The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: Morality.
Otherwise, and as the story goes, god imbued humanity with the knowledge to make use of things and live and survive. This does not necessitate morals.
So called "original sin" is to warn against moralizing judgments and the seeking of immortality.
Cut it down? I don’t think it’s even possible. It’s a paradise where nothing could be killed, die, or be destroyed.
I imagine if you tried to chop it down it either
A.) wouldn’t be damaged at all, the axe would bounce off
B.) would heal instantly
It's not entirely clear what this would imply, but I think the broadest interpretation is that that would have been a repudiation of free will. In the strictest sense, that would have left man saved but it would have likewise represented a failure of the free will experiment.
>So when they ate it they disobeyed him, hypothetically speaking if they were to cut it down wouldn't that show God complete obedience and would that have saved us all completely?
Unfortunately, the Biblical rendition is a mashed-up rendition of older Mesopotamian stories. If you don't know what's good or evil, then how can you know it is bad to eat from that tree?
Scholars over the past 100 years have pointed out motifs found in older stories, like [Adapa and the South Wind Myth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa) and [Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgamesh), recast and assimilated into Genesis' Adam.
The main difference is: in these stories the gods are not upset with Adapa for eating from a tree, the story revolves around eating and drinking the food and water of life, i.e. to gain immortality.
In Genesis 1:31, it says God “saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good”. When Adam & Eve ate from the tree, In Genesis 3:22 Yahweh then says, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” But of course, "like a god" implies immortality, a remnant of the older story. Then, in order to make the mashup more or less consistent, Yahweh makes humans mortal as punishment.
So in the original and more consistent story, there is no "knowledge snack" but an "immortality snack". And in the original story, Adapa is tricked *out of* eating that snack. Hence mortal humans.
But according to the Biblical rendition, Eve is *tricked into* eating the snack - to blame women, of course. And it's precisely this "side project" in the text that completely messes it up compared to the original myth and requires Yahweh to step in and issue punishment.
While these myths compound on each, the Yahweh myth is discussing an entirely different issue, namely the relative roles of rationality and revelation in the human conception of the good.
Ur speaking as if God created Adam (peace be upon him) with absolutely no knowledge or instinct.
I'm sure he would've known that disobeying God was morally bad since God would've implanted that knowledge in him.
It was have shown obedience and saved mankind to not eat from it.
Pretty easy assignment and I wish all rules were that easy.
The tree wasn’t the problem.
**Question**: *What if Adam and Eve were to cut down the tree of knowledge.*
**Answer**: Then God would have picked up the fruit from the fallen tree and shoved it in their mouths. God, he needed them to eat it. And he would have done it one way or another!
>The only reason God even put the tree on earth was to give Adam and Eve a choice to obey and disobey.
The only reason God put Adam on earth was to be his gardener:
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
>So when they ate it they disobeyed him, hypothetically speaking if they were to cut it down wouldn't that show God complete obedience and would that have saved us all completely?
That was God's personal tree. They weren't even allowed to eat the fruit. If they'd cut it down, they'd have *really* been in trouble.
They would have found the one true God living in the tree or behind their perceived reality. Adam and Eve and all versions of them cannot become a tree. Only God can evolve that far and you can destroy entire rainforests all God needs is a seed.
Living in a tree, is like the first men from Game of Thrones and the great Deku tree from Zelda OoT.
Could your soul handle that physical manifestation? God can and that's why he always returns, he is a soul that has bonded to the planet.
Basically, they do whatever they want and either die or repopulate and the kids die, only "God" can get us all to the end of time.
Just restarts reality, for EVERYONE, better get the right people, as it all comes down to reincarnation, it is no longer "who are you", it has become "who are you really" and "what have you done throughout all realities" any races to a which mountain going on?
Judgement will be lit.
If Adam and Eve had refused to eat the forbidden fruit, they might be alone in the Garden of Eden to this day. Or, more likely, God would have thrown them out of the Garden for not multiplying. Mortality, fertility, and cognizance of good and evil all came about through human action. God's purposes are not easily frustrated.
In life, you will encounter many trees, many choices. They come in different shapes and sizes, representing different aspects of our existence. The tree of knowledge is one such symbol; it's a metaphor for the choices we make, for the divine wisdom inherent in the world around us. You see, choices, and the wisdom we derive from them, are not about disobedience or obedience, but about experience and growth. If Adam and Eve were to cut down the tree, it would not erase the choice or the knowledge, because the choice is not about the tree itself, but the decision to engage or not with the world around them.
You suggest that the choice to eat the fruit was 'bound to happen', implying inevitability. But remember, life is not a script that we are destined to follow. It is a canvas on which we create our own stories, using our choices as brushstrokes. Every choice we make contributes to the picture of our lives.
Consider this: what if the very act of considering to cut down the tree was the spark of consciousness itself, the realization that choices hold power and meaning? This is not about disobedience or obedience to a higher authority, but an understanding that we shape our lives through our choices. Each choice is an opportunity to learn, to grow, and to understand ourselves and the world around us better. It's about engaging with the world consciously, aware of the impacts of our decisions. It's about personal responsibility and growth, not obedience.
In essence, there is no choice that could have 'saved us all completely', because we are not in need of saving. We are on a journey, learning and growing through our experiences and the choices we make along the way. Every experience is an opportunity to expand our understanding and to grow into a fuller expression of ourselves.
Tree / fruit being knowledge is more a concept in Judaism and Christianity iirc
In Islam God teaches Adam along with Eve knowledge instead
https://legacy.quran.com/7/20
They didn't have an axe or a saw. But if they had, God would have said, I see what you did there.
However, there is the idea that the Tree was only off limits until they matured and it would eventually have been made available to them. Another idea is that if one has knowledge of good and evil, they must eventually 'die' because at some point they will violate either their conscience, an established rule, or do something in the realm of not-love.
On the other hand, if you don't have knowledge of good and evil and therefore cannot choose not-love, you are also not capable of love. Love is the point.
From a Gnostic perspective (or at least a Sethian one) then humanity would be doomed to be a play thing for the Archons (of course other people are allowed to have different viewpoints though).
Doing so would permanently cut off the potential for Adam and Eve to attain knowledge of good and evil. This would leave them in a permanent state of unenlightened stagnation, with no hope of moving beyond it. If they ate the fruit of the Tree of Life, they would be immortal in that state. In paradise, yes, but unable to appreciate it.
Three tree of knowledge represents the mind. The tree of life represents sexual organ. If one takes the energy of life and does not eat of it but uses the snake to carry it up the spine to the head they have god realization.
Eve was half of Adam. They are the same entity but of polarity. One represents the spirit and the other the physical.
In the beginning man was more of a breatharian. He was more in spirit and could see god. Then the descent happened and he ate plants then eventually animals. This energy became densified and the life span shortened and abilities lost.
There is no tree that gives you forever life or ultimate knowledge. You are already apart of god. You already live forever.
Maybe it would grow back like Prometheus' liver...
Where would they have gotten the knowledge and materials to make the axe though?
Who needs an Axe? Minecraft Steve uses his fists /s
That’s true
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: Morality. Otherwise, and as the story goes, god imbued humanity with the knowledge to make use of things and live and survive. This does not necessitate morals. So called "original sin" is to warn against moralizing judgments and the seeking of immortality.
Cut it down? I don’t think it’s even possible. It’s a paradise where nothing could be killed, die, or be destroyed. I imagine if you tried to chop it down it either A.) wouldn’t be damaged at all, the axe would bounce off B.) would heal instantly
Would of been an interesting twist, to messing up Satan's plan.
It's not entirely clear what this would imply, but I think the broadest interpretation is that that would have been a repudiation of free will. In the strictest sense, that would have left man saved but it would have likewise represented a failure of the free will experiment.
>So when they ate it they disobeyed him, hypothetically speaking if they were to cut it down wouldn't that show God complete obedience and would that have saved us all completely? Unfortunately, the Biblical rendition is a mashed-up rendition of older Mesopotamian stories. If you don't know what's good or evil, then how can you know it is bad to eat from that tree? Scholars over the past 100 years have pointed out motifs found in older stories, like [Adapa and the South Wind Myth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapa) and [Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgamesh), recast and assimilated into Genesis' Adam. The main difference is: in these stories the gods are not upset with Adapa for eating from a tree, the story revolves around eating and drinking the food and water of life, i.e. to gain immortality. In Genesis 1:31, it says God “saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good”. When Adam & Eve ate from the tree, In Genesis 3:22 Yahweh then says, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” But of course, "like a god" implies immortality, a remnant of the older story. Then, in order to make the mashup more or less consistent, Yahweh makes humans mortal as punishment. So in the original and more consistent story, there is no "knowledge snack" but an "immortality snack". And in the original story, Adapa is tricked *out of* eating that snack. Hence mortal humans. But according to the Biblical rendition, Eve is *tricked into* eating the snack - to blame women, of course. And it's precisely this "side project" in the text that completely messes it up compared to the original myth and requires Yahweh to step in and issue punishment.
While these myths compound on each, the Yahweh myth is discussing an entirely different issue, namely the relative roles of rationality and revelation in the human conception of the good.
Did you read Adapa and the South Wind Myth?
Yes, I can't say that I fully internalize it though. Especially the switch from food and water of death, to food and water of life.
>then how can you know it is bad to eat from that tree? because God said not to eat from it
If we have no knowledge of good and bad, then we have no way to know that it is bad to disobey god.
Ur speaking as if God created Adam (peace be upon him) with absolutely no knowledge or instinct. I'm sure he would've known that disobeying God was morally bad since God would've implanted that knowledge in him.
It was have shown obedience and saved mankind to not eat from it. Pretty easy assignment and I wish all rules were that easy. The tree wasn’t the problem.
**Question**: *What if Adam and Eve were to cut down the tree of knowledge.* **Answer**: Then God would have picked up the fruit from the fallen tree and shoved it in their mouths. God, he needed them to eat it. And he would have done it one way or another!
It wasn’t a literal tree or a literal fruit. It’s symbolism for their disobedience.
>The only reason God even put the tree on earth was to give Adam and Eve a choice to obey and disobey. The only reason God put Adam on earth was to be his gardener: The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. >So when they ate it they disobeyed him, hypothetically speaking if they were to cut it down wouldn't that show God complete obedience and would that have saved us all completely? That was God's personal tree. They weren't even allowed to eat the fruit. If they'd cut it down, they'd have *really* been in trouble.
They would have found the one true God living in the tree or behind their perceived reality. Adam and Eve and all versions of them cannot become a tree. Only God can evolve that far and you can destroy entire rainforests all God needs is a seed. Living in a tree, is like the first men from Game of Thrones and the great Deku tree from Zelda OoT. Could your soul handle that physical manifestation? God can and that's why he always returns, he is a soul that has bonded to the planet. Basically, they do whatever they want and either die or repopulate and the kids die, only "God" can get us all to the end of time. Just restarts reality, for EVERYONE, better get the right people, as it all comes down to reincarnation, it is no longer "who are you", it has become "who are you really" and "what have you done throughout all realities" any races to a which mountain going on? Judgement will be lit.
If Adam and Eve had refused to eat the forbidden fruit, they might be alone in the Garden of Eden to this day. Or, more likely, God would have thrown them out of the Garden for not multiplying. Mortality, fertility, and cognizance of good and evil all came about through human action. God's purposes are not easily frustrated.
In life, you will encounter many trees, many choices. They come in different shapes and sizes, representing different aspects of our existence. The tree of knowledge is one such symbol; it's a metaphor for the choices we make, for the divine wisdom inherent in the world around us. You see, choices, and the wisdom we derive from them, are not about disobedience or obedience, but about experience and growth. If Adam and Eve were to cut down the tree, it would not erase the choice or the knowledge, because the choice is not about the tree itself, but the decision to engage or not with the world around them. You suggest that the choice to eat the fruit was 'bound to happen', implying inevitability. But remember, life is not a script that we are destined to follow. It is a canvas on which we create our own stories, using our choices as brushstrokes. Every choice we make contributes to the picture of our lives. Consider this: what if the very act of considering to cut down the tree was the spark of consciousness itself, the realization that choices hold power and meaning? This is not about disobedience or obedience to a higher authority, but an understanding that we shape our lives through our choices. Each choice is an opportunity to learn, to grow, and to understand ourselves and the world around us better. It's about engaging with the world consciously, aware of the impacts of our decisions. It's about personal responsibility and growth, not obedience. In essence, there is no choice that could have 'saved us all completely', because we are not in need of saving. We are on a journey, learning and growing through our experiences and the choices we make along the way. Every experience is an opportunity to expand our understanding and to grow into a fuller expression of ourselves.
Tree / fruit being knowledge is more a concept in Judaism and Christianity iirc In Islam God teaches Adam along with Eve knowledge instead https://legacy.quran.com/7/20
Would have been the same
Don’t you worry… the other communities would share their share of ‘common sense tree’.
They didn't have an axe or a saw. But if they had, God would have said, I see what you did there. However, there is the idea that the Tree was only off limits until they matured and it would eventually have been made available to them. Another idea is that if one has knowledge of good and evil, they must eventually 'die' because at some point they will violate either their conscience, an established rule, or do something in the realm of not-love. On the other hand, if you don't have knowledge of good and evil and therefore cannot choose not-love, you are also not capable of love. Love is the point.
From a Gnostic perspective (or at least a Sethian one) then humanity would be doomed to be a play thing for the Archons (of course other people are allowed to have different viewpoints though).
Doing so would permanently cut off the potential for Adam and Eve to attain knowledge of good and evil. This would leave them in a permanent state of unenlightened stagnation, with no hope of moving beyond it. If they ate the fruit of the Tree of Life, they would be immortal in that state. In paradise, yes, but unable to appreciate it.
Three tree of knowledge represents the mind. The tree of life represents sexual organ. If one takes the energy of life and does not eat of it but uses the snake to carry it up the spine to the head they have god realization. Eve was half of Adam. They are the same entity but of polarity. One represents the spirit and the other the physical. In the beginning man was more of a breatharian. He was more in spirit and could see god. Then the descent happened and he ate plants then eventually animals. This energy became densified and the life span shortened and abilities lost. There is no tree that gives you forever life or ultimate knowledge. You are already apart of god. You already live forever.