The life love and Spirit of God

God's life consists of the Father and Son blissfully existing (abiding together) in a relationship of infinite overflowing love. What is it about each other that evokes love? The infinite beauty of the other. 

The life of God is the love God has (experiences) eternally as the Father and Son affectionately behold and enjoy the infinite glory, beauty and worth of the other in, by and through the Spirit.

This is referred to by some as the beatific vision.

The life, love, and Spirit of God go hand in hand if not one and the same. 

Wherever the life of God is present so is the love and Spirit of God 

and 

Wherever the love of God is present so is the Spirit and life of God 

and 

Wherever the Spirit of God is present so is the life and love of God.

For...

God is love 1 John 4:8

God is life 1Jn 5:20  John 14:6-9

God is Spirit John 4:24

The life of God is the dynamic energy of God that moves him to action. 

The love of God is the holy affection that God has within his being as Father and Son, that emanates outward toward others.

The Spirit of God is that distinct being that is the manifestation of the fullness of God's life and love.

Everything regarding the Spirit has to do with affections (emotion e.g. passion, love, and joy) which moves God to action (willing, choosing).

The essence of God's being is infinite glory, beauty, value, worth etc. It is the joyful beholding of these qualities within and between the Father and the Son that generates and sends forth the love, life, and Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is the overflow of his love and life within the community of Father and Son and out to us.

Walking in the Spirit is our believing this very same love that God has for and within himself is fully ours (in and through Christ); then receiving, participating in this love, and responding back to God in love by faith (faithfulness/obedience), and out to our fellow image-bearers (other God-like beings) thereby bringing him honor in and by displaying his glory, beauty, and worth to others.

When we come into God's presence through Christ via his Spirit, we are made fully alive. Why? Because our life consists of being valued/loved (just as God's does). When we are finally in God's direct and unobstructed presence (face to face) we will experience our greatest sense of love/value because He is most lovely and valuable. 

We are able to enter into and enjoy this overflowing God of love, joy, and bliss because we were made to i.e. we are like God - in his image.  

For more on the empowering of the Spirit click here

For more on how our love is a response to God's love, click here. 

the greater the evil the greater the healing

When we hear of an incredibly painful violation of someone, such as rape, or the kidnapping of a child and selling them into sex slavery, what possible good could come out of such horrendous acts? How could God possibly use something of such a destructive and heinous nature for good? 

It's actually the same question we can ask about the unjust murder of Christ himself. Can God bring good out of such evil? 

3 Things to consider. Such evil can result in the following...

• Observing mankind's evil demonstrates how desperately evil man's condition and heart are without God -- proving the futility of being disconnected from God and the importance and necessity of knowing Him and being restored to Him.

• How evil and destructive humanity's rebellious distrust of God can be and is. Distrust or unbelief is the source of all wrongdoing. 

• How Christ fully understands the pain evil causes by going through it at the hands of evil acts i.e., his rejection by his own people, and His subsequent trial and crucifixion. 

Probably the greatest value we derive from suffering at the evil hand of others is a greater appreciation of the sufferings of Christ and a deeper understanding of the love Christ has that moved him to take on this suffering for us. When we see this clearly, it frees us from the bitterness of our past hurts as well as ensures the ultimate and complete removal of it from us in eternity. 

Suffering is not the last word. 

When we consider the suffering someone goes through, no matter how wicked, it does not have to be the end of the story or the ultimate destruction of one's soul -- though it certainly will be if we become embittered and more firmly committed to distrust in God and self-protection. God can (and will) truly and fully restore those who go through such overwhelming abuse and suffering (and beyond) if they allow Him to. If not in this life, certainly in the next if we are in Christ. In fact, because Christ fully took on all our pain, the ¹greater the losses we suffer in this life, the greater our ¹potential gain in the next. 

Also, some of the greatest testimonies of his love and grace are from those who have come out of the most abusive pain and are now brilliant lights for him. 

In fact, he will use evil to heal us in a way we would not have or ever known without evil. The extent of the healing is (and can only be) in proportion to the evil experienced, i.e. the greater the evil the greater the potential healing and appreciation for it. Healing occurs precisely because damage is done and is needed most where the damage is greatest. Without great damage, there is no great healing.

What about the next life?

One of our biggest mistakes is to only view things from a temporary perspective. This is the opposite view taken in Scripture (2 Cor 4:16-18). If this life were all there was, these horrendous deeds would only be devastating, if not irreversible.

This is precisely why the resurrection is so vital and significant. It shouts that pain and death are not the final word... life is!

As Christ said, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but to lose his own soul? Wouldn't the opposite also be true? What great gain it would be to lose the world with all its comforts, benefits, and blessings if it became the means of gaining our eternal soul and an ultimate bliss far greater than any pain that brought us to it? And if we did, how much greater and more appreciated that gain would be once we experience it? If the pain, suffering, and destruction lead to the saving of our souls, would this not indeed be a great gain beyond all comparison? 

Some may argue the wound is too great and deep. How could God heal it? However, because the wound is so deep is exactly why the healing can be and is so great once we experience it. Even greater and deeper than the wound. As Paul said, where sin abounds, grace superabounds, i.e., the abounding is far greater than the loss. Though hard to grasp during the pain, this is the promise made to us. And this is not simply a promise of words but a promise backed up by the real suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ himself. He knows far greater pain than any of us and therefore understands ours better than anyone else.

All of this is possible only because Christ took the evil of our brokenness into his own body and let it wound and destroy him in the most unjust, undeserved, unfair, painful, and ²humiliating manner. An evil more vile and unjust than any of us could know; a wound and pain ³far greater and deeper than any wound any of us could experience or ever suffer. Our wounds do not carry the full weight of humanity's evil. Christ's did. 

Part of what also makes it so great and distinguishes it from all our pain is that it was a wound he was no more guilty of than those who suffer the kind of abuse mentioned at the beginning of this article. He was the ultimate and greatest victim of abuse -- though he submitted himself to this willingly out of love for us. 

And because he rose to life after his terrible abuse and wounding, those who are also abused can be raised to eternal bliss and will be if they are in Christ. And the eternal benefit will far outweigh any present suffering and loss no matter how deep the wound or great the loss. 

Some have ⁴testified of the delivery of knowing Christ's love after coming from such a background. This is the work he has done on your behalf and the promise he offers if you will receive it.

For a further discussion of how we are in a constant state of pain click here.

What is the knowledge of good and evil? click here.

For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good click here.

For a discussion on suffering due to our own choices click here.

For a discussion on seeing Christ love in our pain Click here.
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¹it is a potential gain and not certain, not because God is uncertain but only because our trust in God is uncertain, which determines if we do or do not gain from such events. If and when we fully trust him the gain is absolutely certain. The greater our trust, the greater our gain. 

²All artists' render Christ hanging on the cross with some kind of loin clothe. However, the common practice by the Romans at the time was to crucify their victims naked, to strip them of their dignity, maximizing their emotional pain and shame in addition to their physical pain. We sanitize it by putting a loin cloth on Christ. God did not. 

Add to this that Christ was actually crucified on a hill outside the city walls overlooking Jerusalem. It is understood that everyone within the walls of Jerusalem could see this hill and any events taking place there. Those who were not up on the hill that day could still see what transpired. Those who feel shame for their past abuse have someone in Christ who understands shame. 

Heb 12:2  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Heb 4:14  Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 

Heb 4:15  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted G3985 as we are, yet without sin. 

Heb 4:16  Let us then with confidence (a certainty he understands and does not look down upon us with shame) draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

³But this was not the final word, life was i.e. resurrection. And because it was for him, so it is for those who are in him.

⁴Joyce Meyers was raped over 200 times by her father before the age of 18. Eventually, she led her father to Christ before he passed away. We have also seen how God has used her over the years. She shared how she knows a key reason God has used her in the way He has was because of this abuse. 

G3985 tempted - πειράζω peirazō

Thayer Definition:

1) to try whether a thing can be done
1a) 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
2a) in a good sense
2b) in a bad sense, to test one maliciously, craftily to put to the proof his feelings or judgments
2c) to try or test one’s faith, virtue, character, by enticement to sin
2c1) to solicit to sin, to tempt
2c1a) of the temptations of the devil
2d) after the OT usage
2d1) of God: to inflict evils upon one in order to prove his character and the steadfastness of his faith
2d2) men are said to tempt God by exhibitions of distrust, as though they wished to try whether he is not justly distrusted

2d3) by impious or wicked conduct to test God’s justice and patience, and to challenge him, as it were to give proof of his perfections.

"performance" or action by faith

What is the difference between

·        action by faith and

·        performance based action 

First, how they are alike. 

They both require

·        choice 

·        effort/action

·        giving to get

So in the above ways they are exactly the same. And this is also why they are so easily confused with each other. Why? Because understanding the difference is a matter of the heart, not simply the head i.e. knowing the movement/ motives of our heart is key but usually very hard to discern. 

However, they are totally different in other vital ways for the same reason; in ways not easily identified because they deal with the ways of the heart; hearts that are often hidden from our full awareness. 

Defining terms

Performance is acting to obtain something missing...a sense of "being right," being forgiven, accepted and valued by and through our efforts/actions. It's about proving ones goodness/worth/value by and through self/flesh driven (vs Spirit/love driven) effort/action. 

Action by faith, is acting out of fullness because of what you already have...you already know you are loved, forgiven, accepted and of great value in the eyes of God. Your dependence/trust in God and his assessment of you is what you base your value/worth on. In other words, action by faith is based on knowing that someone of infinite wisdom, judgment and value sees you as good, right and of infinite value/loved (even though practically we often are not good and certainly never good enough through our own efforts). 

When you believe and fully embrace this (i.e. by faith), you respond accordingly i.e. you love Him back in response to his perfect love for you. The more you believe his assessment to be true the greater your action...actions that are an overflow of love, not an attempt to win love i.e. not performing ("jumping through hoops") to gain love.

To operate by faith is possible only because your value to God was already totally proven by actions someone else ¹took on your behalf i.e. God doesn't just declare you valuable, he treats you as valuable i.e. he took action in and through Christ to prove how much he values you. 

Christ took these actions so you might enter into and participate in the same love of the Father the Son experiences and fully participates in (and has always had from all eternity past). 

Christ wanted you to have what he has; the unlimited, unobstructed love of his Father. So much so he willingly gave up something of that love, that you might fully have it (2 Corinthians 8:9). 

This is evidence of how great he values you and has nothing but infinite love for you. He finds great joy and satisfaction in knowing he makes this happen for you. 

What kind of actions did Christ take that proves his love?

He set aside the fullness of his glory and took on human form so he could die in order to settle the debt of your unfulfilled obligation to love and honor God as ¹he deserves and you were designed to do (as well as loving your neighbor). This was necessary because your refusal to live according to his design alienates you from the Father and his love. We turned our back on God when we did what God forbid, he never turned his back on us  As evidenced by sending Christ to us - Emmanuel - God with us.

He did this for two key reasons. 

1. Because you could not  

2. So you would no longer have to in order to be fully in union with God again.

Christ also lived to fulfill your obligations to live as you were designed i.e. he lived exclusively to show forth to others the great honor and worth of his Father that you were meant and designed to do yourself. 

Why would he do all this? He didn't act out of obligation, guilt, need or any other reason. He created you and therefore values (loves) you. You are in his image. 

What do we get, how do we get it? 

So if we, because of Christ, already have God's full, unlimited and complete love, what are we getting when we act by faith?

We are "getting" (entering into or participating in) what we already have. 

To fully experience and benefit from his love already fixed upon us and fully ours in Christ, we must participate in it. 

This is like having the most renown gourmet of all time prepare, cook and set out for you the most delicious and healthy meal possible, with all their experience, resources, skill, thought and effort required to prepare it. A meal that would cost far more then usual (at no cost to you btw) or more than you have. A meal specifically and exclusively prepared for you. A meal that not only brings health and healing but looks and smells exquisite. Clearly an act of care and love. 

Yet, one you won't fully appreciate and enjoy until you sit down and actually eat it. When you do, only then will you completely experience and enjoy the thoughtfulness and care (love) intended for and directed at you by this highly regarded gourmet chef who prepared it. 

So how do we eat/participate in the infinite love of the Father?

Christ himself tells us how he did when he said the following…

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." Joh 15:9-11  

First, we must understand, we are talking about the perfect, infinite and infinitely loved Son of the eternal Father. Nothing Christ did ever caused His Father to love him. The Father loves the Son because of who Christ is, not because of what he did (though what Christ did certainly confirmed why the Father loves the Son with infinite affection). Christ and the Father have a love relationship that is constant and has always existed from all eternity past before we came along. There has never been a time when the Father and Son did not love each other, nor will there ever be. There was and is ²nothing Christ could do, to add to, or take away from this infinite love.

Nevertheless, Christ still went out early in the morning seeking his Father in prayer. Why? In doing so, was he trying to earn, through his efforts (performance), what was already fully his? NO!!! He did so to participate in the love that was already there, waiting for him to partake of. 

To fully abide in/experience his Fathers love he pursued the Fathers will i.e. followed his directions/commands. And because he loved and fully trusted his Father he found joy in doing so. This wasn't a performance to impress his Father to gain His love. It was a demonstration and display of love and honor for the love (Father) of his heart. And there is something about acting on our affections for another that makes them more real. 

How does anyone experience a love relationship? Do they experience it best when they are miles apart and never interact or speak to the one they love? No, the experience occurs best and most when they are fully present, engaged and participating in that relationship - e.g. when apart from the one they most cherish, they travel to be with the other so they can be together or they get on the phone to talk to each other and see how the other is doing and how they can best show their care/love for each other etc. The greater the participation in the relationship the greater the experience of the love that is already there. 

Who has not been in a relationship with someone near and dear, such as a spouse, only to experience the affection of that relationship wane when time is not spent together. Is it not that way with any love relationship? 

If so, why would it not also be the same with us in our relationship with God? Wouldn't it be exactly the same (i.e. we desire and find love through relationship [time spent together] with God just like with others)? Isn't God a relational being as well, just like any person? We are no less relational beings when it comes to God simply because that relationship is with God instead of another fellow image bearer. In fact, all "personhood" is an expression of the very image of God himself. 

It all starts with and comes from God.

When we consider personhood comes from God as well as relationship; that God is a person in relationship via the Father, Son and Spirit, this makes a relationship with God even more significant and powerful. A relationship not with just any person but the very person who is the source of love and relationship and has always and only existed in relationship. 

The key difference is God does not need us, we need him. But he enjoys relationship with us no less. In fact He delights in relationship. He created us for it and is the source of it. It is who he is and it (i.e. love) drives all he does. 

So how do we participate in this love relationship with God? How do you with any relationship. You cherish the other person in that relationship. Some of the ways you do is find out what they like and then you do all you can to do that for them or give it to them i.e. you seek to discover everything you can about them and how you can best carry out their wishes and show them how much you value and love them by doing so. In so doing you are saying (by action, not just words) they are important to you. You value them. The greater your effort (faithfulness) to do this the greater the evidence of your value/love of them and the relationship you have together. 

This is just as true (maybe more so) with God as with any relationship. 

Joh 14:15  "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 

For a further discussion on love being something other then just feelings click here. 
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¹Because we fail to carry out this primary design of loving and honoring God according to the greatness of his worth, we also fail to carry out our secondary design to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

²not to suggest Christ's obedience was robotic, automatic or without real challenge as demonstrated in his wilderness temptation, the garden of Gethsemane and cry to his Father on the cross of feeling abandoned.

Knowing good and evil

Gen 2:17  but from the tree of the knowledge of goodH2896b and evilH7451b you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

What exactly is "the knowledge of good and evil." Whatever it is, it was not something ¹Adam and Eve originally possessed or experienced.

Hopefully, the following analogy may be helpful.

Just as loving ^[1]parents bring a child into the world and nurture it, so did God with Adam and Eve. In the same way, a child has no concept of what it's like to no longer have parents caring for them (no more than a fish would know what it's like to be out of water), Adam and Eve had no concept of what it would be like to no longer be connected to God and under his personal care and direction. Once they did, they started to experience "evil." Before that, they only knew good.

The all-too-common rebellion and [2] pulling away of adolescents from their parents is not unlike what Adam and Eve did in the garden. They rebelled from dependence and trust in God and decided they could be like God in a way they were never designed to be and call their own shots, i.e., become their own god. They chose to believe (without proof) that they knew what was better for them than God (even though God alone is all-knowing). Much like what kids do with their parents as they get older. 

As a child develops and matures, they often begin to take for [3]granted the care of their parents, not recognizing how beneficial it is; believing they can better care for themselves. The same happened to Adam and Eve regarding God.

Yet if we have truly loving, wise, and caring parents, they always know us in a way we don't know ourselves (we all have blind spots). Spiritually and emotionally healthy parents usually know us better than we know ourselves. Of course, there are many parents who themselves are not emotionally or spiritually healthy and give a child a good reason to "jump ship."

They also desire something we want or need. If nothing else, their love and desire are normally for our best. It is expressed differently as we age but is always there. 

Plus, we will always be our parents' child, and they will always be the cause (humanly speaking) of our existence. Therefore, an emotionally mature parent will always desire and seek our best. The story of the prodigal son comes to mind. No matter how rebellious his son was, the love of his father never waned. The father looked for his son's return, even in his son's rebellion. So much so, he spotted him coming home when He was still far away; i.e. he was eagerly looking and hoping for his return. 

And lastly, good and loving parents will have acquired greater wisdom through life experience. They simply have been around longer and know more about how things work because of the life lessons they have gone through. 

Of course, all these things are true with God but on an infinitely higher level. In this sense, even the most perfect parents will never be like God.

So why the rebellion?

We know what we know, but it's what we don't know that often "eats at us" -- we don't like being finite and having to trust. We like being in control and independent. We may be tempted to think, what if I can do things better than God (or my parents in the case of a child) or we may even be convinced we can -- even though we have no actual evidence through life experience. Taking this posture is one of faith.

When you stop to consider this regarding God, it is the height of arrogance. How could Adam and Eve ever know all things or be the provider and sustainer of all things -- and therefore know what was best for them compared to God? Wasn't this exactly the question and point God made with Job who went through such great pain.  

Possibly we have an example here of the expression "familiarity breeds contempt." Adam and Eve had regular access to God, so their participation in fellowship with him was a common experience. God was always available. They had never experienced a time he was not a part of their lives. Possibly over time they took him for ^[3]granted and lost sight of how great he truly was (maybe the extent of his greatness could not have been fully appreciated unless contrasted with no longer participating in it. Like the brightness of a light is most evident the darker the night. For more on this click here). 

We are curious creatures in that we do not fully appreciate the good we possess or experience until we no longer have it. It's as if we must lose something of value first before we can fully appreciate and value it for it's actual and true worth or be truly grateful for it (the ^[4]greater the value the more significant the loss but also the greater the potential learning opportunity and appreciation for what has been lost. For more on this click here). 

What exactly is good and evil?

From the verse at the beginning of this article, here are the definitions found in the original Hebrew. Emphasis my own:

Good - H2896b  טוֹב - tob  (375a); from H2895; a good thing, benefit, welfare: — enjoy *(1), good (66), good thing (3), good things (2), goodness (1), graciously (1), happiness (1), happy (1), pleasant (1), prosperity (8), richer (1), well (1), what is good (1), what is good (4).

H2895  טוֹב - tob (373b); a prim. root; to be pleasing or good: — any (1), did well (2), done well (1), fair (1), go well (1), good (1), good (5), high (1), merry (3), please (2), pleased *(2), pleases (4), pleases *(2), pleasing (1), well (8), well-off (1). 

Evil - H7451b  רַע - ra  (948c); from the same as H7455; evil, distress, misery, injury, calamity: — adversity (7), calamity (4), disaster (2), evil (94), harm (2), harmful (1), hurt (1), ruin (3), surely (1), trouble (2), unpleasant (1), wickedly (1), wickedness (1).

H7455  רע - rôa‛BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs') Definition:1) badness, evil 1a) badness, bad quality 1b) wilfulness 1c) evil, badness (ethical) 1d) sadness

Based on the context of this verse we could sum these definitions up as follows:

Good - God himself and all the benefits, provision, and pleasure that come with knowing him and being with him.

Evil - Injury or harm (e.g. death) that comes due to the absence of God and all the good things he provides. 

Before man's rebellion, it doesn't say they did not know good, it says they did not know good and evil i.e. good in contrast to evil. Adam and Eve obviously experienced good because they walked with God and enjoyed the garden. They also enjoyed the companionship and joy of union with ^[5]each other. 

The bottom line... they only knew good, not evil. They only knew of his total care and provision. They had no concept of what it would be like to lose him or his ^[6]provision. They had nothing to compare and contrast this provision and good to in their personal experience (Possibly Adam's seeing the animals having partners when he did not have one, came close to this. But this wasn't harm or loss but something lacking and may have been a greater concern of God's than Adams). 

All they knew about evil is what they were told i.e. the day they ate they would die. They had no concept of pain, death, loss, distress, misery, injury, calamity, adversity, disaster, harm, hurt, ruin, trouble (knowledge of evil) because they had never seen or experienced any of it. What they did know however was God said it was not a good thing and they were asked to trust and believe this warning (a kind of promise in reverse if you will) from God. They chose to experience this 1st hand instead of trusting God's warning.

However, they definitely knew what good was (even though they had nothing to contrast it with). It was what they were experiencing daily. With a little deductive reasoning it could be argued they could have at least concluded evil was certainly not the same as good and possibly the opposite of it. Enough, you would think, to deter them from wanting to know what it was with certainty, through first-hand experience. Regardless, God said do not eat. That should have been (in their eyes) and was (in God's eyes) sufficient. 

What is interesting is when tempted, Eve (with Adam right beside her) bought into the promise of being like God versus the promise (warning) that they would die if they ate. She (and Adam) definitely chose between these two very contrasting and competing options offered by two completely different sources, God (the Creator) vs the ¹serpent (a mere and inferior creature to Adam much less to God). 

Some might argue that it's unfair for God to expect them to heed his warning without knowing the full meaning of it. However if one fully trusted God, this should and would be sufficient. Trust was unavoidable regardless. They simply wound up trusting the wrong party i.e. they trusted the creature (ultimately themselves i.e. their own understanding vs God's explanation, encouraged by the suggestion of the serpent) vs the Creator. 

We can only conclude that the primary point of the instruction by God to not eat of the forbidden tree was to trust (not doubt or question) God in those instructions. It was a warning they were expected to believe and heed regardless of whether they ^[6]fully understood or experienced first hand what evil was or was not (isn't this often the very case now? Aren't we often called to trust God even when we don't always understand). 

But why trust? The fact is man will never know all things apart from God simply because he is finite and God is infinite. To say it another way, man was never intended to be all he was designed to be apart from God and his dependence on (trust in) him. 

Man will always need to depend on God for true knowledge simply because God is infinite and we are not...something that sticks in our crawl even today if we are honest. The heart and essence of the desire to "be like God" was (and is) a rejection of this dependence and the necessity to trust. 

It is this very disposition of independence that God is reversing in and through Christ. Ironically, he uses pain and suffering (evil) from our attempts at inappropriate independence, to do so. 

God uses evil for good

Now that we experience loss, the ongoing lesson God seeks to instill in all of us (using our loss to aid in this) is all we are and have - all good - comes from God. So even though evil is not good, the harmful consequences/loss of our pulling away from God is the means of helping us to understand a vital reality; distrust of (independence from) God is bad and trust of (dependence on) God is good. To say it another way, all good comes from God, all bad is due to the absence of God. Evil is incorporated to aid us in seeing this. Or as I once heard it said, "if God could not use evil for good, evil would not exist"(source unknown).

Knowing that all good is in God alone and only comes from him is the simple reality of how things are and how our world was and is designed to operate. He alone is God, the provider and sustainer of all things. When God calls us to recognize this, he is not on an ego trip, he's seeking our good. It simply is the reality of how things are; what is; how things are designed to operate and how they operate best when adhered to i.e. God is the giver and sustainer of all things, so if you wish to live life fully as intended, live life according to God's design-will. In doing so you will find the greatest meaning purpose and joy simply because this is who we are and who God is. Believe it or not. 

Posts on related topics:

What occurred at the fall? 

How does God use evil for our good? 

The greater the evil the greater the opportunity for healing/grace.

Why is there ¹pain, suffering and evil?

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^[1]Of course the analogy breaks down in that the gap of understanding, wisdom and love between God and mankind is beyond comparing to that of our earthly parents. God is perfect. Our own or any earthly parent is not. God alone is perfect in love, wisdom and he alone has total ability (is "all powerful") to put all his other attributes fully into play i.e. he alone is able to fulfill all his promises and insure we experience his love and wisdom to the fullest extend possible; human parents are not e.g. a human parent can't absolutely insure a particular outcome or prevent irreparable destruction due to a child's poor choice, or use our bad choices for our good, whereas God can and does use all things to bring about our ultimate good when we are His child.

^[2]Leaving our parents is not necessarily a bad thing if we leave in a posture of fullness and not in order to find it i.e. we don't leave to "get away" from our parents but to honor them. When we do, we seek to pass along and multiply what we received from them, thereby bringing them honor. Possibly this would have occurred if Adam and Eve had not rebelled. They were, after all, originally mandated to be fruitful and multiply before the fall. 

I am also aware some who read this may not relate at all to what it's like having loving parents or possibly the support of biological parents. 

What if you didn't have such perfect parents growing up? Most of us don't.

The good news is if you are his child you have a perfect parent now. 

If you are not his child, he offers to be for you what you never had. 

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. Psalm 27:10 (KJV) 

(CEV)  Even if my father and mother should desert me, you will take care of me.
(ERV)  Even if my mother and father leave me, the LORD will take me in.
(ESV)  For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.
(GNB)  My father and mother may abandon me, but the LORD will take care of me.

^[3]Taking for granted the goodness of God and the blessings Adam and Eve experienced may have actually been the true "original sin" or at least the soil out of which it sprang. The eating of the fruit was merely the outward evidence of an inward disposition that had developed and already existed, whether only for a brief moment before the eating... or developed over a more extended period. 

Though there is no indication of an extended period of time regarding this decline in disposition, this alone does not mean it didn't exist. The bible is often very concise and only touches on key points in conveying the most important events that may have occurred over an extended period of time, such as Lot's wife turning to salt. (This is believed by some commentators to be the natural result of exposure to the air of the very salty Dead Sea after she died from the heat of burning sulfur, instead of a sudden event as depicted in the Hollywood version). We also see this in the gospels when one gospel will have a more concise explanation of an event and another a more extended version.

What we do know is both trees were there from the beginning and were also next to each other in the center of the garden where neither could be missed or avoided. It is probably safe to assume they ate from the tree of life and possibly often over a period of time since they were allowed to eat of all tree's except the one forbidden. And since the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was right there next to the tree of life, you can be sure they passed by it often and likely saw it often if not continuously since it was in the center next to the tree of life. This could have very well resulted in questions arising over time about the forbidden tree and if it was really all that bad. 

The fact that Eve said they also could not touch the tree suggests touching it had crossed her mind or possibly Adam added this caution to insure Eve would not even go near it at all. If so, why would Adam give this added instruction, assuming he did? Maybe he himself had felt the allure of the tree? Since we don't know, we can only speculate within the boundaries of scripture and that is all this indented comment is; speculation. But certainly questions worth considering. A question we will likely get an answer to now but get when we set into eternity. 

Gen 3:6  So when (however long that took. It appears to all be within a brief period, if not in the moment itself) the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 

The availability of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was simply the opportunity and means of displaying their trust in God or taking God for granted and the resulting distrust and ingratitude.

^[4]The reality is complaining about what we do not have or what we lost is to not understand everything we are and have is a gift from God to begin with, not a right or something we are owed, have earned or that is deserved. 

This is not to say however, God does not want us to have these things. If he did not, he would have not given them to begin with.    

^[5]Possibly they lost sight that the joy of their relationship as husband and wife was a gift from God as well and therefore they thought their relationship would be just as good without God as it was with Him i.e. since they had each other, they didn't need God, not realizing that the actual joy they found in each other was by and from God indirectly. To say it another way, they had not experienced evil therefore they had no concept of what loss felt like.  

^[6]God allowed man to continue having access to and enjoying his creation. What does this say to us about how we handle others in terms of showing kindness and doing good deeds for them in their rebellious independence from God i.e. what can we learn from God who allowed Adam and Eve to continue to participate in the good gifts of life (creation) even in their rebellion? Wouldn't he have been justified in letting them die immediately on the spot? In the earliest records in scripture we see grace towards God's rebellious image bearers; we see God seeking them out and hinting of a future provision while providing for their immediate need. God is good and loving even in our rebellion. 

Yet, after their rebellion, God did not allow access to the garden itself for their own good. God already knew man would abuse the creation and use it to maintain his independence from him. So being put out of the garden [which is the location of the tree of life and where God manifested his earthly presence at that time] and experiencing the curse of thorns and thistles due to Adam's breaking away from God, was God working for their ultimate and eventual good.

It appears that knowing evil was a necessary part of more fully appreciating and enjoying good. In truth evil accentuates the beauty of good as long as we do not allow it to embitter us to the point we no longer can trust in good again.  

^[6]We see no indication of God explaining evil or death to Adam (Eve found out of God's warning from Adam, since she was created after the caution was given). We simply see God cautioning Adam of it.

However we must remember God himself knew good and evil (Gen_3:5,22) so this knowing in itself could not be wrong or bad (at least not for God) as there is only goodness in God. This knowing by God was simply an awareness of harm and death in contrast to goodness and the bliss of love between the Father, Son, and Spirit. 

The knowing of good and evil may not in itself have been Adam and Eve's problem either but rather how they acquired that knowledge was i.e. they obtained it illegitimately by going against God's warning. Possibly if Adam and Eve proved they were able, God would have eventually allowed them to know both but only when He knew it was best. 

But we may wonder how and when did God ever have first hand knowledge and experience harm or loss i.e. evil?

The possible explanation is God is everywhere present as well as all knowing. This not only addresses the spatial but also the temporal i.e. It applies to time as well as location. 

There is no time with God. Everything is in the present for him i.e. everything simply is for him. This seems to be God's point when Moses asked God what to tell Israel to call him. God simply said tell them "I AM" sent you. God is. There is no "it will be one day" or "it was a long time ago" with or for God in the ultimate sense. Everything already is for God, always has been and always will be throughout eternity. Hard to grasp but this is a key difference between the infinite and the finite. All of history and all future events as well as present experience and observation is not something that occurs in a linear progression for God (even though he somehow really and truly stepped into time through creation and the incarnation and now fully and gladly participates in it. But this addresses Gods experiencing time. It does not mean he is limited or constrained in his infinite knowledge by it). 

To say it another way, time is a part of the created order, it is not an inherit part of God. Before God created, God is; there simply is no time for God. God can and certainly does participate in time but it only became so when he created things that operate in time, not before. And it is only because he willingly chose to participate, not because he had to as we do. Once God created, not only the material world came into existence but also time itself began as a part of it, for the first time. His participation in time reached its pinnacle when God the Son took on flesh and walked among his creatures and creation.

What is intriguing is in a very real sense, once we step into eternity, we too will no longer be restrained by time as we now are (though we may very well continue to experience and participate in it). 

To get a little sense of what it might be like to not participate in time, think of the expression "time flies" when we are engaged in something we enjoy. It is the enjoyment itself that is our focus not time. If we had no restraints of the ebb and flow of energy and resources, we would be oblivious to time. This may give us some idea of what things are like for God and will be like for us as well. Once we enter into eternity, time will no longer matter to us in the same way it does now since those things we usually associate with time will no longer exist i.e. it may be an aid but not a burden.

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Footnotes:

¹though it is something that God possessed:

Gen 3:22  Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”

(GNB)  Then the LORD God said, "Now these human beings have become like one of us and have knowledge of what is good and what is bad. They must not be allowed to take fruit from the tree that gives life, eat it, and live forever."

If this is a quality of God himself, it cannot be bad or he would not possess it. The issue is it was not suitable for Adam and Eve to possess, at least in their current state of spiritual immaturity.

²It is worth noting, Adam being the last thing created, did not observe the rest of creation when it occurred. He came in after the fact. So his believing other creatures were created by God was a posture of faith, not first hand observation and experience i.e he did not see God create anything other then Eve herself (and even then he was asleep when she was created).

As a separate point from the above, He did participate in a kind of creative process by God having him name the animals. Nevertheless he had to accept God created everything simply because God said he did. Adam was not a first hand witness to it. There were many things about God, Adam was expected to accept solely by faith.