The Tree of Wisdom

Within the Garden of Eden, at its center was the tree of Wisdom. Why then was the eating of the apple the form of original sin? IF God created the Garden, then therefore he could put whatever he wanted in there. So why would there be a tree of wisdom if we were not to eat from it? Was it Gods plan that we remain naive? Perhaps in naivety we are more easily ruled, but if that is the case, then why the tree of Wisdom?

the purpose of putting the tree of wisdom in the garden was because God gave us free will..

he wanted to see if we would obey him of our own accord..

he could have made us mindless robots that just did whatever he said, but he would rather give us a choice so we could live our own lives, and if we chose we could live for ourselves or to glorify him..

but had eve never eaten from the tree of wisdom life would have been perfect..there would be no sin, no wrong, no evil..the earth had two paths laid out from the get go

path 1 - not eating from the tree = utopia on earth

path 2 - we chose this one..led to a crappy evil world..

The Tree of Life was "in the midst" of the Garden. Incidentally, knowledge of good and evil does not necessarily equal wisdom. Wisdom lies in choices that come from knowledge, not the knowledge itself per se.

Genesis 2

9 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.

Wisdom
Noun
1. Accumulated knowledge or erudition or enlightenment.

2. The trait of utilizing knowledge and experience with common sense and insight.

3. Ability to apply knowledge or experience or understanding or common sense and insight.

4. The quality of being prudent and sensible.

Knowledge
Noun
1. The psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning.

There is a big difference between wisdom and knowledge. I have proven that many times myself.



[edit on 10-7-2008 by Icarus Rising]

Originally posted by Sly62659
Within the Garden of Eden, at its center was the tree of Wisdom. Why then was the eating of the apple the form of original sin? IF God created the Garden, then therefore he could put whatever he wanted in there. So why would there be a tree of wisdom if we were not to eat from it? Was it Gods plan that we remain naive? Perhaps in naivety we are more easily ruled, but if that is the case, then why the tree of Wisdom?

Look around you and open your eyes, wake up!
There is no Garden of Eden, there was no Tree of Wisdom and there was no apple! There even is not a God like the Bible portrays him to be.

The man in the Bible whom created us is alien, true God, the real almighty person or thing or energy does exist, but is no grandpa with white beard and long hair sitting on a cloud.

If it was, this planet would not be such a hell-hole it is and always was.

And yes, i do belive in God, but like i said, not like the bible and religious people tell him to be.
And yes, i even believe in Heaven. Not as the afterlife but as the highest dimension.

I think there would have been a reason for the tree of knowledge to be there.
I do not think it was there for the sole purpose of being a test of obedience.
It was the serpent who twisted it around from being a dire warning, into a commandment of ordered obedience.
The real test was of the wisdom or lack of wisdom, on the part of Adam and Eve, whether they would be tricked or if they could see through the deception.
We have no idea what the time span was, between the creation of man and the fall.
There could have been lots of traveling extra terrestrial beings who showed up to eat off that tree.
So, after meeting hundreds of aliens, one decided to do something very evil.
Eve was not surprised to have this fiery serpent talk to her.
The Bible says it was the most supple being in all creation,
It does not say, in the garden, or on the earth.

I'm not sure if I entirely agree with the view point I'm about to share, but here it is never-the-less:

If you take a look at all the geographical truths in Torah, which led to archaeological finds all over the middle east, then why not look at Torah as a historical document rather than a religious text. If you do this, then you ponder how far back in history does Torah extend to?
Someone once told me that it starts with creation, after-all it does start "In the beginning, created God the Heavens and Earth", but the garden of eden isn't an ACTUAL garden, rather it's a description of Adams consciousness.
When we were in the garden of Eden we shared it with all the nature, all the animals of our world. When we ate from the tree of wisdom we had to be kicked out, because we were no longer animals ourselves. We, Adam and Eve, Human-Kind stepped above our existence in the 'mental' Garden of Eden.

This is commonly portrayed as an exile, or a punishment, because is it not a punishment? Does an animal feel guilt for it's actions? Does an animal know the difference between right and wrong? I mean you can argue that they do, but there's a fundamental difference between Humans and Animals, and that difference is why we were kicked out of the 'Eden' state of mind.

Ignorance is bliss after-all.

reply to post by Sly62659


The Apple and the tree is a medaphore. First off the "apple" only came along not too long ago in history. Rather it was the fruit. Such sybology still appears throughout the text.

The "tree" and the fruit wasn't at all a tree or a fruit in the real. The real story is somewhere along the lines of 125 thousand years old, and not the 7000 the bible pertrays.

Before Adam and Eve, and the garden, there were beings on this earth. There were men, and there were beings from off world that came her suposidly to help mankind along. Rather then following "the plan" they thought they knew better so they started deviance from the plan.

When Adam and Eve arived, they were to follow the plan. However they were made confused. Eve, and then Adam, united with the original deviance from the plan. That was the eating from the tree of knowledge.

It's a far cry from what religious folx will try to feed you. A much more accurate accounting can be found in the urantia book.

reply to post by resonance


A star for you, - even if Eve does deserve a capital. As much as Adam has to be associated with that original sin...

reply to post by Sly62659

Was it Gods plan that we remain naive? Perhaps in naivety we are more easily ruled, but if that is the case, then why the tree of Wisdom?

Adam and Eve were happy in their natural state, not because they were naive, but because they were sinless.
God did not put them there to be ruled.
That is the twisted deception of the serpent.
Adam was to rule over God's creation.
Eating the forbidden fruit did not give them wisdom, it gave them a terrible consciousness of their own flaws and deficiencies.

Personally, I like this idea in Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gamain,
where God purposely put the fruit in the Garden to tempt Adam and Eve, with the intention that Adam and Eve would partake of it. Why, is anyone's guess. The plans ineffable after all.

First a lot of you re missing there were 2 trees. The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" and the tree of life.

They were free, there was no death, they could converse with God. So all Gods wisdom was available to them. He wanted to test mankind as the angels had rebelled with Satan. So he provided the tree of knowledge (metaphor or not) and asked them to not eat of it. They were free to eat on any other tree.

They were existing in a perfect sinless good state of being. Whats is wrong with being naive of evil? If there were no evil to protect yourself from such knowledge would only serve as temptation. So it would only cause evil and be of no value to humanity.

Law is the knowledge of good and evil, and a part of God's plan. In the beginning the only law we had was about food, and there was a death sentance for eating from a certain tree. As simple as that.

There were actually two trees at the center of the garden. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Tree of Life symbolised the sun and the day that brings life and the other tree symbolised the moon and the night.

reply to post by Neo Christian Mystic

In the beginning the only law we had was about food, and there was a death sentance for eating from a certain tree.

That is how you understand it, but I disagree.
I think there was no law.
The tree was there for some reason, but not for Adam to eat.
Think about how many things, today, in this world can kill us.
Back then, there was only one thing that could kill man, and God warned him about it.

reply to post by Sly62659


Heres a thought. There was also a talking snake in the Garden.

That's right. A Talking Snake.

A tree of wisdom, and an apple, one apple, you can't eat.

This sounds like a pretty crazy garden.

A talking snake, one apple, a wise tree. This seems like a pretty psychedelic place.

I respect people who admit they need religion to structure their life, cause not everyone can do it on their own, but I just want to remind everyone that they are talking about a make believe place that was written about in a FICTIONAL book.

Maybe Zenu will come back and take away our thetans.

C'mon, lets be logical for one minute. Seriously.

knowledge ultimately leads us to evilness thats the moral

Until you realize that logic is a human construct and there is an element to life that defies, even transcends logic, you won't be able to grasp the truth that is contained in the Bible.

Supernatural, inexplicable, the awesome Creator God. His Word is truly sealed to unbelievers.

Is this upward spiral of intelligence good for the human race?

Adam and Eve already had sin and could already be deceived before they ate from the fruit. This is proven because they ate from the fruit. People blame the serpent saying he confused them, but the serpent actually said was that god lied, and they believed the serpent. Since they believed the serpent and disobeyed of their own free will.

At first, I thought maybe the fruit gave us free will. But then of course that can't be true because they choose before they eat.

If God is all knowing, then he must have known they would eat from it right? He must have known that it happened. If God didn't know, then that would say he is not actually god that is playing the part of God in the story, perhaps "a" God.

Where the 2 come into agreement is in the statement, man is to become like gods, knowing both good and evil. So while it somewhat seems the serpent is freeing the 2, it seems to me that if that is truly God being talked about as God, then the serpent is providing a service to god. As we have to by our own free will, not "gods will" eat the fruit.

This reminds me of a scene in the matrix. Where Neo is talking with the architect and says the "oracle merely stumbled on a way in which all the people would agree and accept the program, if only on a subconscious level". Because they have to accept it by their own free will.

Good philosophical discussion. 1 thing i'm sure of is where the 2 are in agreement, and so that is what I do, I try to learn both good and evil, so that I can make the wise choice. What Icarus said about wisdom and knowledge is right on the money, and it is the wise man who is rich in the eyes of god, so by taking this fruit then we have become richer in the eyes of god.

Originally posted by intelligent life
Heres a thought. There was also a talking snake in the Garden.

That's right. A Talking Snake.

A tree of wisdom, and an apple, one apple, you can't eat.

This sounds like a pretty crazy garden.

A talking snake, one apple, a wise tree. This seems like a pretty psychedelic place.

I respect people who admit they need religion to structure their life, cause not everyone can do it on their own, but I just want to remind everyone that they are talking about a make believe place that was written about in a FICTIONAL book.

Maybe Zenu will come back and take away our thetans.

C'mon, lets be logical for one minute. Seriously.

You know, for someone who claims to be intelligent, you sure don't show very much of it. If you are so intelligent, then why are you unable to see anything beyond the symbols.

You call it fiction because you are too blind to see the truth the symbols are used to express.

It's like if I said the matrix movie is real. If you want to act like I mean that neo is really neo, there are machines that control everything, and so on, then DUH, obviously it is fiction and not real.

But if you are actually intelligent, then maybe, just maybe you can see that these things are symbolic in the movie and used to express a deeper truth, to questions you've obviously never taken the time to ask.

And the garden and genesis is the same thing. If you are smart enough to see it. And maybe you would if you weren't going around trying to belittle people based on your own ignorance.

We know in the context you put it is fictional. But if you use a bit of "logic" you talk about, then maybe you can realize that.

You think you are more intelligent than me? I'll take your test. I'll break your stupid little stereotypes. I make a living off nothing but my ability to create and understand logic. I'm a self taught programmer, and programming is natural to me because it is nothing but logic. I did logic problems for fun when I was a kid.

Open your eyes and then you can see what we are talking about. We aren't talking about apples, trees and snakes. Apples, trees and snakes are just symbols we are using to express understandings. You seem to be the only one actually talking about apples, trees and snakes.

Do you know how to "read between the lines"?

Doesn't feel so hot when someone steps on you for how smart you may or may not be does it? And yet, the sad part is I'm not actually smarter than you. You just need to open your eyes is all. Don't feel bad, you live in a society which is designed around getting you to only see the symbols instead of the truth under it. But at least realize it.


[edit on 18-1-2009 by badmedia]

reply to post by Sly62659


Read the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It's a complete new explanation for religion. "The Da Vinci Code" is nothing compared to it.