Posted on 10/20/2023 1:11:48 AM PDT by spirited irish
Among the many trees in the Garden of Eden, Scripture tells us, stood two trees of great significance: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. This pair of posts is an attempt to understand the nature, effects, and relationship of these two trees. Specifically, we will explore whether these trees were arbitrarily appointed but ordinary trees, or whether these trees had intrinsic, supernatural properties that could alternately destroy/sustain life.
That the first tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil suggests that eating its fruit would change the relationship of Adam and Eve with respect to good and evil. The change of relationship is not easy to define. They already knew about the good by having experienced it in their “very good” world, and could have added to their experimental knowledge of the good only by avoiding the tree
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That is, the original Adam and Eve, the persons they were born as, and their intended lives as such were over and done the second they ate from the tree.
Anyone who commits a big sin knows this.
For example, let's say you are a married man—a devoutly Christian man—and you really love your wife and family. You are true blue.
Ever since your marriage, you have been faithful in every way. Your relationship and, in fact, your very self-image is based on your faithfulness and honesty with your mate.
Then one day, after a long hard project at work is finally successfully completed—and it's a big success—you have drinks after work with your very attractive co-worker of the opposite sex.
Because the project you were working on was very important to your career and future, the stress was high. Many late nights at work. And you and your co-worker became rather close.
As you and your co-worker are celebrating, things get a little out of hand. You both drink too much...and your very attractive co-worker expresses her affection for you. And you return the compliment.
Somehow, seemingly inexplicably, you head back to her apartment to continue your celebration (she lives nearby) The next thing you know you are kissing and hugging and BOOM.
Well, at that moment, the old you died. You will never be the same, your relationship with your beloved mate will never be the same, and your future will never be the same.
Many men and women have experienced this. After the dust has settled and, perhaps, after you have grown older and wiser, you realize that at that moment, a big part of you—the BIGGEST part of you—died. You were never the same again.
Your shame will follow you to the office, of course, but your relationship with your wife is over.
You may not tell her and she may not know, but she will sense your shame. You will no longer be completely honest with her—naked so to speak. You will be guarded and set up barriers between your wife and yourself to hide your sin.
Now go back to Adam and Eve.
Unlike us, they were sinless. Completely connected to God.
When they sinned, they changed history for themselves and all humans forever. They ruined all the hopes and dreams for all of humanity for all times.
That's something that is worse than death.
That's Death!
I liked the discussion on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The loss of innocence is real. We all miss those times of innocence we find it sad that we cannot return to those times. We also find it sad that some children lose their innocence too soon. But the tree of life is interesting. What happens when man breaks the code and can create life. Man could at that point live indefinitely either by changing God’s genetic code or recreating themselves over and over again. What a disaster that would be.
Bkmk
Exactly - when a connection to God is broken, one’s soul despairs.
I believe that when Jesus lamented, “Father, why have you forsaken me”, it was because He had just taken on the sins of us all and sin separates us from God - He had never experienced that lack of contact with His Father before.
The religious zealots who believe in predetermination are the same zealots who believe in only interpreting the Bible literally.
That said, it’s ironic that the Bible’s first story represents Man’s fall from God’s grace by saying that Adam ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Bible says we DO have choices. Some of them choose between good and evil. Some do not.
We are like an automobile or an airplane without fuel. Instead of becoming piles of metal, we become bags of motionless meat and bones.
We are under the illusion that we are alive, but we are not. Hence the need to be "born again" so that the broken connection can be reestablished.
This makes me think deeper into the novel Tuck Everlasting. The writer definitely played off the theme of the Tree of Life and eternal life through fleshly power.
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