Based solely on whats available in the Genesis account, what would happen if Eve had not eaten the fruit but had continued a relationship with the "Serpent" in perpetuity questioning God's motives? Would she be punished for this exercise of Free Will?
I ask the question because my personal belief is that if the Genesis account is in fact allegory, then what comes after it should be awarded no more acknowledged efficacy that what we prescribe to Aesop, Confucius or any other pragmatic, non-theistic value-set that has survived history . This applies to a lesser extent to the Gospels for me, since there is very little evidence that these should be taken as accurate as well. As much as I believe such doctrines as 1914, abstaining from blood etc. have been supplanted by reason, overall I care little about the debate because it seems to me that the basis for them is make believe anyway.
Sometimes I get the impression that the Society/GB see's their strategy not unlike the Russians did during Napoleon's invasion.Continue to retreat until the time comes when the invasion can be neutralized by Armageddon, the Great Neutralizer, and Satan can eventually be weakened and deposed to his own personal Elba.
I see holes in doctrine like everyone else does. However, even in the areas we are meant to take at face value without extrapolation and adjustment over time, there are huge flaws in the logic and these to me are just as important, if not more so, as those doctrines that have required 'the light to get brighter'.
This forum is a godsend, for lack of a better word, to discuss these lapses of rationality.