Random Dialogue: Theology Debate

The Temptation by William Strang

At home with the Blackhursts. This week: theology.

Me: I read recently that the word Paradise comes from the Old Persian, pairidaeza meaning 'walled garden' and the writer questioned whether the wall was to keep people in or out. But I think the question should be why a wall is required at all.
Him: To keep the bad stuff out.
Me: What bad stuff? It's Paradise!
Him: The snakes.
Me: The snake wasn't necessarily bad.
Him: Yes, he was. He bit them.
Me: No he didn't.
Him: He bit the apple.
Me: No he didn't.
Him: Well, there was a snake and there was an apple. And someone bit the apple, and they all got kicked out.
Me: Eve bit the apple.
Him: That's right, and the snake made her.
Me: Well, the snake suggested it, but she chose to do it.
Him: Well, there you are then. It was a bad snake and so there was a wall to keep it out.
Me: Snakes can slither up walls, can't they?
Him: No, they can only do trees, because they can wrap themselves around the trunk.
Me: What if it's just a small wall?
Him: What, like Hadrian's Wall?
Me: Yes, ok, if you like.
Him: No, I don't like, because Hadrian wasn't in Paradise, so he wouldn't have built a wall.
Me: Well, someone did; if Paradise means 'walled garden', there must have been a wall, so who built it, and why?
Him: God knows.
Me: Quite.