i have just had a run though to check and this topic as it appears in Genisis 3 does not seem to have come up before so here goes:
How is this knowledge of good and evil manifested in our lives?
What is its opposite?
I think that there is much to discuss here about the purposes of God and how he appears in the OT and the picture we see in Jesus together with how the NT writers saw him post gospels. Does any of this help us to understand a more helpful approach to the law in the OT and the Royal Law in the new?
I would value any thoughts and comments as I have been mulling this over in the back of my mind for some months.
Many have concluded that because God forbade Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that knowledge of good and evil is intrinsically bad or morally wrong. I don’t think God forbade them eating from that tree because knowledge of good and evil is in itself wrong. I think God had a particular order. Adam and Eve, though physically mature, were like children mentally. God wanted them to become spiritually mature, and then first eat from the tree of life, and then they would be qualified to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But the serpent tried and succeeded in getting them to do it in reverse order while they were still mentally and spiritually immature. There is no evidence that they ever ate from the tree of life, even though they were not forbidden to do so.
The writer to the Hebrews indicated that the spiritually mature, have their ability to distinguish good from evil, trained through practice.
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14 ESV)
I would point out again that Chris has 2 threads going, with the same question and written material. Perhaps an admin or moderator can combine these threads and responses?
Why are you so concerned merely because Randy pointed it out? He said it because he wrote a reply in the other (identical) thread and it would be easier to merge the two than for him to have to write it out again.
The laws of God have always been the same. They were established in the beginning and will be there as long as the earth remains in existence.
There are two trees in the Garden of Eden. One is the tree of life. This is God’s word, His way of life, and they give us the knowledge of good and evil according to God. The other is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which represents the knowledge of the world. These are the people who don’t believe in God. They are the liars and deceivers who know better than God and will tell you, according to themselves, what is right and wrong. God warns Adam and Eve about this tree, but they didn’t have faith and trust in God, so they ate of it. God doesn’t want it to be this way, for if we live according to Him, the results will speak for themselves. It is this way with our own children.For example: we tell our kids not to drink and drive. Some will trust and obey. Some will think we’re full of crap and test it for themselves, saying “My friend said it was okay. He drank and drove and nothing happened to him.” From experience they will learn. We don’t want it to be this way, but all we can do is teach them the way to go, then set them free. Adam and Eve learned from the school of hard knocks that God’s word is true, but the story goes on to reveal how loving and forgiving our God is. Genesis 3:21 says “And for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them.” This is to say that God took care of them. The mistakes Adam and Eve made ended up costing them dearly, but God was right there with them, renewing them in His word and helping them to start over.
No problem, Chris. Let’s leave it up to the admins and moderators, to come up with a solution. Otherwise, in accordance with the Russian Orthodox, holy fools tradition, I’m beginning to enjoy answering in 2 identical topic threads.
I can see I have started a theological discussion about two threads - this was not my intention. I could I suppose relocate to the joke page? If I knew how 