Do we really understand the difference between consequences and punishment? It must have been easier for Adam and Eve to understand that difference. Think about it, before sin entered the picture everything they did was blessed. Everything cooperated perfectly to produce as intended and there was nothing difficult about life. God had said they would die if they ate and then they didn't, but life got hard.
They had been given only the plants of the field to eat and now the ground was cursed and only by the sweat of his face would they be able to eat. It would still provide for them but it wouldn't be without effort on their part, the natural order of things would now be fighting against them. Opposition was introduced into the mix. Where things formerly worked together cooperatively now there would be difficulty.
When I see hard times in my life I get mad. First I blame other stuff or people, just like Adam and Eve. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. When I realize that I am responsible for my own actions I then spend time working out what a fair punishment is when I can read right here in the beginning of the book that disobedience/sin, has a death penalty, period, end of sentence. Fair punishment isn't a Christan concept, it is a human concept. What we experience as difficulty in life is the consequence of sin, sometimes our own sin but generally the difficulty of life is the price for living at all. It should make us long for another world, the one the creator intended.
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