Deconstructing Adam and Eve | Why Eden Was a Set Up

In this video, I break down the story of Adam and Eve as told through a fundamentalist, literalist lens—and why I think it's deeply flawed. Growing up, I believed this account was a historical truth, but now I see it differently. Was Eden a paradise or a setup? Why did God place the Tree of Knowledge there at all? We explore the story’s inconsistencies, question God’s role in it, and reconsider what this narrative might actually be trying to convey.

*Please keep in mind that what I share in these videos is my subjective opinion and my goal is to deconstruct fundamentalist/evangelical/conservative Christian ideologies from an ex christian perspective for those who are questioning or deconstructing their beliefs.*

*Outro Music* | "Pixels" by Jeff Kaale

[Himmelgrau]

What always bothered me about that story is, how can one be expected to understand the concept of something being forbidden, without already having knowledge of good and evil in the first place?

[lostindixie]

Another interesting thing is that it took the serpent like six verses to talk Eve into eating the apple. It took Eve one sentence to talk Adam into doing so.

[jtmusson]

Whenever I hear this story, I can't help but remember the quip, "Adam blamed Eve; Eve blamed the serpent; and the serpent didn't have a leg to stand on."

[reversefulfillment]

That anyone believes these stories from the pulpit is a testament to the gullibility of us humans.

[Martin-lcsk]

Without original sin, the whole church falls apart, the whole patriarchy falls apart, control of women falls apart.

[apriljones]

Thirty years ago, in my early 20s, I was feeling guilty about normal human desires, and I concluded that perhaps I didn’t really have a good grasp of my faith, so I agreed to submit to a Bible study with some older women in my congregation as if I was someone off the street learning my religion. I now know that I was very depressed, and rightly so. But at the time I thought the study would “fix” me. So we reviewed the story of Adam and Eve, and this sweet, nurturing woman beamed at me and said, “Aren’t we so fortunate to have such a loving, patient God, who instead of killing Adam and Eve immediately, allowed them to live and have children, so that we exist today?” My response completely surprised myself, and absolutely astounded my “teachers.” I said, “I am not thankful! I’m not appreciative! I’m miserable, and supposedly it’s all Adam & Eve’s fault? If God had destroyed them, life would not be so terrible and humans would not be suffering! I don’t think that’s loving at all!”

That was the first original thought I had ever had, and I had no idea that I was capable of having thoughts that opposed the official story line. It still took me 15 more years to break away from Christianity, but that was the beginning of thinking for myself. When I left my religion, it wasn’t because I no longer believed. I totally believed, and I was positive that I was choosing eternal death. But I had decided that I’d rather be dead than pretend to love the god of the Bible any longer. Only later was I able to decide that I don’t need to believe things that don’t make sense, and so I’m no longer Christian. Although I kind of think the Christ of the Bible was not a bad dude, and that MAYBE if the religion were REALLY based on him, it would actually be a pleasant world. But I doubt it.

[parkb]

I love your take on Adam and Eve and your analogy with a baby in the playpen. It’s like a father putting toys in the playpen and a loaded gun and telling the baby not to play with the gun. I’d love to hear the father’s defense when the police show up because the baby fired the gun. “It’s not my fault. The baby has free will, officer. When I placed the gun in the playpen, I told him not to play with it but he did anyway. What a bad and awful baby! I’m throwing him right out of my house! Officer, why are you putting those cuffs on my wrist? I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s all that evil baby! I know how to fix this. I’ll crucify my other son, so that then I can forgive this baby for firing the gun. Oh, Jesus, can you come down here for a minute? Wait, officer, let me go! Where are you taking me?”

[invalidopinion]

Genesis as a horror movie is an incredible idea. I can see it working as a short film for sure

[NEALBABBITT]

Preach sister.
I came to this conclusion as a small child when I asked my mom what was the reason God created Adam and Eve? She said to take care of the animals, then I said why don't you and dad do that? That's when I realized people cherry picked what rules they wanted to follow and that the Bible was inherently impossible to follow as wrote.

[stevenhogenson]

This is like a parent setting out all kinds of things in the kitchen and including a bowl of candy and telling your kids that you can eat any of this but not from the bowl of candy. And the kid eats from the candy. And the parent's immediate response is "Uh-oh! Someone's gotta die!" Punishment doesn't really fit the crime. Set someone up to fail and then punish them.

[michelcomenta]

one day my mother, an evangelical lady, told me in our many discussions about the bible, god and religion that "to be a christian you need to follow everything blindly, without questioning" and that made a lot of sense. this is why i am no longer a believer because i refuse to live by rules that make no sense to me and the more i learn about christianity the more i find it so controversial.
this video is a gem! i'm glad that youtube recommended it to me! long live your channel 🙌🏻

[midian]

You are a breath of fresh air. Animated and interesting. Asking many of the same questions I have asked myself. Going straight to the important questions, "It was a set-up from the beginning. WHY?"

[iapetusmccool]

IMO the Eden story makes most sense if you assume it was the answer given to a child who was continually asking "Daddy, why do you have to go to work? Daddy, why is the ground hard? Daddy, why is mummy in pain? Daddy, why dont snakes have legs?"

[WilliamHaudaII]

You don't have to put a knife in a playpen to teach children about choosing toys to play with .... very eloquently said!

[kristinesprunger]

You hit all the points that I’ve questioned since I was young. It’s like a game: the game designer set up the rules so that the players would fail. And then blamed the players for failing. Excellent assessment on your part!

[pammer]

Hi Kristi! I am the daughter of a fundy evangelical pastor. My path out of religion and into freedom corresponds a lot with your story. I have so much to say about all that but instead I’ll try to be brief.

I’ve been binge watching your vids and absolutely loving every one of them. But this is the best one I’ve seen. I thought I had already deconstructed this story but you added so much more substance! Totally brilliant, fantastic. Inspiring too.

Made me think about how god says the quiet part out loud by admitting that the fruit opened their eyes and gave them knowledge. And that humans became like god in that moment.

It’s exactly what the fundy church tries to do, as you point out. Make us fear and hate KNOWLEDGE and keep us IGNORANT. Because if we realize our own power and even our own “divinity”, we have no more need or want to be controlled by the church. Recognizing our power makes us impossible to enslave.

And I also loved what you said about the serpent. He only spoke the truth. Why is he the “father of lies” when it’s god that keeps testing and manipulating humans (according to the bible, which I do not believe)?

I’m 60 years old and I’ve been thinking for years about what tattoo to get. Lol. I think I’m going to design something with a serpent, as a symbol of truth, knowledge, and empowerment.

Thank you Kristi 🥰

[karlarmanii]

Since i started watching you, ive never been so inspired by someone, people are fighting so hard to ignore the reality and buy bullshit

[nmusica]

I remember being a kid and learning about Adam and Eve and asking my mom “But I didn’t do anything wrong.. why do I have to have labor pains??” I wasn’t buying it even then 😂

[TheDuddleyCo]

When i was about 19 my Christian girlfriend took me to a bible study where the pastor was preaching the story of adam and eve. My take was exactly the same as yours and we got in a pretty heated debate. I wasn't invited back to bible study.

[Random.sachen]

Adam was standing there SILENTLY thinking of himself "let her eat from that tree, if she dies, then I'll not eat. If she doesn't die, then I'll eat too".
He wanted to test that tree on the expense of Eve.
Then when he screwed up he threw Eve under the bus blaming her and God for his mistake.
If there was any evil in that story it was Adam.