what is up with the tree of knowledge?

Some Christians believe there was 1 tree. Some Christians believe there were 2 trees (1 tree of good and evil, 1 tree of knowledge). The 2 tree Christians believe that the whole world would be different if Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of knowledge instead of the tree of good an evil. The 1 tree Christians believe that it was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Yet there are other Christians who believe the tree was a metaphor for something else, maybe even a sexual sin.

As far as God being the tempter of man, who oddly enough is supposed to lead us from temptation, yeah guilty as charged. He creates us with instincts and natural desires then sets the rules in opposition. Why is this again? The Christians claim that 1) it is the sin nature we are born with that causes us to be tempted to sin, and 2) we must pray to God to help us overcome sinful temptation. Problem with this theory is that God knew beforehand that this would happen, so he was really just creating a system where we would be dependent on him for salvation. Another problem with this is that it mysteriously happens to benefit the church a little too much. When the rules are set in a way where everyone will fail, the church is the one place where you can obtain sin relief (or at least relief from the guilt related to sin). If the church can keep you returning for more, they can count on staying in business.

So did a loving god set us up to fail and then let the devil take the blame? Or did the church make up this story to keep us coming back with our money?

I am no expert, but I do love God and think that His plan is best.

This is a great question.

From what I know about God, He created us for his own pleasure. He loves for us to love, obey and worship Him. Whether anyone thinks that is selfish or not doesn't matter. That is just how things are.

He did not create us to be robots or to simply follow orders. Doing the things we have no choices about is not pleasging to Him. Doing hings and making choices simply out of our Love and Respect for Him is pleasing to Him. What good is having someone loving you if they have no choice?

Putting the tree in the garden was the first act of choice. The only way you can Choose God thereby showing your love for Him, is if there is some other choice that you are turning from to choose Him. The tree of life was merely the first of those oposite choices. (for all we know there were other tests that weren't mentioned)

Somehow this was part of God's plan. The Bible say that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.

The point is that there is a choice to be made and they chose wrongly, but we each get a choice too.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

An experiment. We humans seem to be anthropomorphic by way of ego. If god had just created us, how would he know what the outcome would be unless we did not ever truly have free will to decide for ourselves. It seems that maybe all too often we blame god for things that the human made a choice to do themselves. We have had as a race many that have come to help with the question you pose, but ego usually gets the best of people before the message being sent can be realized. Knowledge is a form of imitation. We learn about "things" from others, books,parents,friends and so on. Then we apply our own distortion to make these "ideas" and generalizations fit to our liking. Being human is tough sometimes. But how would we learn about anything without experiencing it directly. You could ask somebody what it is like to sky dive, or you could try it yourself. This is what we call learning the hard way, but ultimately this path can lead to refinement and wisdom. Since we have chosen the path of knowledge, we don't want to hear about people roaming about spouting off things they have heard. We want to experience them for ourselves. This is the gift we give back to "god". Our individual experience because we chose individuality instead of a being that already was directly connected to all of nature and beyond. You see we are truly scientists of sorts. We are also authors of this story of humanity by way of free will. This is wonderful and sacred.

Be sure to remember it was "The knowledge of good and evil" not just knowledge.

If we remained without that ability-we would be more like the animals. Innocent.

Animals can walk up to you and kill for no apparent reason- other than they can, and that you walked into their territory. And they are not evil for doing so. They don't go killing and making someone suffer for a prolonged time, watching them, taking pleasure in it, and laughing at it.

Animals are just what they are, and innocent.

Humans are not. We KNOW full well when we are doing something cruel or that hurts another.

I think if God didn't allow us to "fall" we would never have realized just what it means fully to be made in God's image and likeness! We have total awareness.

It IS a mystery. I can't fathom it all out either.

What would humans be like if we never ate of that apple? Like the animals? Brutal and unknowing, as they are????????

I sure don't know.

To give us eternal life by providing the Tree of Life (Gen 3:22). However, the Tree of Life was blocked and most Christians believe this is a literal story when is indeed a Parable. Christ said He'd speak in Parables and utter secrets hidden since the creation (Mt 13:34).

They died not because of the Tree of K.G.E but because they disobeyed the Word of God. What is the solution for this problem of death then, it's the Tree of LIfe, but how to eat from the tree of life and live forever, what's the reality?

John 6:53 - Jesus' Flesh & Blood = Eternal Life . Christ opened the way to the Tree of Life by giving us His flesh and blood. But how can we obtain His flesh and blood? Through the Passover (Mt 26:17,26, Lk 22:13)

That's the reason why God allowed that to happen, to redeem us from death with eternal life. I know many of you will not agree with this answer but this is the Word of God. Even when Christ came 2,000 years ago, nobody believe in Him because His point of view was different from everyone else's. Second Coming Christ has come!

When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, they were also commanded to multiply and plenish the earth. Plenishing the earth was a much greater commandment than not partaking of the fruit which knowledge was needed in order to fulfill the greater commandment of plenishing the earth. Though partaking of the fruit had it's repercussions, Adam and Eve did make the better choice in choosing the lesser of two evils.

I've asked this same question time and time again, and yet still have no answer. So, I hope someone with BRAINS has an answer. Here is another question though: why does God make people He already knows will end up in hell? Because, God is all knowing, so He knows.

God gave Adam and Eve free will - the right to choose. God wants us to choose to love Him for who He is. He wants to fellowship with us and be with us, like a father who dearly loves his child will want to be with that child, talk to them, learn what they think and feel and guide them and protect them. Without having at least one "No" thing- Do not eat of that tree", but you can have everything else - then there would be no choice for Adam and Eve. They would serve God and be His companions out of default of another choice or option. The tree of life was also there and they could have eaten from it, but they didn't and after they sinned God banned them from having access to that one.

If Adam and Eve were like you and me...you might have a point. But they weren't. All they knew was that God gave them everything...but asked only that they don't eat of one tree. No big deal.

Adam and Eve were not like us before the fall. Never forget that.

It was a plant in the midst of the garden of Eden whose fruit was forbidden by Adam and Eve. It was a test of obedience. Adam failed via temptation.

Ex. If a scientist builds a space ship, they test it before they put it in space. I don't see the problem.