Christians: You/we have all benefitted from the pursuit of knowledge. Does it concern you that...?

Question

... the pursuit of knowledge was expressly forbidden by God, and when Adam and Eve went against this, they (and we) were punished for all time?

Or that the first being to encourage the pursuit of knowledge was Satan? is it wrong to benefit in your own lives from something that is unquestionably Satanic in origin?

Open to all, though Bible-believing Christians' opinions interest me most. Try to keep insults to a minimum please.

Thank you for your answers so far. Some of you make a distinction between a "Tree of Knowledge" and a "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil". That is fair enough. I have posed an additional question on that point below:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070706081954AAtyd6g&pa=FYd1D2bwHTHwLLlhF.86SKNv.ES2AQDXHEwQo1ZKd4C4hz.N3NhsO.8hU6jSfIkO8EVhqjPRUO3w.g--&paid=asked&msgr_status=
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Answer 1

It was the tree of knowledge of *good and evil* wasn't it? Not just knowledge in general.

That said, it seems hard that Eve should be accused of having done evil if she took the fruit *before* she had the knowledge of good and evil...

Answer 2

People seek knowledge for many different reasons. There are those that are just naturally attracted to the pursuit of knowledge. Those include all types, religious included. Just look at the great theologians, scholars, scientist... I do see the point being A theist using science and intellect as a basis for their advancement. They somehow think being A theist determines their IQ. The fact is their are numerous believers, far out numbering A theist, that are advanced intellectually. If this is the ground they try to stand on; I'm not impressed.

Answer 3

Bad Liberal. This is such a good question. I'm going to bring my mind back to when I was a fundy and answer it the way I would have answered it then.

God loves knowledge, but only the kind of knowledge that he wants us to know. All knowledge isn't necessarily "good" and god would protect us from that.

I wonder if the real christians think along those lines? And I think my argument would be destroyed by forcing me to acknowledge which knowledge is "bad." The best you can really come up with there would be experiential knowledge (like being raped) and that's not "knowledge" - but "a horrible experience".

(Edit) And I just remembered a quote. Susan B. Anthony said "It shall yet be the most distinguishing characteristic of the bible. That there is not one word in praise of intelligence in the thing."

I'd be interested to see these christians post a verse that praises knowledge :D

Answer 4

About Adam, Eve, and Satan:

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/tree.html

You see, the Bible had reasons for this because the tree had the knowledge of good and evil, and God did not want them to know of evil so that they would not sin.

Here's for laptopjesus:

1 Thessalonians 5:21
Proverbs 18:15
Isaiah 1:18
And a few others.

Answer 5

Wow. I have never quite seen it worded that way but you have a very clear and valid point. The first to tout the virtues of the pursuit of knowledge was in fact the serpent. Kuddos and a star for you.

For those who will say the Bible says to pursue knowledge you are correct. That said, carnal knowledge, that which was provided by the fruit of the tree of good and evil, was forbidden. How can one pursue knowledge if not allowed to pursue all knowledge? It seems the forbidden knowledge is always that which makes man less suceptable to control.

When men learn we descended from a common ancestor with the apes, Christian leaders called the knowledge of the devil because it in the least proves their record falible. When we date the dinosaurs in the millions of years it throws off their arcane dating of the creation. When we find truth that proves without a doubt that they are wrong, they lose power and with that, money. Follow the dollar and you will find the true Christian God.

Answer 6

You're going to get a trove of Christians who are going to say "The laws of the Old Testament no longer apply. Read the New Testament some time."

Yes, Adam and Eve were punished and cast out of Paradise, but God let us keep the gift of knowledge to learn and grow, that we might one day return.

Answer 7

To each his own is about the Best way I can answer your question. I do respect your opinion as being right for you and your right to read the words written in the Bible to mean whatever you want them to mean.

I as A "NO" see things a lot different than what you say in your remarks thus I do hope you will just see that it is OK for me to have such a view in your opinion. I see it was not about the pursuit of knowledge that was the problem. I see it as not trusting the given information from the Pop [Father, former, and source] of Mr. Adam. His Pop said, "You eat and you will surely die". Mr Adam ate and death came to him and all his offspring. So simple and so complete. See Mr Adam gained a lot of knowledge from that eat trick. He learned how to wait on death, How to eat what he ate, how to be ashamed, How to play hide and seek, and lots of other stuff. So I have a hard time to see that it had something to do with gaining knowledge.

Thats my view and I hope you can accept it with a smile. Do have a good day.

Answer 8

Gen. 2: 9And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight or to be desired--good (suitable, pleasant) for food; the tree of life also in the center of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of [the difference between] good and evil and blessing and calamity.
calamity:1 : a state of deep distress or misery caused by major misfortune or loss
2 : a disastrous event marked by great loss and lasting distress and suffering
.......
16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;

17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

Adam and Eve did not die of the flesh if you read on it proves it . they died in Spirit I don't quite know what we children of Adam and Eve lost that day yet I don't think we can even imagine what we lost but its something I look forward to after returning home (Heaven)

Answer 9

Alright, here comes the verse cut an paste guy. My only intent in listing these two references is to demonstrate God is not opposed to the pursuit of knowledge.
Prov 19:8
8 He who gets wisdom loves his own soul;
he who cherishes understanding prospers.
Prov 16:16
16 How much better to get wisdom than gold,
to choose understanding rather than silver!
Many of Histories great scientists were Christian and firmly believed that God was pleased with their careful investigation and discovery of creation.
If God wanted people to be ignorant he could have simply omitted our ability to reason. The tree that was placed in the garden was not some magical fruit it was a test of their will. Would they trust God and follow Him or would they rebel against Him and do there own thing? They chose to disregard God in the hopes of setting themselves up as God and in doing so they opened themselves up to evil and a moral vacuum that to that point they had not known.
God isn't opposed to knowledge, He is opposed to rebellion. The only way to see if a person will rebel or not is to give them the freedom to do so.

Answer 10

It is forbidden if you believe the creation story. However, I don't and the pursuit of knowledge is a good thing. Being concerned about those who believe the creation story isn't for me.

They can believe what they want. However, their mind isn't open to feasible answers, because they fear that knowledge could undermine their religion. Blaming Satan is a cop-out.

Answer 11

Is it really true that we've all benefited from the pursuit of knowledge. This pursuit has given us weapons, the ability to hate, it has ruined the environment. I am a christian and a student of science, I do however sometimes think that ignorance is bliss. Children are generally much happier than adults and they have very limited knowledge. It is amazing what humanity has done but it hasn't necessarily made our lives better.