With all due respect, I think I answered that on page 2 here. Here is the section of my response dealing with that:
Jesus said clearly that only God is (intrinsically) Good. Therefore, Adam and Eve already KNEW the Good. The forbidden tree (and some ancient traditions say it was a pomegranate!) was forbidden not because the fruit itself was evil or wrong, but because there had to be some way for obedience to be a matter of free will. If there were no way to disobey, then obedience would mean nothing. Christ said, "If you love me, you will obey me." The connection is plain there.
For Adam and Eve to love God (back), they had to be able to obey as a matter of choice. Thus the tree and the fruit. And thus the fact that disobedience would result in the knowledge of evil, for evil is the result of disobedience to God.
That is why the tree is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The 'evil' is what it added.
This introduced sin into the physical created world (via Satan, it was already in the limited spiritual world). This also cause what I can only picture as a sort of 'spiritual mutation' in all mankind, whereby our natures are sin natures from birth, inclined to rebellion from the beginning. Anyone who doesn't believe this part has never raised a family!
Thus, while we are each accountable for our own volitional sins, the tendency to want to sin (rebel, disobey) is part and parcel of the makeup of every human being alive. It is necessary to differentiate between that tendency, however, and the acts themselves. The legal system of every culture and country is based on the fact that people are expected to control their sin natures, and our parenting is, in large part, dedicated to teaching our children self-control.
To 'burwelm' -- your preacher was wrong about a genetic basis for sin. Genetics have to do with the physical body and sin has to do with the soul, or 'heart' of man. If sin did have a genetic basis, then it could be mutated out -- and that is impossible. We know the only way for sin to be erased is through Jesus Christ.
The Tree of Life is listed in Revelation as being for the HEALING of the nations. Jesus defined eternal life in John 17:3 as knowing the Father and the Son. It has nothing to do with the Tree of Life, which is, and presumably was, for healing in a more physical sense. Life does not and never did come from the tree -- it comes from God directly. The tree, however, seems to be more of something medicinal; physically here and perhaps more later.
Sophie, curiosity is part and parcel of being a human being. It is because of curiosity that we were able to take dominion of the world, even though we have done such a poor job of it. It is not curiosity itself which is bad, but it may be what you are curious about -- what you do with your curiosity -- that is pretty bad. God gave us free choice; what we do with it is up to us.
Loki, we are gods with a 'little g', not deities. The word 'elohim' (gods), simply means 'those in charge' such as judges, rulers, authorities. That is why one of the titles of our Lord is God of gods, King of kings, Lord of lords. That is all the same thing. God did make us authorities, and look what we have done with it!
The original sin, by the way, is NOT atheism -- it was disobedience. Adam and Eve did not become atheists; they became disobedient.
gerani, you asked how old Adam and Eve were -- I presume you mean their age when they sinned. They were created adults, but I don't think they were alive more than a few days before they sinned. The reason is this: at the end of Genesis 2, God gives Adam and Eve the direction to become one flesh. Until they disobeyed by eating the fruit, they would have obeyed. That means they had sex reasonably soon. Without any of our hinderences we have in our degenerated bodies, she would have conceived within two weeks, three at the most. That means that Cain would have been conceived without sin, which goes against the clear teaching of the Bible that we are all conceived in sin. Therefore Eve's conception of her firstborn was after the fall. Since the fall was due to the first disobedience, then they would have been obeying up until that time, which would have included having sex and man and wife.
Continuing through the posts, Satan did NOT put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden! He was the original guardian cherub of Eden (Ezekiel 28:13-16). The tree was so that obedience of man would mean something; it would be a choice. There is NO other way of showing God our love than obeying Him. Adam and Eve had that option the same way we do.
That option itself is a gift from God, so that we can be something more than robots, or organisms of instinct. We have real choices in this life, which have eternal consequences. What are we going to do with the truth we are presented in our lives, and are we going to obey God?
In terms of sin and types of sin, all sin is equal in terms of rebellion against God -- Saul, David, and everyone else! What is different is the effects that rebellion/disobedience to God has on those around us. While sin in the heart in terms of rebellion is just as much sin a mass murder in terms of it separating the sinner from God, the anger of God seems to be, biblically, proportional to how many others are hurt by that sin. So in that sense -- from man's eyes -- there are vast differences in sin. In terms of disobedience to God, however, there are none. All separate the sinner from God.
Which makes it incredibly important to understand that ALL sin was atoned for on the Cross -- intentional sins, unknown sins, all of them. We are saved or condemned in terms of our unbelief regarding Jesus. That is the criteria for eternal life or eternal punishment.
To add a little, evil is the result of disobedience. It does not have existence apart from that; it is the result of disobedience to God. Thus the knowledge of good and evil implied not only knowing God, but having been disobedient, and thus getting to know evil as well. Evil involves the desecration/destruction/deformation of some part of God's creation.