Does that mean that it's sinful to pursue knowledge?
2007-03-13 10:50:04 · 39 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Your blasphemous tone is only working against you. We Christians have vast knowledge. We are at least smart enough to acknowledge our God and Lord! Have a nice day! God Bless You with sight to see that you need to learn about Him who created you from nothing and will return you to nothing if you don't repent!
2007-03-13 10:54:08 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 7⤋
No, it doesn't mean it's sinful to pursue knowledge. Knowledge without wisdom in knowing how to use it can be dangerous, but no.
God punished Adam because God told Adam NOT to eat of the Tree, and Adam DID. God punished Adam for disobedience. If Adam had done something different that God had told him not to do, the consequences would have been the same.
You are reading the story wrong - the underlying message is Adam's disobedience.
2007-03-13 10:58:29 · answer #2 · answered by ? 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
He was punished for breaking the Covenant
The Covenant with Adam also known as the Covenant of Works
This was a covenant made between God and Adam where Adam would have everlasting life based upon obedience to God. This apparently was possible since Adam did not have a sin nature.
"And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die’" (Gen. 2:16-17).
God entered into a covenant with Adam.
The promise connected to that covenant was life. The condition was perfect obedience. Its penalty was death.
2007-03-13 11:12:05 · answer #3 · answered by Sternchen 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually, the tree was NOT "the tree of knowledge", but "the tree of knowledge of good & evil" per Genesis 2:8-10 & 2:16-18. Before Adam & Eve ate of the fruit, they were innocent & completely ignorant of sin & of evil. That is why immediately after they ate that they realized they were naked & covered themselves. Genesis 3:1-11
God is a fan of education & study. 2 Timothy 2:15 - "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Luke 2:40 - "The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." ("The Child" = Jesus) There are SEVERAL other scriptures that also support God's approval of knowledge & widsom.
On a side note, I am a PROUD Christian & a member of MENSA. (That's the High IQ Society for those of you questioning Christians' IQs.) I just thought you should know.
2007-03-13 11:34:38 · answer #4 · answered by SusanB 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Jewish, Roman Catholicism, Lutherans, Methodists, Orthodox, Islam all teach seeking knowledge is understanding of God. That you have to educate yourself and inform your consciences. The story of original sin is misunderstood and that is the myth perpetuated it was not until recent history that it was the "Adam eating from the tree of knowledge is original sin" has come out, and then only by evangelical fundementalists. It has been constantly proven people with mainline religous beliefs are more likely to seek and obtain higher education, graduate degrees and be faculties at universities then people who do not hold religous beliefs.
Also a rather nonsensical argument when you look at great thinkers through history..... Agustine, Aquinas, Ligouri, Kung, etc etc.
2007-03-13 11:00:19 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope, just the opposite. God expects us to learn all that we can. The punishment that Adam received was given as a merciful act so that Adam would not live forever in his sins. Dieing is part of the process we must go through in order to receive the perfected, immortal bodies we will receive in the resurrection.
2007-03-13 11:00:58 · answer #6 · answered by rbarc 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I agree with Jamie. The reason God punished Adam was because he told him not to eat from the tree of knowledge. He was testing Adam's obedience and Adam failed the test. Therefore Adam received Just Punishment.
2007-03-13 10:58:08 · answer #7 · answered by mandm 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
God does not tempt. That is Satan's job. God told Adam to do 2 things... To not eat from the tree, and to go out into the world and procreate. Well Adam was hanging around in the garden and did not go out into the world. Satan comes along, and getting clever temps Eve to eat from the tree. Eve ate from the tree first. She knew that she would be sent away from the garden. So since Adam can't procreate on his own, he chose the lesser of the 2 evils. He partook of the fruit. Then they were cast out.
And the rest is history!
2007-03-13 10:58:12 · answer #8 · answered by El Hombre de los Libros 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
God punished Adam for eating from the tree of Good and Evil. Which is completely different. Adam had a lot of knowledge (after all he named all the animals) before he ate the fruit. So, knowledge is not evil. sin is evil which is completely different.
2007-03-13 10:55:36 · answer #9 · answered by puddi317 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
You only named HALF the tree-- it was the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil". It was not knowledge alone--but the knowledge that there is good and evil and at that point a choice could be made to do one or the other.
Before eating I think Adam was blissfully unaware of evil and did only good.
Too bad he ruined it for the rest of us, huh?
2007-03-13 11:01:55 · answer #10 · answered by Orpah! 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
By "disobeying" God's command to eat the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil they sinned. The fruit was an eye-opener, opening their awareness, conviction to the sin of disobedience.
2007-03-13 11:00:27 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋