So i found this while being skeptical of Adam and Eve and The Tree of Knowledge:

Thinking about the story now, it's kinda stupid. I mean, what was wrong with wanting to know more about good and evil?? God, wtf? Anyway, I also found this rlly cool article (link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/11/06/its-time-to-rethink-how-you-read-the-story-of-adam-and-eve/ ) and I'm quoting from it to make a point.

"In the biblical version of creation, God, having made Adam and Eve in his own image, sets them loose in the Garden of Eden with a simple command: “You may eat from any tree in the garden but do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you do, you shall die.” Of course, the serpent, the craftiest of God’s creations, tells them otherwise: “You will certainly not die,” he says. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Man and woman both eat the forbidden fruit, and neither die. The serpent was right. Thus, God banishes Adam and Eve from the garden as punishment for defying his command, and places angels bearing flaming swords at Eden’s gates to ensure that neither man nor woman could ever return."

Idk about the whole thing about Satan telling the truth or what because in the Islamic version, he lies. But in here, he tells the truth which opens up the theory that God lies for his own wants. It seems more believable that Satan would tell the truth (in my eyes, at least). This is mostly bc in the Islamic version, he says smth along the lines of "you won't die, you will become immortal", which wasn't true. It just...wouldn't make sense to me if he lied.

"When I read the Genesis story as a kid, I regarded it as a warning never to disobey God lest I, too, be punished. Now, as an adult, it seems to me that Adam and Eve were punished not for disobeying God, but for trying to become God. Perhaps, then, this myth is hiding a deeper truth, one that, as I demonstrate in my book, “God: A Human History,” our prehistoric ancestors seem to have understood intuitively but that we, who have transitioned from the pure animism of the past to the rigid religious doctrines of today, have forgotten."

Now this brings me more questions but also understanding. God does not want us to become him nor drag him down to our level. In other words, "this is my dimension and this is yours; stick to it". As an author, I can relate because my characters have their own dimension that they can run around in and do what they want. But I prefer to not interact as another character because otherwise, everything would go into heck. I think Adam and Eve were God's experiment when it came to self-implanting himself into the story still within his own dimension (a wormhole, if you will). Which didn't go well. So that makes sense, I guess... But it's still stupid.

What I find so interesting about this article is that they say that God is what exists and not just 1 entity that we can't see. So we will continue to exist as long as the universe exists. And the universe will always exist. Because it was literally just THERE. Which gives the theory - that God is all - some light. Because he was also just there.

This still doesn't mean I trust him. I am just trying to make sense of the story. This makes me think my whole theory of God being a legitimate author is for real and that he's actually more chill than what we see him as. But I still think he's a huge asshole. I'm a better asshole.

Anyways, the credits:

The article I am quoting from was written by Reza Aslan. The link is somewhere up there. And I am merely expressing my opinion on God and the Adam and Eve story in general, NOT the article specifically (tho, I have already said that it's a really good article). And this is in Christianity and Islam specifically, I don't know about other religions.