The battle begins

In order to understand the battle of good vs evil, we have to go back to the beginning.

Genesis tells us the story of Adam and Eve, and how the serpent, overshadowed by the spirit of Satan (which means Adversary, as in the adversary of God and man), tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden tree.

The Creator God had given mankind two options: either be faithful and keep his commandments, or stray away and do that which He had expressly forbidden.

The issue wasn't in the eating of the fruit, but in the faith that the first humans would place in their Creator. He had made a beautiful planet which a host of animals and plants for them to enjoy. They had everything they needed and much more. This had been given to them out of love. They had been given the spirit of life, and as long as they would live in perfect harmony with their Creator, they would live forever. But if they would separate themselves from the Life Giver, the natural result would be death.

This would not be an arbitrary decision on God's part, but simply the result of the nature of reality. Life and existence aren't possible if God is excluded from it, since he is the creator and the source of life. Just like tree cannot grow and produce fruit without water, the universe would collapse if God would not uphold it by His power, and would not give life to its creatures continually.

At the same time, God created mankind as intelligent beings who are able to make a decision to stay with Him or separate themselves from Him. If they hadn't had this freedom of choice, there lives would have been meaningless. They would simply be carrying out a pregrammed behaviour, and not living life according to the dictates of their own conscience.

Love requires this freedom of choice. Love does not force itself upon another. It gives the freedom to stay or to leave. But love also does not take away responsibility and the consequences of ones choices. If we want to live meaningful lives, we must accept the consequences of our actions and take responsibility for them. Otherwise, our lives would still be meaningless, since nothing we do would make a difference.

God knew behorehand that there was a risk that this newly created couple would choose to depart from Him, with death as the inevitable consequence. However, He was also prepared to take full responsibility for their actions, thereby saving them from death.