Tuesday, August 25, 2009

forests and trees

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2:15-17

I have read the Genesis creation account many times. Recently, this forbidden fruit has been giving me fits. It's such a strange name for a tree… 'the tree of the knowledge of good and evil'… I kept having this nagging thought - 'what's so bad about having knowledge of good and evil?' After all, isn't it good to know what you should stay away from? So why is the knowledge of good and evil a bad thing? Furthermore, why have I never stopped to think about the name of this tree in the past? Scripture can be such a strange and wonderful thing when you dig into it.

I started thinking about this tree from the perspective that we all have the capacity to engage in great evil. Yet we also have a sense of how good we could be. And perhaps the answer to the mystery of this forbidden fruit lies in that gap between the "good" we want to be and the reality of who we are. I would say this gap is the source of guilt, frustration, discontentment, yearning, etc. Who we are is not who we think we should be. Said another way, real is not ideal. Yet this comparison and frustration could not exist without the knowledge of good and evil. Prior to eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve were free. They were more free than we have ever been. The introduction of the knowledge of good and evil was the death of this freedom. Look at the shame and guilt that immediately followed. Adam and Eve were ashamed of their nakedness. They made clothes and hid from God. Maybe there is a lot of truth to the old saying "ignorance is bliss". It seems there are certain things God never intended us to know.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Have a great week and a great fast.
Your brother,
Bob

2 comments:

  1. This will seem odd but, I'll go a complete 180 on the conclusion "there are certain things God never intended us to know." I'll support your earlier view and state that I don't think there is inherently anything wrong with the knowledge of good and evil. God knows the difference between good and evil and he's not evil.

    If God really didn't "want" (too strong a word maybe, but the best I can do) man to fall by eating the fruit, then why did he make the tree? God wasn't forced to even give man the option to eat of the fruit. God is all knowing so he wasn't surprised Adam and Eve ate the fruit, and He surely knew what the outcome of making the tree would be before it was ever created.

    So while God didn't cause us to fall (that was still Adam and Eve's decision) He didn't exactly go out of his way to make sure it wouldn't happen either. Why? I think God wanted us to fully understand his goodness and the depths of the evil on the other side. I don't know that his other created beings - angels - fully grasp this. I certainly don't think that they did when God cast Satan and 1/3 of the angels down from heaven. But I think God has always wanted us to understand what he's saving us from. We know all too well that real is not ideal. Without eating the fruit that never happens.

    Just my two cents. Love to hear a few more thoughts...

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  2. Perhaps saying "never intended for us to know" is too strong. I guess the point I was trying to get across is that the knowledge of good and evil is the death of innocence which in turn is the loss of a certain freedom. God certainly knew before hand what would happen but, just like our own children, seeing innocence lost can be a sad thing.

    Great points and thanks for sharing.

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