Sin--A Necessary Evil?
An earth without evil is an earth without contrast...
"You are as blind in all light as you are in all dark."
Humans did not bring evil into the world; the Creator did!
If you are even slightly interested in the Book of Genesis, then I insist that you read it correctly and pay attention to what it is actually saying.
That may be more difficult than you think since Genesis is loaded with contradiction. But one thing is clear: humans are not responsible for the introduction of evil into the world. In this short article I will show you how Adam and Eve could not have committed any sin without the ability to sin being inherent within them from their beginning. And only God could have done that. They did not even know they were sinning until after the fact.
To paraphrase the story (feel free to look it up for yourself in any version of the Bible that suits you), God creates Adam and then plucks Eve from his rib. He places them in the Garden of Eden and tells them they may freely eat from every plant except for the one that stands in the center of the garden, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God tells them that in the day they eat, they will surely die. Then, the serpent (heaven only knows how he got into the garden) asks the woman if God has not said she and Adam can eat anything they want. She replies that all is available except for the center tree. She says they will die if they eat from it.
Here is where the story gets juicy. The serpent then tells the woman that they will not die for God knows that when they eat, they will become like God, knowing good and evil. Sounds good, so she eats, then gives some to Adam. Immediately—and this is crucial—their eyes open and they know good and evil. It suggests that their eyes had been closed. So, in reality, they did not know they were doing anything wrong. It was only after the fact that they knew good and evil, not before. They cannot be held responsible for an act that was basically committed on instinct.
It now gets juicier. Later, God is walking in the garden, calls out to Adam, who admits he is afraid because he is naked. God knows that he and the woman have eaten the forbidden fruit. Just before he tosses them out of the garden, he echoes the words of the serpent:
“Behold, the man has become as one of us, knowing good and evil…”
Seems the serpent was right indeed! Good cannot exist without evil. The whole story represents universal contrast. Nothing can exist without it.
It was a set-up. No sin was committed. It was how God intended the humans to step out of pure instinct and into rational, conscious thought.
Original Sin, then, becomes Original Blessing.