I reject this kind of thinking utterly. You might test things if you are creating tools and don’t quite know what this takes, so this certainly does not fit with the believe in a knowledgeable competent creator. But life serves no purpose in the creation of tools. Creating life only makes sense if what you seek is a relationship with others, i.e children, and you do not test children in this manner. This god you describe is lacking both competence and moral integrity, and I would never worship such a thing no matter what its threats and promises. Instead I would oppose this monster indistinguishable from the devil with every fiber of my being.
However, it is perfectly natural for a parent to give a commandment like this, “stay out of the street or you will die.” It a necessary part of the process by which you get children to be responsible for their own well being. Parents do not give such commandments in order to test their children but in order to guide them with every hope that the children will do what they are told. Mistakes is a natural part of a child’s learning process, and so making this about obedience is reprehensible. But even though some consequences of disobedience are irreversible, like the child being hit by a car, we do not say they got what they deserved for running into the street. But regardless whatever the parent dictates in response to this is to make things better and certainly not a vindictive reaction to them daring to disobey – a parent who does that belongs in prison.
I certainly agree that the point of this story is to explain how evil came into the world. It came from Adam and Eve and not from some imagined rebellion of the angels. But also do not believe either evil or knowledge comes from a fruit, and I don’t believe eternal life comes from a fruit either. Nothing shouts symbolism in the Bible louder than the names of these two trees. And, by the way, the name of the tree was “tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil.” Explaining this name is considerably more difficult since the idea that God would oppose gaining such knowledge is opposed to one of the principle purposes of all the major religions (though I have explained this elsewhere on the forum).
Evil is not necessary in order to appreciate good. Evil is essentially parasitical and cannot exist without good, but good does not require evil.
However, with both good and evil already within us, sometimes we have to have our noses rubbed in evil in order for us to see the need for change and separate ourselves from it.
No, I do not believe this. I reject the book of Enoch and this teaching of a rebellion of the angels before creation. A god who cannot create servants capable of obedience has no business bringing children into this mess which is the result of it.