When adam and eve ate of the tree, it was their first recorded act of sin or selfishness, which is the root of sin. But I can’t imagine that they’d never had a selfish (sinful) thought or attitude or maybe even action before that point. I think they were normal people and not perfect, little robots so I assume they’d acted selfishly at some point in their existence before the Tree. But they weren’t held responsible for the selfishness because they didn’t have knowledge of good and evil.

The fall to me is staggering because knowledge of good and evil entered the picture and therefore made them accountable for their thoughts and actions. Until then, they weren’t responsible. We understand this in children; many call it the age of accountability, which is when we assume children become old enough to be responsible for selfish choices. So I see the acquiring of this knowledge of good and evil as adam and eve’s coming into the age of accountability.

I’m not sure all of this is worth dwelling on or pondering for long but it surely is interesting! You should consider writing a blog post on why they were suddenly embarassed to be naked in front of God, who had seen them naked always. I think it’s not about nakedness being sinful but rather about with the knowledge of good and evil came the ability and urge to compare ourselves to others and to other situations. And we’ve been living by comparing ourselves to people ever since. Now there’s a real curse!

I am not particularly religious but in god i do trust. So, just one question. If I was supposed to only do all things that are prescribed as right according to scripture, acting merely as an automaton, why did he who made me give me the gift of mind, an ability to reason and a right to disagree?

Running around making the same mistakes that other people have already made and expecting different results is not finding ourselves. There are a million new and creative mistakes I can make and learn from but to refuse to learn from the mistakes of others and avoid them is the opposite of wisdom. This idea that even though I see thousands and thousands of people who have tried these things and rejected them as painful and dangerous, I have to try it for myself, is pride. I can’t find one adult who wishes they started smoking earlier. Instead I see thousands dying because they had to learn for themselves and no one was going to tell them what to do… No one wishes they had taken more drugs, they wish they never started.

As for the second question, about whether I have faith in humanity that they can eventually learn what is right by trying everything else, nothing in this blog implied that they can’t What I am asking is why do it the hard way. I believe that people will eventually realize that Jesus is right. What I am talking about is avoiding the pain and scars of finding out by ignoring the wisdom of the ages. I am truly concerned about your statement about whether God would want me to love those who are doing these things to themselves. Why do you equate a different opinion with a lack of love? I don’t feel like you hate me because you disagree with me. Love is not agreeing. Love is doing what you can to help someone. By asking young people to evaluate a philosophy that cannot work, I am asking them to avoid throwing away years of their live and having to live with years of regret. If I see a truck coming, should I just stand by and say, “they will learn”? I am expressing an opinion. You are free to accept it or reject it. I will love and care about you which ever road you take. I just want to spare you and others the pain.

You cite adventures of the 60s generation and stake claim that they “realized” they needed to lay off the hallucinogens and become responsible. Do you not think that free-willed individuals of today’s culture are capable of making their own realizations about themselves and their responsibilities in today’s society. Must the youth of today be ingrained with certain responsibility, faith, and morals that are chosen for them? Are adults not allowed to change their responsibilities, faith, morals etc. Is it truly wrong to be true to oneself? Is it safe to say you do not place faith in your fellow man to be true to himself-society-or his higher power, and that you rely on your higher power to keep the peace? Would not a higher-power want you to love, honor, cherish your fellow man for who he is, despite his faults? (Faults that he probably stumbled across on his journey of self-discovering–wherein he probably discovered many qualities and characteristics that made him who his is today, still being true to himself.)