Hi Denise,
I will explain this the way that I understand it. The story of Adam and Eve is a real literal thing that happened, therefore not a parable. God uses it as a type and shadow to explain about all humanity that follow right in their footsteps.
What exactly does the Tree of Good and Evil do to us? How does it change our nature, before and after you eat the fruit?
I believe this was a literal tree, but it represented something much greater and that is life and how we live it, good and evil. It was a test for them and it shows that as with them no human being can or will obey, but all will follow their own lusts.
Psa 14:3 All have gone aside, together they are filthy; there is none who does good, no, not one.
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,
All humans are born with a carnal human nature, it's not something that happens at some point, we are born that way.
Rom 8:7 because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can it be.
So we 'eat of the fruit' so to speak, as we live our lives and experience good and evil. God has deemed it necessary for all humanity to experience this physical life to gain and learn from personal experience about good and evil. So for now this age is for this carnal experience that we all are having, it's for a backdrop, a backdrop of darkness. Only a very few are being chosen out and given God's Holy Spirit to have their eyes opened to the truth/light in this age.
Was Satan already branded a deceiver, at the time, Adam and Eve was in the garden, or was he branded a deceiver only after he seduced Adam and Eve in sinning? Here's another question in the same parameter. Satan was communicating with Eve through a serpent. Don't you think Eve would have found this odd that a snake could communicate, unless all animals in the garden can communicate with you back then?
Satan is a spirit and can not be seen, therefore God speaks of him in terms that we can relate to. Here is what Ray says about him.
http://bible-truths.com/lake2.html ----------------
Is this really describing something physical?
[Ray's reply]
Satan is a spirit being, seeing that he has been around for thousands of years. He is called a devil, serpent/snake, dragon, etc. We are not exactly sure what a dragon looks like, but supposedly it is in the reptile family as are snakes.
Nowhere that I can think of, did Satan ever appear visibly to anyone. Therefore his serpent/dragon qualities (or lack thereof) must be spiritual. Satan is a SPIRITUAL SNAKE. He has the secret, stealth qualities of a snake moving unseen in the dark. Although he is "like" [in certain characteristics] a roaring lion, he is not a lion, but "as" a lion he goes about seeking whom he may devour [Gk: 'swallow up' as in 'swallow a camel']. Spiritually devour/swallow.
So, did Eve talk with a literal, physical, snake, face to face, in the garden? I don't think so.
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John 8:44 You are of the Devil as father, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and did not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Satan from the beginning was created as he is, he did not turn into the devil. So it was not a literal snake, Eve was tempted and drawn away by her own lustful carnal human nature.
I think you are trying to jump way ahead on these things. If you really want to gain a good understanding of these things you need to read all the articles that Ray has written. There are bits and pieces all through them that you will gleem as you go to build your understanding of these things. Getting a condensed answer here will not give you all that we had to read through to come to the understanding that we have. There are no short cuts, the time and effort it takes is just a necessary part of being approved to God.
2Tim 2:15 Study earnestly to present yourself approved to God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
mercy, peace and love
Kat