[betty boop]

Why didn't the Devil deceive Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Life also? And why was the Tree of Life in the garden at all? I was trying to understand why in a garden where food was abundant the two trees of greatest importance to their well-being were there for them, and no warning was given to them about the Devil and his lies. Yet they only ate from the Tree of Knowledge. It would seem they were not even interested in the Tree of Life. They could have eaten of the Tree of Life first and then the tree of knowledge. After they sinned then God thought about barring the way to the Tree of Life, why then? and why not before?

The above is quoted from The Tree of Life vs. The Tree of Knowledge — provided for context here.

It seems to me the "serpent" that seduced Eve could not literally be an "animal." It was a spirit clothed, or appearing to the senses in animal form — that is, in a material body that Eve could perceive by action of natural sensory perception.

God warned Adam and Eve away from touching or eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; but was silent on any eating of the fruit of the Tree of Life.

God created man with free will. That is, man is completely free to obey or disobey the Word of God. But what this story tells is that if man disobeys — i.e., makes a choice against the order that God established in the Beginning — then man dies spiritually in the act. At that point, the Tree of Life becomes forever inaccessible to him.

Is God saying here that man places a higher premium on knowledge per se than he places on Life, including his own Life "more abundantly" in Christ Jesus? Judging from contemporary experience, I'd have to say this would be a completely truthful representation of the matter in terms of human language.

God's injunction against eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil recognizes that if man himself becomes the judge of Good and Evil (because he would have critical knowledge of the distinction involved by eating of the Tree), then man makes himself the "judge" of the created order. Anytime a man does that, he falls away from God and His created Order, and in that process — initiated by man himself — he falls away from his own Life in God, and thereby separates himself from the Source of his own being.

Of course, this is exactly the result that Lucifer — here in serpent's garb — is seeking: the utter destruction of Man as God created him and, through that act of destruction, the obliteration of the Creation God made in the Beginning.

Lucifer — Satan — is the original Nihilist. He so hates God and God's creation — especially Man — that he wants to reduce it all literally to Nothing.

The Tree of Life is also placed in Revelation — where it finally bears fruit through the sacrificial action, redemption, and Judgement of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Just some thoughts. Which I believe are eternally, fundamentally relevant to issues of the human condition, now and always.

FWIW.

Thanks so very much for posting, dear Thermopylae!

[metmom]

God warned Adam and Eve away from touching or eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; but was silent on any eating of the fruit of the Tree of Life.

God did not tell Adam he couldn't touch it, only to not eat it.

[Alamo-Girl]

God's injunction against eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil recognizes that if man himself becomes the judge of Good and Evil (because he would have critical knowledge of the distinction involved by eating of the Tree), then man makes himself the "judge" of the created order. Anytime a man does that, he falls away from God and His created Order, and in that process — initiated by man himself — he falls away from his own Life in God, and thereby separates himself from the Source of his own being.

So very true. And he becomes spiritually and mentally ill as a result of rejecting God as the sole judge of Good and Evil.

And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; - Romans 1:28

Which brings to mind this current event where the University President no longer knows what wrong "is."

Thank you so much for your wonderful essay-post, dearest sister in Christ!