Original Sin

When I was a child, some time in prehistory, an aunt gave me a bible. If she wanted to influence me to grow up Christian as a result of reading it, she made a big mistake. I was instead appalled by the stupidity of its content.

In particular, it seemed to me grossly unfair that Adam and Eve’s descendants were supposed to suffer because they listened to the voice of the serpent and ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

In fact it seemed stupid that Adam and Eve themselves were punished for eating of the fruit. If the fruit really did give them knowledge of good and evil, then presumably, before they ate it, they didn’t know it would be wrong to do so. What sort of God would punish them for that?