As I already said, I think the quintessential example of spiritual death is Adam and Eve's hiding from God (even in sin one should seek God in contrition for forgiveness).
That doesn't add up within the context of the story.
Immediately after they ate the fruit, their eyes were opened up and they realized they were naked. They hid from God because they were afraid He'd see them naked.
quote:
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Now, if we want to consider that when the Lord said that they would die, that He was talking about something other than regular ol' death, it would seen that the results imparted unto them after they ate the fruit would be what it was to "die":
quote:
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Verse 17 explicitly says that because you ate the fruit,
this is what is going to happen to you.
Now, you said everything started out perfect, and nothing would die until they disobeyed the Lord.
If that is true, why is there even a tree of life?
quote:
22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
If they were going to live forever anyways, why does it talk about the tree of life making them live forever?
Also, the result of eating the fruit was that they knew good and evil.
If the Lord was right and they died the day they ate the fruit, then it must mean their innocence died. They learned of good and evil and become like one of the gods.
™ Version 4.2