Debate:Why did God allow Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the Forbidden Tree?

This is a question that has been stinging in my head for a while. Surely, God, being all knowing and omnipotent would have known Satan was in the garden, and he would have known with certainty that Eve was being tempted, but yet, he did nothing to prevent the fall of man. Yes, he warned Adam and Eve never to eat the fruit, yet they did, in spite of his will, but that is not the question being asked.

Thinking a bit more, why did God even place the tree in the Garden when he simply could have removed it or placed it somewhere else?

Please help, I am completly unsure what to think or believe. It pains me to think that an all-loving Lord stood by and watched as we gained original sin. John 13:40, 12 September 2008 (EDT)

Original sin was not the only thing at work in the Fall. By placing temptation in Eden, God was offering mankind a choice of two paths - a pure and simple existence in a Paradise free of sin, or a more complicated existence in which we have to find our own path to Heaven by making the right choices. As a result of the Fall, God gave us sin and mortality, but also freewill, thought and choice. Sideways 14:10, 12 September 2008 (EDT)