Ask a Priest Anything: Why Did God Ask Adam and Eve to not eat fruit in the garden?

The story of Adam and Eve in the garden is a little teaching story about trusting that we have enough.

In the garden, Adam and Eve have everything they needed. There were countless trees with every kind of beauty and food they could imagine. All of them were for Adam and Eve except one.

God asked them not to eat from just that one tree. God called it the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In this story, it represents a question about responsibility.

Adam and Eve are surrounded by abundance — they already have more than enough to live well — but they still reach for the one thing they are told not to take.

Human do that sometimes. Sometimes we take more than what we need. And in nature, when humans take everything, there is nothing left from which new trees, plants, the creatures and the earth can be restored. That becomes unsustainable not only for people, but for all of creation.

The Adam and Eve story is about learning to trust when we have enough, when we should act with restraint, and knowing when to stop.