Why Wouldn't God Want Adam and Eve to Have Knowledge of Good and Evil?

The Bible says that God created Adam and Eve and put them in a beautiful garden full of trees with good fruit.

However, God also created a tree that would give the eater the knowledge of good and evil - commanding Adam not to eat its fruit. 

Why would God create something that was banned and, specifically, why would it be a tree whose fruit offered knowledge of good and evil? Isn't knowledge good?

Skeptics often complain that God set Adam and Eve up to fail. However, God had to give Adam and Eve a choice. Without free will to choose, Adam and Eve would have been mere puppets. True love always requires choice. God wanted Adam and Eve to choose to love and trust Him. The only way to give this choice would have been to command something that was not allowed. Since God had planted in the garden all the different trees from which we now get fruit, the test was not too difficult. Adam and Eve had plenty to eat and a large variety of fruits from which to choose, and could have chosen to believe God. They were only commanded not to eat from one tree out of the many.

God did not want Adam and Eve to experience evil or even know about it.
However, Satan had already rebelled against God and then tempted Eve to join him in rebellion against God.

Satan used the oldest ploy in his playbook of deceit - God is a cosmic killjoy who is trying to keep something good from you. 

Satan first asked Eve about the tree from which they were told not to eat. 


Eve told Satan they were not to eat of the forbidden fruit or they would die. Satan's reply indicated that God was a liar and that He just wanted to keep something good (the fruit) from them, saying, "God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So, Adam and Eve gained knowledge of the difference between good and evil through direct experience, instead of through instruction by God. The text suggests that Adam and Eve had enjoyed daily walks with God through the garden prior to their fall (Genesis 3:8). The knowledge of evil brought fear and shame to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:10). So, the knowledge of good and evil was not a good thing, since it ruined their innocent relationship with God and each other.

Skeptics claim that God set up Adam and eve to fail by giving them a test that was either too difficult or deceptive.

However, the Bible makes it clear that God gave Adam and Eve all they needed - with lots of different trees from which to eat fruit.

It is clear that Eve knew she should not eat from the one tree in the middle of the garden that she was instructed to avoid.


Instead of believing God and trusting Him, after all He had done for them, Eve chose to believe the lies of Satan (in snake form), and believed that God was lying to her. 
She ate the forbidden fruit and convinced her husband to do the same, resulting in their loss of innocence and a broken relationship with God and each other. Yes, they now had knowledge of good and evil, but it wasn't quite as originally advertised by the snake. We still have the same choice as Adam and Eve. We can gain the knowledge of evil by directly participating in it or we can believe God and avoid the things He has said are bad for us.