Maturity

    Are you, as a parent, an abusive and controlling monster for not letting your two-year-old drive the car by himself? Are you being unreasonable and oppressive for imposing this limitation on his freewill? 

    Of course not. A child that small, aside from it being illegal, is not capable of that sort of responsibility. He cannot do what needs to be done, he does not have the experience or the knowledge to do this. This approach is in the same category as having child proof lids on medicine. A child does not have the wisdom or experience to decide for themselves to take or not take medicine. This is also why we do not leave loaded guns lying around our house. 

    These are metaphors for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden being forbidden from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. At creation, man was brand new, he had no experience, he had no wisdom, and he had no ability to handle such an incredible tool. Had Adam and Eve simply obeyed and followed God’s lead in this, God would have brought them along and raised them up to maturity so that at some point they could appropriately handle this knowledge.