The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Exploring the details of Christianity

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TXatheist
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The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Post #1

Post by TXatheist »

This is something that I have never understood. But to be honest, I have never done any extensive research on it, so hopefully this will be an enlightening thread for me as well as others.

Why did the Christian god create the tree of knowledge of good and evil and then place it in the garden? Moreover, why would he do it if he knew man would fall because of it (I'm assuming god is omniscient as Christians claim)? Isn't this like setting a toy in front of a child and demanding that they not touch it and then leaving the room, all the while knowing they will touch it and that you will have to punish them for it? I can actually understand doing that if one were trying to teach a child a particular lesson; maybe showing them that there are consequences for disobedience. It's still cruel to set them up like that. Regardless, man's punishment was not simply given to teach him a lesson. Everything changed after Adam and Eve ate the fruit. God cursed the ground, cursed man, cursed woman, new pains arose, new toils, man became mortal, animals became carnivores etc. Every hardship that every one of billions and billions of people has ever had to go through came from that one disobedient act.

So why did god do it? What purpose did it serve other than to ruin what he had created? After one of god's angels went bad, he had to kick him out of heaven. Then he creates his ultimate creation, man, and then shoves the very thing that will ruin man right in front of him and says, "don't touch." It almost seems like he is a glutton for punishment.
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Post #31

Post by orthodox »

Yes i can see that we are so much better for it and we are God-like now....

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Post #32

Post by TXatheist »

orthodox wrote:Yes i can see that we are so much better for it and we are God-like now....
Could you expand on this a bit?
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Post #33

Post by Ankhhape »

orthodox wrote:Yes i can see that we are so much better for it and we are God-like now....
I am not Self-Deified and I doubt you are either, but the allegory of what I said was that it is possible to be One with this Abrahamic God or it is possible to become Self-Deified, something that this God certainly didn't want us to know.

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kayky
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Post #34

Post by kayky »

Ankhhape wrote:God tells Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil, "for surely if you do on that day you will die" . . . the Serpent told them the Truth, you would not die, that their eyes would be opened (enlightenment) and you could become a God.
God does not want humans to get caught up in the illusion of opposites (good and evil/life and death, etc.). So the Serpent is lying to Eve--the fruit actually closes their eyes to their true identity in God. The Garden itself represents union with God.

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Post #35

Post by Ankhhape »

kayky wrote:
Ankhhape wrote:God tells Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil, "for surely if you do on that day you will die" . . . the Serpent told them the Truth, you would not die, that their eyes would be opened (enlightenment) and you could become a God.
God does not want humans to get caught up in the illusion of opposites (good and evil/life and death, etc.). So the Serpent is lying to Eve--the fruit actually closes their eyes to their true identity in God. The Garden itself represents union with God.
An incomplete life is one that only knows one side.

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Post #36

Post by kayky »

Most of us spend a great deal of our lives caught up in the conflict of "both sides," but healing is found in the wholeness that is God.

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Post #37

Post by Ankhhape »

The Abrahamic God offers one path and one path only, there are many many other paths.

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kayky
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Post #38

Post by kayky »

Oh, I absolutely agree. I think you'll find I'm very much the heretic even within my own religion.

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Post #39

Post by Coyotero »

There should be a special forum for all of us assorted pagans, heathens, mystics, and heretics.

If I had enough tokens, I'd do it myself right now.

O well, just hafta keep posting...

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Post #40

Post by Ankhhape »

It would be the Gnostic Gospels . . . but, the al-satan mind still prevails and anything close to that will never see the 'Light' of day.

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