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Tree of Knowledge

Did you know that Genesis mentions TWO trees in Eden? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. The only tree God told Adam and Eve not to eat from was the tree of knowledge. The implication is that they could eat from the tree of life all they wanted.
 
When God discovers their sin of disobedience, He says to Himself …”The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must
not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of
life and eat, and live forever.” Genesis 3:22. Can you imagine having to live forever in this mortal, sinful body? As my good friend Bubba points out, God banished them so they wouldn’t have to live forever in their depraved state. In other words, the only way to save them was to banish them from Eden. Wow. I always thought they were kicked out as punishment, but he did it for their own good. That’s crazy.
 
A few years ago, I heard Andrew Shearman talk about the trees. His point was that man is still doing the same thing he did in the Garden: we’re still going to the tree of knowledge when we should be going to the tree of LIFE! (That’s how he says it – with an English accent.)
 
I know that I had heard about two trees, but for me, there was really
only one tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of
life was just the part of the verse I skimmed over. Lately, God has been showing me how I still do this. I want to KNOW: Why is this happening? What does my future hold? Why am I like this? What should I do? How will it work?
 
Yes, I know we’re supposed to study and know the Word: “Study to show yourself approved unto God“, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you“, but my knowledge will not save me. Only Jesus, the giver of life can do that. My knowledge keeps me worried and wondering about the future. Focusing on Jesus causes me to focus on the now. Jesus is Life, he created it and all life exists because of Him and in Him. I don’t want to go to the tree of knowledge, I want to go to the tree of LIFE! I want to live this life that God has given me with my eyes focused on him, not on me.

7 Comments

  4. Yeah, so a response of sorts to my friend “guest.”

    Note that the article talks about the knowledge of good and evil The Bible does not refer to the “Tree of Knowledge,” but the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”

    What’s the difference? Knowledge is good. Right? In general, I would agree with that statement. But think about a time when knowing good and evil or the difference between good and evil actually did you some good. Yes, there are times when we need to know how to avoid evil, but do you really need to know it? Does it do you any good to turn on the news and find out how some guy killed his family, how many people were killed by violence yesterday, etc. Are you built up and edified by this knowledge?

    What do you think?

  5. Hey just wanted to chime in and provide a comment a little more insightful than “cool picture”, which I apparently left close to two years ago 🙂 Your original post reminds me of a recent bible study in which we discussed how difficult it is to restrain ourselves from asking and being preoccupied with “WHY?!?”.

    A good example of this is in John 21 when Jesus asks Peter to follow him and Peter then asks, “what about John?”. Jesus responds, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” I found it interesting (and admittedly comforting) that even one of Jesus’ best buddies, Peter, could not resist this desire to question God.

    This shouldn’t justify the fact that I question and doubt all of the time, but should remind me that Jesus’ commands are pretty simple – “follow him”.

    I agree with you, Mark. Knowledge is, in general, a good thing. Knowledge of good and evil… one could argue that you need to know the subtle differences so that you do lead yourself into sin or temptation. But as you mentioned, if we keep our eyes focused on Him and not ourselves (or what is right and wrong), then we can never go wrong.

  7. This is exactly what God reminded me of this past weekend at the retreat. I needed it to deal with the issues when I returned. God is so good! Carla did a magnificent job by the way!

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