity for ever being able to understand everything around him and in spite of never being able to learn about everything that exists around him either on earth or in the heavens (outer space).
That they chose the latter is now a matter of legend.
When they were ran out of the Garden of Eden it symbolized that mankind was now on his own to handle his affairs by using his own mettle and to suffer the results of his collective ignorances and limited perspectives, and to be subjected to his own ego and all other earthly desires.
Mortality, self-reliance, and detachment from the-all-knowing-source-of-all-things-created would be the sum total of human existence from that point on.
The "mortal sin" is hubris, which in turn leads to all the other mortal sins.
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