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| Tree of knowledge |
God placed man in the Garden that He planted East of Eden, He gave him everything he needed to survive. He even gave him a tree that would allow him to live forever. It was called the Tree of life. But there was a small wrinkle in the plan. There was also a tree called the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Since Adam and Eve had been put in the Garden, they had been walking around naked. As it turns out this was considered a sin. As soon as they acquired knowledge they were ashamed of what they were doing. I have always wondered why God thought it was alright to sin as long as Adam & Eve were ignorant. But I get ahead of myself.
The question that has puzzled me the most is why He put the Tree there in the first. If He really wanted stupid people to represent Him as his creation, why put the tree there in the first place.
If He created the Serpent, surely He must have known the Serpent had wanted man to have a different future from the one God had planned. God decided to teach the Serpent a lesson. That reminded me of what the Greek God Zeus did to Prometheus for giving man the gift of fire. Apparently Gods get a little angry if they think you are a threat to their power.
One other thing that has puzzled me is why the Church teaches that man was removed from the Garden because he disobeyed. In Genesis: 3rd Chapter verse 22 "The Lord God said: Obviously in knowing Good and Evil, man has become like one of us. Now then , he might reach out his hand to pluck and eat from the Tree of Life so as to live forever. So the Lord God expelled him from the Garden of Eden....." It seems to me the Gods were just afraid of Man's potential. But I guess the apple hasn't fallen too far from the tree. Powerful men are also jealous of those who threaten their power. The lesson must be to remain ignorant and do what you are told.
William Hodge
