Mark

Cheryl,

I’m abit confused with what your saying about God’s declaration of becoming like God.

you said
“So if the serpent and God are not saying the same things, and it is my contention that they do not agree, then when God says in the perfect tense that Adam was (and continues to be) like God and knew good and evil before he ate the fruit, then this was the problem. Adam always was and continues to be like God except that now he not only knows the difference between good and evil but he has experienced the actions of evil.”

Why have you said that Adam ‘was’ and continues to be…?
The text clearly saids that he has ‘become’ (hayah) like one of ‘us’. This could not be the case if Adam ‘was’ like that before the fall. What Adam ‘has become’ is new from the fall (and continues i agree).

I see what you are saying about the Satan being a liar, but the best liars or decievers or false teachers are those who tell ‘half truths’. The ones who openly deny true teaching are easy to spot. It’s the ones who sound biblical that you need to watch out for.

I believe that what the Serpent said was a half truth. They did become like God knowing good and evil, but not in the way that Eve expected- a ‘desire’ to become ‘wise’.
The irony is that rather than becoming ‘wise’ when they ate, they became ashamed of their nakedness.

I think there is more to knowing good and evil than just experiencing it, but i am well aware that this issue has been unresolved for centuries, and people never seem to agre on it.