I plan on doing much more research and including many more questions and their common answers in drafts to come after receiving reader input.

The Creation of Man and Woman

After God had created the earth, but before he created man, the bible specifically mentions that there were no plants in existence yet that required cultivation or rainfall to grow.[a] Instead of rain, mist would come out of the ground to water all of the earth.[b] The Bible says certain plants didn’t exist yet because there were no people on the earth yet to grow them.[c][d]

After mentioning this, the bible tells us that God created man by taking dust from the ground and breathing the breath of life into his nose. This caused the man to become a living being. Many people refer to this first man as Adam. Now that Adam was alive, he needed someplace to live, so God created a garden for him to live in and called it Eden. Inside this garden, God made all kinds of beautiful plants that could also be used for food. In the middle of the garden God created, there were two trees. One was called the tree of life, and its fruit could make it so that man could live forever.[e] The other tree was called the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and this tree would make it so that man could know the difference between good and bad. After planting Eden God put Adam into the garden in order to watch over it and take care of it. Then, God told Adam that he was allowed to eat from any tree in all of Eden except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and that if he ate from this tree, then he would surely die.[f]

After creating him, God decided that Adam needed a companion, so he created all of the animals and brought them to him to name.[g] Adam named all of the animals that God had brought to him, but none of them were suitable to be his companion.[h] Shouldn’t God have known that none of the Animals would have been a proper helper for the man?[i]

Well, since a helper for the man was not found among the animals, God put him into a deep sleep. While the man was sleeping, God took one of the man’s ribs and used it to form a human female. When God brought her to the man, the man declared that she should be called “woman” because she had been created from his own bones and flesh.[j]

The beginning of this story, after God tells the man the rules for the trees, brings up many questions. Why wouldn’t God want Adam to have knowledge of good and evil?[k] How could Adam know that disobedience to God is evil and sinful if he doesn’t have knowledge of good and evil? Where did the knowledge of evil come from? Where did evil come from? Doesn’t God already know what Adam will do? If God already knows what Adam will do, then does he have free will? Why did God pick such a severe and final punishment for eating of the tree instead of a lesser one? If God is all powerful and despises sin, could he have created a scenario in which Adam had free will and choices, yet didn’t have the ability to sin?

All of these questions and more will be explored in the next chapter, “The Fall of Man”.

[a]Genesis 2:5. It is argued by some that this creation of plants after man (Genesis 2:8-9) opposes the story told in Genesis 1, however, the bible does specify that only plants "of the field" had not yet grown. So it is possible that other plants exist, just not ones that require cultivated land or rainfall (as opposed to mist).

[b]Genesis 2:6

[c]There are a few ways this can be looked at.

One is that no plants at all existed before man was created, which would make this account of creation contradictory to the first one where God created plants before people (Genesis 1:11-26).

Another is that only plants requiring cultivation and tilling of the earth to grow didn’t exist yet. In this case, God has not yet cursed the ground to make Adam and Eve labor for food. He has not even created them *at all* yet, but already the Bible specifically mentions that plants which require cultivation don’t exist yet because "there was not a man to till the ground". If the Bible is to be interpreted as being inspired of God, then there must be a divine reason that this important detail was included much before the fall of man. If God had not created these plants specifically because man could not till the earth yet, then God already knew before he created Adam and Eve that he would curse them to have to cultivate plants. Can it be said, then, that Adam and Eve had free will? Even when God had predestined their actions and purposefully neglected to create certain plants for the sole purpose of later cursing the ground for Adam?

[d]Another is that when God cursed the ground, he only made it more difficult to till, but they still needed to till the land in the garden of Eden before the curse. This is supported by the Hebrew word that translates to "to till" or serve the ground (עָבַד) being used both in Genesis 2:5 and 2:15. Although, the NET translation has this to say about it, "tn Heb “to work it and to keep it.”sn Note that man’s task is to care for and maintain the trees of the orchard [garden of Eden]. Not until after the fall, when he is condemned to cultivate the soil, does this task change." Also, when explaining that "herb of the field" didn’t exist before man was created (Genesis 2:5), the Hebrew word that translates to "of the field" (שָׂדֶה) is used. Later, when God curses the ground, and says Adam shall eat of it (Genesis 3:18) the same Hebrew word is used, indicating that the plants referenced in Genesis 2:5 are the ones God is now making them eat after the ground is cursed, when previously they ate fruit from the trees in Genesis 2:16. Why would God be interested in having Adam cultivate plants that neither looked good, nor were good for food at the time? Was he preemptively preparing for Adam’s disobedience by creating the plants Adam would need to eat early?

[e]Genesis 3:22 shows that the tree is designed to provide everlasting life.

[f]Genesis 2:7-17

[g]This is contradictory to the first account of creation in which man was created after the animals (Genesis 1:24-26). Some versions of the bible are translated to make it so that the creation accounts agree, but here’s what the NET translation of the bible has to say about that, "To harmonize the order of events with the chronology of chapter one, some translate the prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive as a past perfect (“had formed,” cf. NIV) here. (In chapter one the creation of the animals preceded the creation of man; here the animals are created after the man.) However, it is unlikely that the Hebrew construction can be translated in this way in the middle of this pericope, for the criteria for unmarked temporal overlay are not present here. See S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 84-88, and especially R. Buth, “Methodological Collision between Source Criticism and Discourse Analysis,” Biblical Hebrew and Discourse Linguistics, 138-54. For a contrary viewpoint see IBHS 552-53 §33.2.3 and C. J. Collins, “The Wayyiqtol as ‘Pluperfect’: When and Why,” TynBul 46 (1995): 117-40."

[h]Genesis 2:18-20

[i]It is argued that God did this as a lesson to show Adam rather than tell him that an animal is not a good companion for a human. But in order for such a lesson to take place, it would require Adam to doubt that God had initially created him a proper companion. If Adam did not think that God had erred in his creation or his word, he would just assume that God had yet to create the proper companion for him, and no lesson would be learned. In order for this argument to work, it must be assumed that God wanted Adam to doubt him, in order to teach a lesson. Why would a God so determined for his followers to listen to his every word, willingly sow doubt in his first follower? James 1:5-8 says that doubters will receive nothing from God. Proverbs 3:5 says to trust wholeheartedly in God and to not lean on your own understanding. Why then, would God want Adam to use his own understanding instead of simply creating a woman and telling him that it was suitable for him?

[j]Genesis 2:21-23

[k]This is a question that is debated greatly. However, let’s use the bible itself directly to provide a clear answer without speculation. In Genesis 3:5 the snake explains that after eating from the tree, Adam and Eve will become like god. This is confirmed by God himself in Genesis 3:22. The answer to this question is that God did not want Adam and Eve to become like him. Why would he not want this for them? What could God lose from them having the knowledge of good and evil?

Some argue that this was a test, or the opportunity for Adam and Eve to make a choice and have free will. However, the Bible says at James 1:13 that nobody can be tempted by God. The greek word translated to "tempt" is defined as such: " 

πειράζω:

• 1.to try whether a thing can be done

a) to attempt, endeavour

• 2.to try, make trial of, test: for the purpose of ascertaining his quantity, or what he thinks, or how he will behave himself

a) in a good sense

b) in a bad sense, to test one maliciously, craftily to put to the proof his feelings or judgments

c) to try or test one’s faith, virtue, character, by enticement to sin"

James 1:14 goes on to say that our own desires lead us to sin. So where did Adam and Eve’s desire come from? Did God create it? Did it appear within them on its own? Can people help their desires, even if they don’t act on them? Why would God create a scenario in which desire could lead to something bad if he does not test us?