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Good and Evil
OH NO!!!!!! My brain has come back to life after months of drowning in LaLaLand. That can be a bad thing but I consider it good. Though I can come up with the craziest thoughts & questions during this time, it also makes me think harder & dig deeper. Mind thinking with me?
The “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and “the tree of life” were in the middle of the Garden of Eden: “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9, KJV).
God forbade Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (v. 17), “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (KJV). Genesis 3 records Adam and Eve disobeying God and eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
(See FALL; See FORBIDDEN FRUIT) and so the coming of death into the world (3:3, 5–6, 22).
Manser, M. H., Fleming, N. B., Hughes, K., & Bridges, R. F. (2000). I never knew that was in the Bible! (electronic ed.) (453). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
My mind - my questions: Why did God not want us to know the difference? If we never knew evil, would that not be a bunch of robots just knowing good but not evil? When they knew they were naked & covered themselves, was it the sinful thoughts that entered their minds about the other that made their nakedness sin then & not before taking the fruit? I had some other ones but my kids started screaming & took my thoughts somewhere else.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tammy on
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LT, I'll have to pay you next week.
I actually knew there was not any correct answers to my questions. I just wanted to give you a sample of the questions that go through my head. I was wondering what others' thoughts were on this. Thanks for all the feedback.
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on
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I couldn’t answer right away … it’s one of those questions that can put you in a compromising position. So I needed a moment. I chewed it over with TWIX … well a bunch but they were the fun size so no worries there.
The Old Testament is a masterpiece of the ancient world, I guess you know that.
Adam and Eve were innocent. Loss of innocence leads to guilt leads to shame.
All this mess around us is the consequence of man’s disobedience. I’m still mad at Adam and Eve.
The fact that they had a choice verifies to me that we have freewill to a limited extent and we can use it for evil. God is all-powerful so man using freewill for evil is actually and mysteriously within God’s will. Not that God desires men or desired them to choose evil but that God allowed it. What we see though is a Sovereign God who watches over His creation after their rebellion against Him and brings atonement and reconciliation.
You asked: Why did God not want us to know the difference?
But it looks to me like it was in God’s plan and God’s will always for man to have knowledge of good and evil and to be able to choose light over darkness. After all the lamb was slain from the foundation of the world.
Jesus pays the full measure due for us having this knowledge and freedom. He atones for our sin. The Savior comes to earth in suffering and meekness, dies rejected and despised, and then makes intercession for the transgressors.
How beautiful is that!
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When I read the following verses, here is what I see:
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Gen 2, NIV)
God gave man knowledge of good and evil right there with those words. Man knew what was expected of him and what he could and could not do. He also knew consequences. Everyday that man chose not to eat of the fruit of that one tree, he was choosing good. He was experiencing the consequences of that good choice--fellowship with God, life in unimaginable happiness. The day he chose evil, he began to experience the consequence of evil, "you will certainly die." He just didn't, in his innocence, know the full extent of that consequence.
God did not say that the consequence of eating from the tree would be knowledge of good and evil. The serpent is the one who said that. Adam and Eve were innocent and they were beguiled. But they already knew right from wrong before they ate the fruit, didn't they? Otherwise to say that they were tempted is unacceptable. If you don't know good from evil, you cannot be tempted to commit evil, can you?
Just thinking ...
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Wow Amanda. Never thought of it that way. He should have just called the tree - the tree of death. That would have fell in line with the tree of life. See, I told you that you was brilliant.
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No. Not brilliant. Just looking at the conversation. I also looked at the one Eve had with the serpent.
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’” (Genesis 3, NIV).
"and you must not touch it"
It seems she added to God's words herself. Maybe God did say that to her but it isn't written that God did. To my knowledge it isn't. In her mind maybe touching it meant the same thing as eating it for if she touched it she knew she would not stop. I don't know. It seems people still do many things today that happened first with Adam and Eve ... believing the devil's lies, misquoting God, etc...
Verse 22 is interesting. At first it almost looks as if God is brainstorming to think of a solution right there on the spot, the way Dr. House brainstorms with his team of fellow doctors to diagnose and treat a patient ... as if God did not foresee what would happen or already know what to do.
We know God is all-knowing and all-seeing.
They had a choice: death or life. IMO. Thus, the two trees. They knew one from the other. They did not know the full extent of the consequence of choosing death. That has been a learning experience for us all.
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One thing I just noticed was Eve was not created yet when God gave Adam the command of not eating from it. So, maybe she was repeating what Adam had told her. Also, maybe that's why Satan tempted her & not him.
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We have no verse that shows us any communication about it between Adam and Eve. Was there miscommunication or misunderstanding between them before the Fall? I don't know. Was Eve already sinning (in her heart--it looks that way according to Genesis 3:6--temptation is not a sin but she lusted with her eyes before actually eating it) as she was talking to the serpent about it? I don't know. Was it all written just as it happened? I trust so. A couple of other things worth thinking about here are:
What God did:
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you. ”It tells me that when man and woman were first created neither one ruled over the other.
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
It tells me that man was no longer able to choose life but had been able at first.
Looking at it in this light, when I go back and read other Scriptures, it gives new meaning to such verses as "You did not choose Me but I chose you..." John 15:16, NASB.
John 3:36, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. ESV
1 Cor 15:54-57,
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”[a]
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”[b]56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. NIV
To name a few.
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I've really had fun with you & this tree this week. You've helped me see new things thru the Lord as well as add to old things I thought I already knew. The Lord has opened several devotionals to me as we've went thru this.
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The beauty of it is that we've only scraped the surface ... there's so much more here to "see" and believe it or not I took a World Literature class during the summer of 1990 at a university that was not a Christian college and we studied works from the OT including the Fall of Man, the First Murder, the Flood, The Origin of Languages in Genesis 11, the Story of Joseph and Job, among other "Masterpieces of the Ancient World." The Living Word uses the Written Word to change our minds. Many more devotionals will open up to you as if suddenly unlocked once a lie has been refuted with Truth. That has been my experience anyway and sometimes I go for months without "seeing" anything new and then a flood will happen all at once and then a dry time again, and so on. An entire theology can be built upon a single lie or misunderstanding of a single verse in Scripture ... kind of scary, huh?
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I agree totally. I've been thru a dry period for about 1-2 months. It has drove me nuts. I've written a Bible study that my husband teaches every Sunday morning. But lately, nothing. I'm so thankful He's speaking to me again.
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Permalink Reply by Pastor L T O Mission on
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Dear Henson Greetings,
Knowledge and Evil
Far from God that He wants human be like a robot.
Dear sister you please allow me to say something on your enquiry about the knowledge and evil’s fruit. God created man and saw It was very good. He gave to him knowledge and wisdom and free will which allowed man to be the Master on every creature that God has created (Genesis1v 28). Man has manifested his will when he has asked God for a suitable helper (Genesis 2v20)
Now we found that It is not in the mind of our Lord to make us as a robot. Praise to Him Let us understand what is KNOWLEDGE? Knowledge is something we acquire for our own fulfilling but God did not like that for us. Our fulfilling must be in accordance with God and must be in Him. The fruits of the tree give knowledge and when Adam and Eve ate they’ve all got knowledge and started knowing things which are wrong and good around them. Sister I can tell you that It is from there man started having problem, and every time they have big knowledge big problem has come to them. Please look a little around you, you will find good thing from the knowledge of man at the same time with the good things there are much evil. So by the knowledge man creates cars, building (nice house), Air plane, different foods, electricity, money, and so ... Can you see inside all those things the evil? If then man did not eat that fruit, do you imagine the peaceful life we will live on this earth? The commandments of God give life. The Bible says in Psalm119v9-10 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart, do not let me stray from your commands. Be blessed
Pastor AHOGA
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