The Tree of Knowledge.

In the story of Adam and Eve, God tells them not to eat from the tree of knowledge and I just want to know, why is that? Why would God want to punish us for wanting to know more? It's not designed to be a diss of any kind to Christians, I just want to read your thoughts on it.

Has no-one got any thoughts at all on the Tree of Knowledge? Why would God not allow Adam and Eve to enjoy the fruits of it?

My take on it is that it contained the knowledge of good and evil, and since they were in the garden and protected by God's hand, they had no need to know of evil - they only knew good.

But God promised free will for man so he told them that the tree was there, then told them not to touch it. It was their choice to touch it or not.

They did.

He booted them out.

It is not that he wanted to punish them for knowing more, it is that they were in his protection, and if they stepped outside his protection then he knew the result of what would happen to man.

Just my take on it.

JDub

That is a pretty mysterious incident. Also notice that it implies that they didn't know the difference between good and evil. And that god told them not to eat the fruit, but....they don't know the difference between good and evil and thus don't know that its 'evil' to disobey god, but they get punished anyway!

I suppose the moral is, do what god tells you, not what you think is good or evil. Look at the Abraham story. The guy up and leaves his home and takes his family out into the wilderness because of a voice in his head. He even is willing to murder his son because god tells him too. This sort of behaviour is considered extremely evil today, but Abraham is the father of all these religions now too! Today, people'd be frothing at the mouth to murder him via torture, like with Andrea Yates and others who've abused and murdered their children.

I always have thoughts on anything that comes up...but I'm geared toward verbal economy these days.

These were my thoughts last August as well as today:

The Sin of Adam and Eve

Same thread

I was told by a mormon that adam and eve were supposed to eat off that tree...no idea why though.

Obedience is a good thing when safety is an issue.

However, the best learning experiences are usually sparked by disobedience, disregard for authority, and even straight up rebellion.

Perhaps the old saying 'rules are made to be broken' is 'God's honest truth'...

Originally posted by Merger
I was told by a mormon that adam and eve were supposed to eat off that tree...no idea why though.

Quite possibly because god wanted them to gain the knowledge so that they would have free will or to test them to see if they had free will.

Originally posted by BlueTileSpook
My take on it is that it contained the knowledge of good and evil, and since they were in the garden and protected by God's hand... ...It is not that he wanted to punish them for knowing more, it is that they were in his protection, and if they stepped outside his protection then he knew the result of what would happen to man.

JDub

And here I thought god was omnipresent, just goes to show that god isn't everywhere as even in Gen 4:16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
The phrase ' from the presence of the lord' means that god is not everywhere.
Ah well, you learn something new every day

G

I was listening to an Out There episode on Podcast, one that focused on entheogenic plants and how they have influenced the formation of religion. One of the things that the special guest speaker, a Theologist, had stated was that in genesis we see man eating a plant, and gaining knowledge on the level of god himself, similar to how these enthogenic or psychedelic drugs will affect a person.

And notice that, after man has eaten from the knowledge fruit, God is concerned that man will eat the fruit that will make them immortal, and that this is worrying because then man would be just like god. That reinforces the idea that the substance taken was entheogenic.

Here is a link for that episode.

Im gonna try this one..Ok firstly God is omniscient and Omnipresent so well start by assuming that he is not only aware that they would, but when.
Im favorable to the post that mentioned Gods testing to see if they had free will except its not an experiment its an intitiation ceremony setup for them by God. Ok , now I do get confused at the next part though
Genesis 3:22 "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 from the tree of life, and eat and live forever."
So like at this point they are expelled. Which is fine except who is US..Why is God refer to himself in the plural, and why doesnt he seem to know one way or another whether they will eat from the tree of life..Now Im not sure on this but its possible that God as described in the old testament at the very least is not in fact omniscient. The tree of good and evil makes sense to me as a setup initiation ceremony but ..well In my thoughts I see the tree of life as the light that leads us home...perhaps the first tre instills the instinct toward the second and being removed from Eden, we are forced to use our free wills in a quest to return. Dont know..gotta admit christianity confuses me now and then..most religions do..Im an agnostic But I do beleive in the Holy Variable X, hallowed be its undefinition

Some people refer the 'plural' concept of God (ie in other parts god says 'lets create man in OUR image') is based on that the trinity of God/Jesus/Holy Spirit..ie 'us'.

Alienish believers, say its a group of humanoid beings that created the human race.

This thread has brought up a memory of the first Matrix movie... I wonder if it means anything.

Tree of Life = Blue Pill = continue living
Knowledge of good and evil = Red Pill = The Truth

Come to think of it...the entire matrix series almost sounds luciferian.. (luciferian is different to satanic apparently)

Hrmm

merger