Personally I don't believe that the bible was meant to be taken literally word for word. I believe that some of the stories of the bible are stories with moral lessons. I hope my answer doesn't offend anyone this is just my own belief.

The serpent is supposed to represent evil. As answered above these are moral lessions. We are all God's children, I don't care what you call God. When we treat each other less than we would like to be treated ourselves we have failed God's plan. It seems so simple, but many don't get it.

The answer lies in the nature of the sin. It isn't so much that Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. It was the message behind the fruit that is unforgiveable which the serpent spoke. The serpent spoke that if Eve ate the fruit she would be like God knowing good from evil. The serpent built up a belief in Eve and then on to Adam that to be like God you had to know good from evil, and this is contrary to the nature of God. Since beliefs are the essence of faith, it is unforgiveable until we change our beliefs. Believing in right and wrong is contrary to forgiveness because they conflict with each other. In theory, (or if your faith accepts it), Jesus tore down this belief system with words and actions, and then through Jewish law by becoming a perfect sacrifice. Even though you may not believe in him, their is credible accountability under Jewish law that the ultimate attonement for all sin would be through a Jewish decendent of David who is without blemish. Of course the controversy was that Jesus was who he claimed to be and that is left to you.... Anyway, if Adam and Eve had just shoplifted or cheated on their taxes then God would have forgiven them because they would have never known any better. Watch out for the serpent who tells you right from wrong, because he is a hypocrite and dualistic.

My interpretation of the reading leads me to believe that Yahweh punished Adam and Eve for disobeying him, and punished the serpent for pointing out that Yahweh had lied to them. The following are excerpts from an essay called "We Are The Other People" by Oberon (Otter) Zell. He encourages people to pass it on, so I will quote it here. It gives insight into how people (other than Jews, Christians, and Muslims) see the story of the "fall" in Genesis. (I will give a link full text of the essay after the parts that are relevant to my answer to your question). "Yahweh God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it. Now this next is crucial: note Yahweh's precise words: (2:16) Then Yahweh God gave the man this admonition, "You may eat indeed of all the trees in the garden. (2:17) Nevertheless of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat, for on the day you eat of it you shall most surely die." Fateful words, those. We will refer back to this admonition later. ... Now this next part is where it starts to get interesting. Enter the Serpent:(Gen. 3:1) The serpent was the most subtle of all the wild beasts that Yahweh God had made. It asked the woman, "Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" (3:2) The woman answered the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. (3:3) "But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, 'You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death." (3:4) Then the serpent said to the woman, "No! You will not die! (3:5) "God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil." What a remarkable statement! "Your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil." The Serpent directly contradicts Yahweh. Obviously, one of them has to be lying. Which one, do you suppose? ... (Gen. 3:6) The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was desirable for the knowledge that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She gave some also to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. (3:7) Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loincloths. (Gen. 3:8) The man and his wife heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. (3:9) But Yahweh God called to the man. "Where are you?" he asked. (3:10) "I heard the sound of you in the garden," he replied. "I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid." (3:11) "Who told you that you were naked?" he asked. "Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?" And now we come to the crux of the Fall. Yahweh had said back there in chapter (2:17), regarding the fruit of the tree of knowledge, that "on the day you eat of it you shall most surely die." The Serpent, on the other hand, had contradicted Yahweh in chapter (3:4-5): "No! You will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil." So what actually happened? Who lied and who told the truth about this remarkable fruit? The answer is given in the next verse: (3:22) Then Yahweh God said, "See, the man has become like one of us, with his knowledge of good and evil. He must not be allowed to stretch his hand out next and pick from the tree of life also, and eat some and live forever." Get that? Yahweh himself admits that he had lied! In fact, and in Yahweh's own words, the Serpent spoke the absolute truth! .... But whatever happened to Adam? After all, way back there in chapter Gen. 2:17, warning Adam about the magic fruit of knowledge, Yahweh had told him that "on the day you eat of it you shall most surely die." So, when did Adam die? (Gen. 5:4) Adam lived for eight hundred years after the birth of Seth and he became the father of sons and daughters. (5:5) In all, Adam lived for nine hundred and thirty years; then he died. Hey, that's pretty good! Nine hundred and some odd years isn't bad for a man who's been told he's gonna die the next day!" http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/11698 Based upon this, it is my belief that (as I said above) Yahweh punished Adam and Eve for disbedience and the serpent for pointing out the truth to Eve. Edit: The tree of life is a seperate tree entirely from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: "The Tree of Life, in the Book of Genesis, is a tree in the "New Jerusalem" whose "fruit" gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. After eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the biblical account states, that Adam and Eve are exiled from the Garden of Eden to prevent them from eating of the Tree of Life. The passage actually reads that God set an angel to guard the entrance to the Garden, so that mankind would not eat of the tree and "Be Like Us." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Life Genesis Chapter 3 verses 22-24: "And the Lord God said, Behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, let he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever; Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." Re: "...none of us would have been born!" I missed the part in any of this where it says that Adam and Eve were sterile prior to The Fall. It says after The Fall that Yahweh punished Eve by increasing her pain in childbirth. How can one increase (make greater than was before) the pain of childbirth if it didn't previously exist?

He punished Adam so the rest of us could come to Earth. If it hadn't been for the Fall of Adam, not a single one of us would be here right now. Remember that Adam and Eve were content and had no reason to reproduce. They ate the fruit, and all of a sudden they were mortal, and BAMMO! there's Cain and Abel. It really wasn't a punishment as much as it was a setup for the rest of us to be here. Adam was INTENDED to fail, and had he not, he'd still be in the Garden, and we'd still be waiting.

I believe we can reconcile the teaching of good and evil with that of forgiveness. Exodus 34:6 tells us that Jehovah, or Yahweh, is a God merciful and slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness and truth. It doesn't say that he never gets angry. We learn that he is also a jealous God, or more accurately, one exacting exclusive devotion. Romans 5:12 and 6:23 help us to see that we humans were sold into sin by our first father, Adam. Try as we will, we will still sin and so we can ask for and get forgiveness because God knows our nature. Defiant, willful, unrepentant sinners will not receive pardon-Exodus 34:7. The angel who became Satan, Adam and Eve were all created flawless, albeit with free will, and could have lived eternally without sinning or disobeying. They willfully chose a rebellious course against the benevolent Sovereign of the universe. Other formerly perfect angels followed and have no forgiveness coming. The fact that countless angels stayed faithful and the perfect human Jesus did the same, under excruciating test, proves that the first three rebels had no excuse. So, in a few words, Jehovah's justice and mercy are always in flawless balance. Yes, he is 'kinda harsh' sometimes, but always perfectly just, wise, loving and powerful. Whenever he is harsh toward willful rebels he is showing mercy to lovers of righteousness. Which will you or i experience? That's truly up to each of us. According to Acts 17:30, God will overlook our times of ignorance as he implores us to come to accurate knowledge and repent-1 Timothy 2:3, 4.

In response to Answer 3 by "AntigoneRising": You assume G-d and the Satan aren't both telling the truth. It's similar to the proverb (or whatever) about the blind men and the elephant where they each describe different parts of the same thing. G-d warns Adam of the negative to deter him from eating of the tree. The Satan comes to woman and tells her the 'positives' of eating of the tree to persuade her to eat of it. Nobody lied. It might be argued that both deceived, but 'deceived' as I know it has a negative connotation and thus G-d did not 'deceive.' Misleading fits, but again has a negative connotation. G-d's not telling the whole thing is the same principle as a parent holding back information from a child for his/her own safety. It's the 'Mommy or Daddy said so' that can be frustrating because the child is not given the underlying knowledge to understand how Mommy or Daddy came to their conclusion.

God is forgiving, and yet with the gift of free will, there MUST be consequences for actions, especially rebellious ones. You tell a child not to touch a hot stove, and if they do when you are not looking, they will literally feel the consequences. God is loving, merciful, gracious, though at the end of the history of humanity, and it is rapidly wrapping up, there will be holiness, and holiness is judgment for a people most calloused.

God freely forgives those who are penitent and ask for forgiveness. The serpent was not penitent and did not ask for forgiveness. Adam and Eve were penitent and God forgave them. But they still had to live with the effects of their sin. Adam and Eve are probably saints in heaven with God. Just like a person today who would sin. God would forgive them but they still had to live with the effects of their sin. With love in Christ.

punish is for correction. i suppose you have led a perfect life. have you never been punished? someone loved you enough to punish you so you would walk straight instead of crooked in the path of life?

And not just any serpent, but a "talking" serpent. Unless it is an allegorical reference not to be taken in the literal sense. Because if we do, literalism necessitates rational enquiring. Here's what the Bible says in GENESIS 3:1-5 "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the LORD God made Himself. And he said to the woma........". Now keep in mind that this "cunning serpent" was a creation of this God. Then it continues: ".....So the LORD God said to the serpent; 'Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all of the days of your life...blah, blah, blah", etc, etc. Now, here's my rational enquiring. Did the serpent as we know it--alimbless reptile--literally "spoke" to this purported woman named "EVE"? And notice how in the verse it is refered to the serpent as a "he" and not a "it". Are we also supposed to assume that this "serpent" used to have limbs and stood upright?. If all of this are just allegorical references then literalism is inconsequential and needs not to be applied, then there would be no reason for conflict. But there's conflict because the peddler of this dogma insist on literal interpretation. Then when you look into all its intricacy, you don't have to be a genius to realize that nothing tally with the report of reason. They claim that this chimera is a historical event that literally happen.

I agree. If the serpent had not followed God's will, and tempted them, how would his plans have worked out? I also believe that Satan works for God. How would there be a lesson to learn if Satan said "No, God, I don't want to hurt Job or his family. Please don't make me do such a horrible thing" or "God, surely you don't want me to tempt your only son? NO, I refuse to do your will!"

when any create sins God punishes them. if they repent... God relents... and accepts them loving ly time and again. the serpent refused to repent.

ha! no kidding... If we are made in his image then apparently he is quite vengeful! and forgiving at the same time! I wake up every morning wanting to kill the police for what they have done to me after another nightmare but by the time I brush my teeth I have forgiven them because two wrongs do not make it right!

Think about it for a second. If you planted a perfect garden and had everything perfect, i.e. "Good", what would you do to the first pest that ruined everything? How bout those rabbits that love your cabbages? You just let them nibble away all day long and never try to poison them or use them for target practice? You have heard about the worm that ruins an apple. Well, that was a story of how a serpent ruined with an apple.

He might be forgiving, but there are lessons from disobedience to be learned along the way. Incorrect choices in life always lead to poorer consequences. He WILL yet forgive, and return all to its original glory, but the time is not yet: ther are lessons to be learned, and work for each to do. Like everything, the price is paid, the work done, before one is permanently paidLOL!

it's easy for you to sin due to the state you born into, and God understands this. But Satan, Adam, and Eve were perfect and given great power and dominion. and if you've seen spider-man you know that 'with great power comes great responsibility.' and they had to take full responsibility for their actions. especialy Satan, being the most powerful. God knew he had bigger plans than just trying to get people in trouble. his works stretch all the way to killing Christ every way he can. But forgivness was offered to Adam and Eve just like it is to us. Adam had hundreds of years to repent, but we don't know what the rest of his life was like, except that he had a lot of children