1) Temptation
account is not real. If real, it would mean that Satan and Jesus believed that
shape of earth is flat so that both can see "all the kingdoms of the
earth" if viewed from the mountain top.
2) Genesis
account of Satan is borrowed from pagans, hence not worthy of analysis. Even if
it is original, details does not befit the kind of Satan he should be. If Satan is so smart as to scheme against God and his children, he
would definitely choose some smart method, not a sub-standard temptation as in
this case. It is too obvious that Adam and Eve who had already experienced God
as their unlimited benefactor would never believe God as withholding something
good from them, nor He is a liar, especially when such a malicious suggestion
originated from a stranger—with a strange phenomenon—a snake with speaking
ability! Also Satan contradicted only the effects of their disobedience, which
of course further weakens his position, because prima facie,
it is the Law-giver that knows the effects of disobedience, not the spectators
who have never seen a violation before.
3)
“The tree of the knowledge of good and evil” planted by God too backfires because
account says “when the woman saw that
the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a
tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did
eat.” Sense of good or bad would have arisen in Eve only after eating the fruit
of that tree, but here she got that sense even before eating it. Hence the
question arises: Was it a literal tree?
