Is the Christian God the first cause of sin?

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Your assumption that God could have set things up differently so that Adam and Eve/humanity as a whole did not sin is rooted in a kind of biological determinism.

For one thing, contrary to popular belief, early or "traditional" Christianity does not insist that we look at the story of Genesis completely literally (I know that's hard for people on the spectrum but we have to try).

Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, specifically gaining the ability to know good and evil. Thus, they went from being perfectly innocent and blameless of evil just like the animals in the Garden of Eden, to being capable of recognizing evil and still partaking in it-- this is essentially free will. Adam and Eve, through their own willfulness, chose to know good and evil, and therefore be held accountable for their actions. They went from simply obeying the natural law of God to knowing good and evil for themselves. They did so because God gives all of creation a type of freedom from His reign. You may ask how he does this, because you're set in the idea that everything that happens has a step-by-step cause; something that's highly intuitive, but not unchallenged by philosophers or scientists. Ultimately, we are highly advanced mammals. We are still learning that we don't quite understand cause and effect. As Christians, (unless we're Calvinists) we therefore believe in free will. God /can/ control everything, but He chooses not to. This is because of His desire for us to do good and have faith of our own free will. Why is this? This will incorporate beliefs from my own tradition (Orthodoxy) so I can't speak for other Christians.

The goal in Orthodoxy is mystical communion with God. Dostoyevsky said that the faith does not come through the miracle, but the miracle through the faith. The point of faith is that when we freely choose to trust in God and do His works, we become transformed a deified, and take on His image. We become God not in essence, (we don't become one with the Trinity), but through His energies and works in the world.

This is all possible because of our free choice to have faith and do God's works. This wouldn't have been possible without the fall from Eden and the presence of evil. Another aspect of Orthodoxy is mystery. I can't tell you that God's plan from the beginning was to introduce evil to the world so we may become deified. But He did give us free will, not rooted in biological determinism, to give us the ability to choose to follow Him.

Your assumption that God could have set things up differently so that Adam and Eve/humanity as a whole did not sin is rooted in a kind of biological determinism.

For one thing, contrary to popular belief, early or "traditional" Christianity does not insist that we look at the story of Genesis completely literally (I know that's hard for people on the spectrum but we have to try).

Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, specifically gaining the ability to know good and evil. Thus, they went from being perfectly innocent and blameless of evil just like the animals in the Garden of Eden, to being capable of recognizing evil and still partaking in it-- this is essentially free will. Adam and Eve, through their own willfulness, chose to know good and evil, and therefore be held accountable for their actions. They went from simply obeying the natural law of God to knowing good and evil for themselves. They did so because God gives all of creation a type of freedom from His reign. You may ask how he does this, because you're set in the idea that everything that happens has a step-by-step cause; something that's highly intuitive, but not unchallenged by philosophers or scientists. Ultimately, we are highly advanced mammals. We are still learning that we don't quite understand cause and effect. As Christians, (unless we're Calvinists) we therefore believe in free will. God /can/ control everything, but He chooses not to. This is because of His desire for us to do good and have faith of our own free will. Why is this? This will incorporate beliefs from my own tradition (Orthodoxy) so I can't speak for other Christians.

The goal in Orthodoxy is mystical communion with God. Dostoyevsky said that the faith does not come through the miracle, but the miracle through the faith. The point of faith is that when we freely choose to trust in God and do His works, we become transformed a deified, and take on His image. We become God not in essence, (we don't become one with the Trinity), but through His energies and works in the world.

This is all possible because of our free choice to have faith and do God's works. This wouldn't have been possible without the fall from Eden and the presence of evil. Another aspect of Orthodoxy is mystery. I can't tell you that God's plan from the beginning was to introduce evil to the world so we may become deified. But He did give us free will, not rooted in biological determinism, to give us the ability to choose to follow Him.

There is certainly a free will vs determinism argument to be had within Christianity (hence Calvinists vs Arminianism in the protestant tradition), though I do not think it is applicable to this particular question.

Whether it was to be Adam's free choice or whether there is some deterministic mechanism at play, it doesn't really matter. Regardless, God knew that Adam would sin before he created anything in the universe, and did so anyways. Thus, before any being with any kind of free will was around to take any blame for anything, God went ahead with a plan that he knew beyond any doubt would end up with the presence of sin in the world.

Say I have magical powers and can see into the future. Say I also want to have a child of my own. If I know for a fact that my future child will set off a series of events that will cast the entire world into every imaginable horror, what does it say about me if I go ahead with having said child?

And to the critics who think I am 'Judging God', I do no such thing. My criticism isn't of God, but rather is a criticism of what some humans (in this case, Christians) claim to be true about God. I'm not saying, "God did something wrong." I'm saying, this belief system necessitates that we come to the conclusion that God did something wrong. It is a philosophical worry for the belief system, not a criticism of God.

You can also argue that we shouldn't take the bible literally. That is certainly a logically consistent view. But if we do so, then why not view the bible as a book of fiction with a good moral message? There are great moral lessons in The Lord of the Rings, for example.

The Bible isn't the crux of the Christian faith if you are not a Protestant. You interpret certain passages of the Bible literally or figuratively depending on what you choose to have faith in. Most Christians follow the Nicene Creed to some extent; other than that, there are certain dogmas that are specific to certain forms of Christianity. So you have your dogma, then you have your Bible. I'd assume that if interpreting the Old Testament metaphorically does not contradict your dogma, then interpret it metaphorically...

As for the issue of whether or not God allowed for sin. There are several possible answers. One is that He allowed for the existence of sin so that theosis may be possible. One is that He desired to create Adam and Eve knowing that they would disobey Him, but did so anyways because He does not control our will. Yes, God could have chosen not to create a person who would have disobeyed Him, (He could have created two individuals who would of their own free will choose to obey Him...but then He is dictating the will of humanity as a whole by only allowing those who will obey Him to exist. Is that truly giving humanity free will?)

Another possibility is that any person with free will would eventually disobey God, as we don't understand the nature of free will and its relation to God. How exactly God is in control is unknowable to us. I force pills down my cat's throat sometimes, and I'm sure he thinks I'm abusing him... because he's too dumb to understand. Now try applying that to us and God x1000.

My whole point though is that speculating into the nature of God is a hopeless endeavor. He is inconceivable. The reason we choose to have faith without understanding is the transformation that faith offers us. At least in Orthodoxy, reason is secondary-- which is actually quite rational imo if you're talking about a being on which all of reality is completely contingent.

Let me try this a different way. Do you disagree that the following things are true under the Christian religious tradition?

1. God is all powerful. There is nothing beyond God’s capabilities.

2. God is all knowing. God knows everything that is and will be. There is no information unavailable to him, and no question he cannot answer.

3. God is perfectly good and just.

4. Sin occurs in this world.

5. The punishment for sin is eternal Hell (unless forgiveness is granted via Christ's sacrifice on the cross).

1. True from our perspective. We conceive of God as all powerful because He sustains all that happens while not completely understanding the nature of His sovereignty in this world.

2. God is present throughout all of time. Yes, He is all knowing due to being the crux of every question and answer we have, but His consciousness is unlike ours.

3. Yes.

4. Yes.

5. Unknowable. The idea that all sinners are doomed to an eternal Hell unless they repent in Christ is not consistent throughout all of Christianity. This may or may not be the case (my vote as well as the vote of most Orthodox is that this is not the case. Though sin certainly leads to death, who will be saved is a mystery to us); some Orthodox as well as some Church Fathers, (St. Isaac the Syrian), believed/believe that all would eventually be reconciled with God. (AKA Universalism.)

Do you believe that your logical system will totally grasp the nature of God? Is any other animal on Earth able to grasp the nature of reality? I ask because I find that you are trying to compare apples and oranges... Speculating as to why/how we have free will or how God can be good while allowing evil in the world necessarily implies that we understand God, /which we do not./ If you're not willing to trust in what you don't understand, you miss the whole point of faith.... sorry....