Adam and Eve

Question from Dean Famiano on 1/10/2008:

Father,

This is from my Gather.com post, please excuse it being so casual. I also posted what I feel was the answer to the question at Gather.com too. If you feel like looking at it, let me know. Thanks, Dean:

God said to Adam and Eve, "Don't eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil".

That's fine, they should have listened to God.

However, in Eve's defense, HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT IT'S EVIL NOT TO LISTEN TO GOD IF YOU HAVEN'T EATEN FROM THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL?

They didn't KNOW that it was evil, because they didn't know what evil was!

Answer by Fr. John Echert on 1/22/2008:

They new that they were created by God and therefore were subject to Him in all matters. So they would have known that defiance of the command of God would be a mortal sin--deadly--for God had even told them that they would surely die, were they to disobey Him. It is built into our constitution and conscience to be able to distinguish right from wrong, and this was certainly the case with Adam and Eve, whose conscience was clear and not so clouded as ours.

Thanks, Dean

Father Echert