DarkBronzePlant

Something just occurred to me, and I wanted to see what y'all thought. Maybe it's obvious and I was the last to figure it out; who knows?

Anyway, is there any special metaphorical reason that Adan & Eve allegedly ate from something called the "Tree of Knowledge"? Or was it just a thinly-vieled bit of advice from the original author of genesis that Christian followers not try to think too hard or gain knowledge; i.e. don't question what they hear?

Tom Sawyer

I personally don't think that the "Tree of Knowledge" itself was meaningful. I think it was an arbitrary example of a rule given to them by God that they broke.

It could have just as easily have been "Thou shalt not sit on top of that hill" instead of "Thou shalt not eat fruit from this tree". They defied the Will of God and were banished from Paradise as a result. The specific thing they did to defy Him is irrelevant.

I'm not a Biblical scholar, though, so someone else might have a better interpretation.

NOGO

Genesis was written in order to explain the world as they saw it then. That is, it was written to answer fundamental questions like:

1) How did we get here
2) Why do we have to die (no eternal life)
3) Why do have knowledge of good and evil (as opposed to animals)
4) Why do women suffer during pregnancy
5) Why do men have to work to earn a living
6) Why do people speak different languages and do not understand each other
etc.

Answers
1) God created us
2) Because Adam and Eve did not eat from the tree of life
3) Because Adam and Eve ate from the tree of Knowledge of good and evil
4) Because they have disobeyed God
5) Because they have disobeyed God
6) You know the story ....

Just reread Genesis from that angle and you will see that this is goal of the author.

The original sin bit was invented by early Christians in order to give Jesus something to save us from.

Jews never interpreted the story in the garden of Eden as the fall of mankind.

daemon

On the contrary, I think the Tree of Knowledge may have a bit more meaning than peteyh.

First off, we have the oft-overlooked bit of the Bible: why Yahweh booted A&E out in the first place. The story quite clearly states that there were (at least) two special trees: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life. Yahweh forbade A&E from eating from the former; after they did, he became afraid that they would eat from the Tree of Life, live forever, and thus be as gods.

I admit curiousity as to why Yahweh wasn't afraid they would eat the fruit of the Tree of Life first--since he hadn't forbidden eating off that tree--but that's all the detail the story gives. Talmudic scholars may be able to give some interesting details, though.

StrongMan

If eating from the tree of Life would make them live forever and be like gods, does eating from the tree of Knowledge make them as smart as gods?

rainbow walking

rw: The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" is a symbolic gesture by the cult to prepare the groundwork for the Original Sin crap. Since knowledge of good and evil is basically equivalent to morality, the name for this tree was specifically chosen as the handle on the crowbar used to pry into men's minds to insert the god germ. I find it telling that the alleged sin for which all of humanity was cursed is nothing more than violating a tresspass notice against the fruit of one lousy tree. You would think something more serious would have been used, something like murder or rape or child molestation, but this trespassing is a fairly common thing so I guess the minds that fabricated this shit tried to find the most universal complaint to start the ball rolling. A & E were banned from the paradise and all humanity was cursed as hopelessly depraved for stealing a couple of pieces of fruit yet Cain, who murdered his brother Abel, was merely driven away from his parents residence and given some kind of mark on his head. There's some warped justice in there.

Ultimate Atheist

Q: Hmm. If he knew they were going to eat from the tree, why did he put it there in the first place?

Logical Answer(assuming God existed): He's a bastard and was just screwing with Adam and Eve

Christian Answer: Gawd works in mysterious ways.

The Real Answer: The story was written by primitive people that gave it very little thought. This also explains all the other contradiction and absurdities in The Bible.

Buffman

Though I think Ultimate Atheist has summarized right on the money, here are several addition issues to contemplate.

1. The garden was in Eden, but specifically where was Eden. (Isaac Asimov has fun with that one.)

2. How was it decided that a "talking" snake wasn't a talking snake but actually a fallen angel? How else would a snake know the language that someone must have taught to it and A&E? Of course I suppose it's possible that A&E were the first Dr. & Ms. Dolittle and utilized Extra Sensory Snake Perception(ESSP). I use "Ms." because I don't recall reading about any official marriage ceremony. Perhaps it occurred after they determined what "naked" was.)

3. Why didn't A&E "die" after eating the forbidden fruit? (That G-d! What a kidder! What's that you say? It was just an allegorical death? Where does it say that? G-d tells Adam "thou shalt surely die." Sounds pretty straight forward to me when said by the supernatural entity that supposedly created everything. So, did G-d lie to Adam?)

(I had almost forgotten how much fun it can be reading ancient creation stories.)

excreationist

Buffman:
1. The garden was in Eden, but specifically where was Eden.
Well the Bible talks about four rivers that flow out of it, but the Garden and the rivers were "...destroyed by the Flood. Its actual location on the globe can never be established..." (from <a href="http://christiananswers.net/q-aig/garden-of-eden-loc.html" target="_blank">ChristianAnswers.net</a>)

2. How was it decided that a "talking" snake wasn't a talking snake but actually a fallen angel?
A snake possessed by a supernatural being causing it to talk is more believable than a snake talking by itself.

How else would a snake know the language that someone must have taught to it and A&E?
Well according to Genesis 3:1, "the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made."
It seems that that snake was created with the ability to speak - same with Adam and Eve... they didn't need to take years to learn how to communicate in an intelligent way. BTW, the Bible doesn't say that the talking snake is a fallen angel so stop trying to add to it. There is a verse in Revelation saying that Satan is an ancient serpent though but it seems that the writers of the creation story were giving the impression that a lone (non-possessed) snake was involved. It seems strange that only the snake and its descendents were punished... if Satan was involved, God should have punished Satan! Perhaps God didn't suspect that Satan caused the snake to talk....

3. Why didn't A&E "die" after eating the forbidden fruit? (That G-d! What a kidder! What's that you say? It was just an allegorical death? Where does it say that? G-d tells Adam "thou shalt surely die." Sounds pretty straight forward to me when said by the supernatural entity that supposedly created everything. So, did G-d lie to Adam?)
Well Adam eventually did die... 930 years later... if he was able to eat from the tree of life that would have been a different story...

Genesis 2:17b says "for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Well Adam didn't die on that day... but I suppose he had a kind of "spiritual death".

Joel

The Jehovah's Witnesses have an interesting spin on this one. There are a couple places in the Bible (can't give the exact reference at the moment, will have to look it up when I get home unless someone else here can help me out...) where it compares a thousand years to a single day. (At least in the view of god) Adam died 930 years later, which is still within that thousand year time frame. The JW's use that to smooth over a lot of biblical discrepancies about time and prophecies.

[ August 01, 2002: Message edited by: Joel ]</p>