Why The Fall Sucked

Okay, so I have to first of all state clearly for the sake of my audience, I am not a Bible scholar. I've spent little or no time in what most people would call "formal" study the Judea-Christian Bible (I call it Judea-Christian because, well....Christians weren't around in Old Testament times...weird). Anyway, the whole first few chapters of Genesis have always made me curious. God; the omnipotent, all knowing creator of the entire universe in which we live, makes one man and puts him in the middle of a garden called Eden. Unlike the rest of the creatures in the Garden, Adam has the power of rational thought and creativity which I assume is a part of that whole being created in God's image thing. What I mean by that is that God's image clearly has nothing to do with being a biped that walks upright and can manipulate the natural things around him into tools, I think God's image is more of a philosophical thing. Anyway, I digress. So, in this garden God plants two rather interesting trees: one for the knowledge of Good and evil, and one for eternal life. Which is pretty weird if you ask me, but in any case as the story goes....maybe God should have had Adam employ his God given skill to build a fence or something because Adam and his wife ate the knowledge fruit, and we've been screwed ever since.
So what's the big deal? It's a piece of fruit for crying out loud. I don't think that the fruit is really the central point of the story at all. We spend so much time trying to figure out why the fruit is special compared to the rest of the Garden that we miss what's happening on that cataclysmic afternoon. So Eve is talking to Satan (problem number 1...when the snake talks, walk away), and in the course of this conversation she decides that she somehow knows better than God, or worse, that God was lying to her. Cut it anyway you want to, when you read the story it's pretty simple.
Satan: Hey, God is lame, you should eat this fruit.... it's awesome.
Eve: No way man, God said I would die if I even touch this tree.
Satan: You're kidding, die if you touch it? I'm touching it right now, not dead yet.
Eve: I see your point, well that fruit does look tasty, and it's true....you aren't dead. I guess God was giving us the shaft or something...outta my way ya creepy talking snake. I'm getting me some fruit.
That's the New Matthew Translation of course. So really when you think about it, the new testament says that sin is everything that doesn't come from an attitude of faith (Rom 14:23). Eve's faith in God faltered when she considered the fact that he might be withholding from her. We've been in the same situation ever since. Oh God help us to trust you better.