Could God Have Prevented Sin?

QUESTION: Could not God have refused to create the tree bearing forbidden fruit, and in this way have prevented the sin of Adam and Eve?

ANSWER: He could have refrained from such a creation, but in that case there would have been some other way of testing their obedience to their Creator. A test must consist in something which appeals to desire. The good-looking fruit appealed to appetite. It would have been too severe if there had not been a great variety of permitted fruit for their health and pleasure. Every free agent, without intelligence and experience, in attempting to find the line between right and wrong, will probably sooner or later find out by stepping over this fiery boundary and getting well scorched for his daring act. The liability of free agents to sin can be prevented only by suppressing their freedom and converting them into machines, i. e., by uncreating them. It is reasonable to suppose that out of all possible plans of a moral universe God selected that one which he foresaw would involve the least suffering. Therefore we should praise God for creating us with all our moral risks instead of censuring Him for the self-induced failure and suffering of as few perhaps relatively as the prisoners in our State prisons are to the entire population outside.

— Steele's Answers p. 258.

The Forbidden Fruit

QUESTION: What was the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden?

ANSWER: The kind is unknown. It is described as good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise. It afforded an occasion for the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, and the pride of life, the three forms of moral evil.

— Steele's Answers p. 234.

Labor Is Not a Curse

QUESTION: What fact shows that labor itself is not a curse?

ANSWER: In Eden man was commanded. to "subdue the earth," to dress and to keep the garden, and to till the ground. These commands accord with his constitution of body and mind, for health, happiness and moral character suffer from idleness. Convicts in prison deprived of work for a long time beg for regular daily labor. The tribes of men who do not labor are savages. Excessive labor is a curse; and child labor in factories is cruel. Pres. Eliot of Harvard University declares that "labor is the greatest civiliz­ing force in the world." I should except Christianity.

— Steele's Answers p. 149, 150.