What is the tree of life and the eating of it's fruit symbolic of in Christianity?

Question

Most Christians tell me it's just that, cut and dry, no metaphorical meaning. Come on. It's something. Maybe it's truth has been eroded over the millienia, but what did it really mean? Does anyone know?

Answer 1

To answer this question we need to understand the purpose of the creation and the fall of Adam.

To do this intelligently, we need to understand the purpose for man’s existence here upon the earth and why God posed this question to Adam, who represents all mankind. In the council in heaven before the world was, the Gods decided to create an earth on which man would dwell, and God said:

“… we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;

“And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.” (Abr. 3:25–26.)

“And I, God, created man in mine own image, in the image of mine Only Begotten created I him; male and female created I them.

“And I, God, blessed them, and said unto them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Moses 2:27–28.)

“And I, the Lord God, planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there I put the man whom I had formed … to dress it, and to keep it.

“And … commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it. …” (Moses 3:8, 15–17.)

It is evident, therefore, that the earth was made as a dwelling place for man, and all things therein were given to him for his use, for his good, and for his enjoyment; but God has pointed out to us, as to Adam, that if we are to enjoy life to the full, there are things we must do and things we must not do. In other words, we are given everything for our benefit and blessing but we must remember that there are a few “forbidden fruits” that will deprive us of full enjoyment and bring sorrow and regret to us if we partake.

At the council in heaven, two plans were presented for man’s salvation. Christ’s plan was approved and he was chosen as the Savior of the world; and Satan’s plan was rejected and he rebelled. The record states:

“Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;

“And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.” (Moses 4:3–4.)

In the Doctrine and Covenants we read:

“Satan stirreth them up, that he may lead their souls to destruction.

“And thus he has laid a cunning plan, thinking to destroy the work of God; …

“Yea, he saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy. … And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie. …

“And thus he … leadeth them along until he draggeth their souls down to hell. …

“And thus he goeth up and down, to and fro in the earth, seeking to destroy the souls of men.” (D&C 10:22–23, 25–27.)

Immediately after God left Adam and Eve in the garden, telling them to partake freely of the fruit of all the trees except one, of which they were commanded not to partake, Satan began his nefarious plan for their destruction. Following Satan’s successful attempt, God returned to the garden; and because they were ashamed, Adam and Eve were hiding from him, so he called: “Where art thou?” a question which can and does apply to every one of us individually and collectively, and one which we might well be asking ourselves as it applies to our relationship to God and our fellowmen.

Adam replied: “… I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

“And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?”

Adam, as we all are inclined to do, tried to blame someone else, and replied:

“… The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”

And Eve said: “… The serpent [meaning Satan] beguiled me, and I did eat.” (Gen. 3:9–13.)

Conditions surrounding Adam and Eve, and those surrounding us today, point up clearly the influence of Satan and the frailties of man, the temptations and problems that he has to meet in life, and how the Lord has prepared a way for him to overcome.

When God said “Where art thou?” he knew where Adam was. With his omniscience he knew what had taken place, but he was calling Adam to consider the seriousness of his actions and to report to him. But Adam had hidden himself because he was ashamed.

We are all like Adam in that when we partake of “forbidden fruits” or do the things we are commanded not to do, we are ashamed, and we draw away from the Church and from God and hide ourselves, and if we continue in sin, the Spirit of God withdraws from us. There is no happiness in disobedience or sin. We have all learned from our childhood that we are happier when we are doing right.

Sometimes we do not understand why it is necessary for us to keep the commandments and do certain things to receive certain blessings, except that the Lord commanded it. We cannot explain why we should be baptized or have the laying on of hands or other ordinances. Some even question the teachings of God. But if by faith we obey his commandments, we will receive the promised blessings. Jesus said that unless we become as little children, who have such great faith, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. We must learn to have explicit faith.

Then, too, we must understand the importance of obedience. The prophet Samuel taught that “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam. 15:22.) The scriptures give us many examples of obedience by faith alone. After Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden, the Lord “gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.

“And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.

“And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.” (Moses 5:5–7.)

I, the Lord God, planted the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and also the tree of knowledge of good and evil. …

“And I, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Moses 3:9, 16–17.)

Until Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, there was no prohibition against eating the fruit of the Tree of Life. But once they had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, access to the Tree of Life was taken from them:

“I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten: Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil; and now lest he put forth his hand and partake also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever,

“Therefore I, the Lord God, will send him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. …

“So I drove out the man, and I placed at the east of the Garden of Eden, cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.” (Moses 4:28–29, 31.)

Had Adam and Eve partaken of the fruit of the Tree of Life, the sentence of death brought upon them by partaking of the Tree of Knowledge would have been reversed. They would have lived forever in a sinful condition, separated from God. So he took the two away from Eden, away from the Tree of Life.

We might suppose that Adam and Eve and their posterity, distracted by the labor necessary to support themselves outside the garden, would have eventually forgotten the life-giving tree in paradise. Quite the contrary. The tree of life seems to have continued throughout antiquity as a major religious symbol. In fact, man’s quest to return to the tree of life in the paradise of God has never ceased.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

first off the garden of Eden is or was a place that is not currently available and is or was different than what we know. The tree (either of good and evil,,,or life) may not even be trees as we know them. The point is what is important and that is there is a possibility that man can exist as he is for ever, if some change in their makeup happened. To exist for eternity and able to choose to be evil is not a good. therefor man was prevented it from happening. The difficulty for us to understand this story results from a simple fact. Our language is based on thoughts and communicating those thoughts. The original language that the old testiment is written in is a language of pictures. The two are difficult to translate from to.

Answer 3

i detect it an stunning metaphor. those memories come to us from the time whilst people stopped being Hunter/Gatherers and started civilization. women human beings consistently seem to get a bad rap, Eve, Pandora and so on. with a view to have a civilization human beings needed 2 products of innovations, a million. that seeds planted into the floor strengthen new plant life and a pair of. intercourse motives women human beings to become pregnant and function toddlers it quite is totally a remember of direction for us yet those early hunter gatherers did not have this innovations. then you definately've the generally used gatherers, communities of girls those with digging sticks banded mutually for risk-free practices digging up tubers and chatting among themselves. They study approximately plant life over generations. they have their toddlers slung to them and that they communicate the toddlers and word that purely whilst that they had intercourse did they have toddlers. ultimately they tell everybody and there is not any would desire to nomadically persist with the buffalo herds, only stay on the conjunction of a pair of rivers and plant those seeds and you get each and every of the food that grows there. then you definately set up dominance over the land you declare to strengthen those seeds and preserve that land. Then, you bypass away that land on your heirs once you die and so, probate courtroom. The tree of existence or the tree of the understanding of stable and evil are significant metaphors. Blessed Be

Answer 4

These things can be understood by applying some logic to them.

Life of a man is just like a tree. The good tree the fruit will be good

MMeaning if you did good things you will be rewarded accordingly.

Answer 5

When God created man and woman, he gave them life free of charge. However, he also required devotion to him from them, and wanted them to obey his laws freely. Therefore, he gave them a test. Would they be obedient, or would they rebel against his law?

The test was one tree in the Garden Of Eden. He gave them all the other tree and vine fruits, and whatever else grew in Eden, but told them they must not eat of this one tree or they would die. He gave them free will to make their own choice.

It was then that one of his highest angels in Heaven desired this attention for himself, instead of it going to the God who created all things. So, he mislead the woman in the garden by speaking through a serpent (much the same as a ventriloquist uses a dummy). He promised that God had lied, and that they would NOT die if they ate the fruit.

He was able to mislead Eve into eating the fruit, and she in turn got Adam to eat it. It was then that God pronounced sentence on them. However, he had already told them before they did this what would happen. He said that "...in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die." (maybe not EXACT quote, but very close). Both Adam and Eve lived on for hundreds of years (Adam, as I recall, lived to be over 900). Still, later in the Bible, it says "a day with God is as a thousand years). No person in history has ever lived a full thousand years, including Methusela. This means that, to this day, God's judgment has proved itself true. In fact, since the flood of Noah's day, average life was shortened to about 70-80 years (some will live over a hundred, but not much over that).

So, the tree was a test of whether mankind would keep integrity toward the God who made them, or would they choose to do their own will instead of his? They made their own choice and freely disobeyed him. Since they had been created perfect, there was no excuse for their disobedience (they didn't have the imperfection to deal with that we have). They had to pay the price.

There is, of course, MUCH more to be told, but don't have the room here. Basically, the tree was a test of mankinds loyalty to the God who gave them life.

Answer 6

I don`t claim to know the answer to that, But I have wondered if it was sex, because after they had taken the forbidden fruit, Eve was told she would have pain in child bareing, and God said be FRUITFUL and multiply. Just my thoughts though, NOT anything I have found proof for in the Bible.

Answer 7

I believe it is referred to as the tree of knowledge.(of good and evil) God forbid Adam and Eve to eat the fruit because He did not want them to suffer the things outside the garden. He did not force His will on them. They had free will to choose to obey or disobey and the rest is history....

Answer 8

If it is symbolic, it represents the right of rulership. Satan told Eve she could rule herself but in actuality, she was incapable and trying to do this brought death to all mankind. "Eating" it was stealing from God.

Answer 9

No fruit is really mind bending or hell inducing. It is another parable.

The creation parable is fully explained in Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia