How could A&E be held culpable of sin while "knowledge of good and evil" was being with held from them by God??? Wouldn't the concept of right and wrong or obedience and disobedience be a part of that knowledge being with held from them by God??
No, not necessarily. God had spent quite a bit of time with Adam, educating him before the creation of his wife. (Genesis 2:18-22) This is another indication that the creative days were not 24 hour periods. Humans were created towards the end of the 6th "day", so no time to bring all the creatures to Adam to name them. It is also the reason why Adam was acutely aware that he was the only one of his kind. Every other creature had a mate but him. (Genesis 2:18)
They were not children, but perfect adults with intelligent minds and a background of education given by God. The fact that Eve could reiterate to satan God's command concerning the forbidden fruit is proof that she too has enough knowledge to make an informed decision. These two were without defect, so they did not make a mistake...what they did was wilful, selfish and deliberate.
Would a loving and just God charge them with sin while at the same time purposely not allowing them to even understand what sin is??
Perfect beings have perfect intelligence.....they knew what disobedience meant because God had clearly stated it. They knew what death was because they had in all likelihood seen birds,animals and insects die. None of them were designed to live forever....only humans had that prospect....but it was conditional. As long as they obeyed, they lived. Disobedience to God's one command was the only thing that could cause death.
"The tree of the knowledge of good and evil" was God's exclusive property. The fruit was not theirs for the taking because that knowledge belonged to only God. It was meant to protect them from harm, but once that knowledge was out there....there was no sending it back, so God used it to test both his human and angelic creation so that they would see first hand what happens when you disobey your Creator.
God's direct command not to eat that fruit or they would surely die, does not imply death as a punishment from God as much as it implies a warning that the tree was poison, does it not??
No, there was nothing poisonous about the tree at all. The fruit was perfectly edible but it was a test of their free will and trust that God would not keep something from them that would be of benefit. They ate the fruit but they did not die physically straight away. They certainly died spiritually though, and alienated themselves from God. The genetic defect that came from their disobedience was passed on to all their offspring with no way to eliminate sickness, aging or death.
To me it looks like God tricked them into doing wrong as a way to teach them the difference between right and wrong and only punished them out of love to make sure they understood and kicking them out of Eden, into the real world and had to work harder to survive wasn't really punishment but more like graduating out of kindergarten to first grade where they could continue to learn even more!! I see no original sin only model parenting!!
If you look at the big picture, ask yourself, as free willed creatures, what would have happened if Eve had not been enticed by the serpent? What if she had simply told the serpent that she would obey God instead of what she did? What would have happened if Adam had refused his wife's offer? There are several scenarios that could have taken place....but do we understand why the devil's tactics worked? He wasn't aiming for the woman.....his target was the man. He used his wife to divide his loyalties. Divide and conquer has been a useful tactic in power struggles to this day.
The woman was the newest member of the human race. She was obviously not as well educated as her husband.
The apostle Paul wrote....
"Adam was not deceived, but the woman was thoroughly deceived and became a transgressor." (1 Timothy 2:14) He also said in Romans 5:12...
"That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because they had all sinned." It is not said that sin came through the "thoroughly deceived" woman...but through the man. His sin was different to hers. She was fooled, but his sin was a deliberate act with full knowledge of what he had chosen to do. He chose the love of his wife over the love of his God with dire consequences.
"Original sin" is the defect passed on to all Adam's children due to his disobedience. God had nothing to do with Adam's decision and he did not prevent either of them or the devil from exercising their free will......neither will he do that to us.
He allows us to experience the consequences of our own actions....now that is a good parent. Experience is the best teacher.