Knowledge of Good and Evil

[SPB1987]

This is a question that has perplexed me for years. How could Adam and Eve be punished for eating of the fruit of the tree that contained the knowledge of good and evil? How could they have possibly known that obeying God was good and disobeying God was evil without eating the fruit? Is it possible that this story was not meant to be taken literally? Maybe it illustrates a much broader point?

 

[oi_antz]

This is a question that has perplexed me for years. How could Adam and Eve be punished for eating of the fruit of the tree that contained the knowledge of good and evil? How could they have possibly known that obeying God was good and disobeying God was evil without eating the fruit? Is it possible that this story was not meant to be taken literally? Maybe it illustrates a much broader point?

Hi SPB, nice to speak with you again Yes I can see your thoughts are healthy and you've raised a good question that many people just seem to doubt without really delving into it. Notice the quote in razeontherocks signature:

“There is nothing in the Mosaic books that yields its meaning on the surface. No rabbi ever read Genesis literally until modern times!” - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Don't get me wrong, I do believe that Genesis is a literal account of the origin of man, and I do believe that Jesus had that sort of faith too. But I also believe the story of Adam and Eve is meant to illustrate a much broader point while giving the literal answer to why the human is so corruptible.

To me the story illustrates the big problem we get when we choose not to obey what God tells us and instead choose to believe a lie. The serpent is illustrated as the tempter, and in so much as we can be tempted to disbelieve what God says, the tempter is the most cunning creature in the world. Jesus inflated this theme in John 8:44 by saying that the devil is the father of lies and was a murderer since the beginning.

This thinking seems to loop upon your original question: is it meant to be taken literally. The answer to this, according to what the impact of not listening to God has, is a resounding yes. Either you will choose to listen to what God says or you will choose to argue about it, and this is why we see non-believers coming up to Christianity with all the arguments under the sun why it can't be true, and the Christians come back with all the verses in God's Word to state that it is true. It is the royal battle between truth and lie, light and dark. Ultimately the whole battle comes down to the one simple verse that convinced Pontious Pilate of Jesus' innocence:

John 18:37
New Living Translation (NLT)
37 Pilate said, “So you are a king?”

Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”

We see many people arguing with the Genesis account, but more importantly, arguing with the account of Jesus and the commandments He gave. It takes a drastic change of heart for someone who doesn't believe what God says to suddenly turn about-face and begin believing everything that He says. It's a wonderful experience to be born again, and to realize that God doesn't lie. The moment that becomes real to you, your life will begin again.

Let me know how this fits with the way you think of it.

 

[Myshkin99]

Yes, it illustrates a broader point, whether it is taken literally or not. The point is that this is the nature of God. Believe it or not.

God said it. I believe it. Whether we like it or not is irrelevant.

 

[razeontherock]

How could they have possibly known that obeying God was good and disobeying God was evil without eating the fruit?

I think this is both a great question, and one that must be asked. While we all may share what perspective we have on this, you will need to come to your own conclusions. (And btw the bit in my tagline from the Rabbi is there to challenge my own thinking)

I do have quite a bit of my own understanding on this subject, all typed out in a recent thread somewhere in our outreach section, in a conversation with "curious atheist" IIRC.

The answer to your question is THE WORD OF GOD.

And this same answer applies to us in so many ways every day!! Notice that Adam got it directly, and Eve only heard through Adam. I think this makes it very, very significant that Jesus confirmed basically every high point of Israel's history, including Enoch.

Regardless of what understanding(s) we may come to, we will each be tested where the only way we (presently) know obeying God is good and disobeying Him is evil is BY THE WORD OF GOD:

Romans 10:17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

I think this is what is being said in this passage. Jesus' sheep know His voice!

Man Myshkin that's great! I gotta put that in my tagline ...

 

[drich0150]

This is a question that has perplexed me for years. How could Adam and Eve be punished for eating of the fruit of the tree that contained the knowledge of good and evil?

Because they were told (By God) Not to eat the fruit. When you were a child did you know the ins and outs of everything your parents told you not to do? If you were caught taking candy from strangers did you get rewarded or punished? Even if you did not completely understand the intentions of pedophiles

How could they have possibly known that obeying God was good and disobeying God was evil without eating the fruit?

They didn't but they did know what God told them in that if that ate of the fruit that they would surly die. Even so they decided to believe the serpent that told them if they ate thay they would have the power of god.

Is it possible that this story was not meant to be taken literally? Maybe it illustrates a much broader point?

To understand the "Broader point" you must first take the story literally.

 

[SPB1987]

Because they were told (By God) Not to eat the fruit. When you were a child did you know the ins and outs of everything your parents told you not to do? If you were caught taking candy from strangers did you get rewarded or punished? Even if you did not completely understand the intentions of pedophiles

They didn't but they did know what God told them in that if that ate of the fruit that they would surly die. Even so they decided to believe the serpent that told them if they ate thay they would have the power of god.

Did your parents condemn you and all of their future children because of an action that you did?

 

[drich0150]

Did your parents condemn you and all of their future children because of an action that you did?

They did condemn the actions of strange men who offered candy to other peoples children, no matter what their intentions actually were... and every man in the future was automatically condemn because of the actions of one.

That said this is not what God did. Because God offered atonement for sin, and my parents did not.

 

[elopez]

This is a question that has perplexed me for years. How could Adam and Eve be punished for eating of the fruit of the tree that contained the knowledge of good and evil? How could they have possibly known that obeying God was good and disobeying God was evil without eating the fruit? Is it possible that this story was not meant to be taken literally? Maybe it illustrates a much broader point?

It is a mistake to assume the fruit contained knowledge of morality when indeed the text says nothing of the sort.

They 'knew' obeying God was good because they experienced God directly and the rest of his creation which was good, which is a type of experiential knowledge of good. They 'knew' they shouldn't disobey God as He told Adam while Eve was not present, and since Eve gave it as the reason for not eating the fruit which means she understood it, Adam must have informed her which means he understand the command well enough to do so.

So they 'knew' both good and evil. Good in an intellectual and experiential way, while evil just intellectually as they had never experienced evil until they disobeyed God. Having said that, I would say its more than possible the text should not be read literally.

 

[Emmy]

Dear SPB1987. God had told Adam and Eve NOT to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, if they did they would die. When the tempter, in the guise of a Serpent, put doubt into their minds, they fell for it and disobeyed God, or we could say: " they did not love God enough to believe Him." They were banned to Earth, to learn to love God and love others. All who came after, all Mankind, were like Adam and Eve, and moved farther and farther away from God. I time Jesus came, and He showed us God, as God really is: our loving Heavenly Father who wants us back again. The Bible, God`s Word to Man, tells us to " Repent," to change our selfish and unloving character, INTO: 1) Loving God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds. 2) To love our neighbour as ourselves. Jesus tells us in Matthew, chapter 22, verses 35-40: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. God wants our Love, freely given and selfless, NO conditions asked. That is why we are ALL in this imperfect World, to learn to love God, He made us in His image, and to love our neighbour,( all others, whether friends or not friends) God made us all. Jesus will give us His Love and Joy, and the Holy Spirit will give us His Love, too. Jesus told us to " ask and ye will receive," and then we share all Love and Joy with our neighbour. God will see our sincere efforts, and God will approve and bless us. We will show our love to God, and God will know that we love Him: Why?? because we follow His Commandments to LOVE. Love is not only a good feeling, love is also a doing-word, and Love will change us into the children/sons and daughters, which God wants. We will stumble and fail, perhaps often, but God will forgive us, as we will forgive others. Then we carry on, and to love will become easier and better, it will become our second nature. Jesus our Saviour and " The Way" will lead us back to where we came from. I say this with love, SPB. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[solarwave]

This is a question that has perplexed me for years. How could Adam and Eve be punished for eating of the fruit of the tree that contained the knowledge of good and evil? How could they have possibly known that obeying God was good and disobeying God was evil without eating the fruit? Is it possible that this story was not meant to be taken literally? Maybe it illustrates a much broader point?

It might be possible to take it literally by saying that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil gives experiential knowledge of the contrast of good and evil. Before hand they could have had a conscious that tells them to do good rather than evil, but not until they ate of the tree did they fully understand the contrast between good and evil. In so what the same way I know that I should stick my hand in the fire, but when I am actually burnt I fully understand the pain of fire and the goodness of not being burnt. It is better not to fully understand the contrast between good and evil just like it is better not to be burnt.

I don't think the story should be taken literally though and should be understood as the fall from innocence that we all go through in life.

 

[razeontherock]

SW, here's the thing: whether we take it literally or not, we should still come away with the understanding you just expounded here. Very well put!

 

[ElijahW]

This is a question that has perplexed me for years. How could Adam and Eve be punished for eating of the fruit of the tree that contained the knowledge of good and evil? How could they have possibly known that obeying God was good and disobeying God was evil without eating the fruit? Is it possible that this story was not meant to be taken literally? Maybe it illustrates a much broader point?

I look at it as commenting on the evolution of man. It’s illustrating that there was a change in our behavior, from us gaining intelligence(knowledge of G&E) and that change in our behavior (covering ourselves) took us from our natural habitat which was vital to us not dying.

 

[SPB1987]

I look at it as commenting on the evolution of man. It’s illustrating that there was a change in our behavior, from us gaining intelligence(knowledge of G&E) and that change in our behavior (covering ourselves) took us from our natural habitat which was vital to us not dying.

Are you referring to theistic evolution or just evolution of the human mind?

 

[ElijahW]

Are you referring to theistic evolution or just evolution of the human mind?

Theistic evolution, I think. It does include evolution of our minds but not just limited to that. Why our minds evolved the way they did, can be explained with, at some point in our history we were just the right genetic code, in just the right environment so that we had prolonged life spans. Unfortunately the gain in our intelligence changed our behavior and environment, which changed the genetic influences so that long life spans were only temporary.