What was wrong with knowing the difference (or having the knowledge of) good and evil?

Question

Why should that have been the forbidden fruit?

At least you tried to answer the question Tony S. But how did you arrive at that?

djddan: "When you were reading Genesis did you take it to mean knowing good from evil is wrong?"

Well, he must have forbade them for some reason.

"Maybe we became more than just animals."

So how was this bad?

So djddan, it was just an arbitrary test that God was giving to people that he knew they would fail?

And the point of this was so he could send his son several thousand years later so he could forgive people?

delsydebothom: was that your canabilism question? I thought it was awesome. Don't worry about it.

Answer 1

It is one of the few Bible stories that that makes clear sense to me, if taken on it's own. It might have once been intended that way.

The whole thing reads like a meaningful version of Pandora's Box. Eve eats of The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil, and from that (knowledge) all the ills of the world spring. It seems like a primitive understanding of the burdens of awareness. I have wondered just how old The tradition of this story is.

Answer 2

Absolutely nothing!! He told them not to eat it. It could've been the Fruit of Infinite Wisdom or the Fruit of Total Success. Doesn't matter. Said no. When you were reading Genesis did you take it to mean knowing good from evil is wrong? The criminally insane do not know the difference between right and wrong. Nor animals. Maybe we became more than just animals.

Yes, He forbade them as a test. A test of obedience, a test of loyalty...not that it is entirely relevant but if it were the Fruit Of Death and Despair, would you be tempted to eat it? Probably not, nor would I. The Serpent would have very little wiggle room and be hard-pressed to tempt them into disobeying God with that name and reputation.

The Bible shows us the indomitable human spirit more than once. It shows a series of people not wanting to be controlled, to be free, and paying the price. God's wrath did make it a Fruit of Death and Despair as an aftereffect. Look at Lucifer wanting to be in power and being punished. It seems people want freedom and frequently pay the price for such desires, but not always. Not when under an evil or tyrannical ruler such as Exodus or the flight from Egypt.

Yes, absolutely!! It was a completely arbitrary test He knew 100% they would fail. He is God after all. Just because He knew they would fail doesn't mean He won't punish them for it now does it? Nope! You bring up a very good point though, does God being all-knowing know what His Own actions will be in the future (such as giving us the Messiah)?

Let me add one last thing to rebutt the implied statement that God could be in some way immoral or imperfect. The rules that apply to men do not apply to the Almighty. He is in essence "above the law" as it were. If it suited God he could strike you dead with a bolt of lightning and you may feel that is unfair or immoral but if God does it that makes it moral. Finally, most skeptics haven't the slightest inkling how powerful God is. God is Power Incarnate. Most people think of power as the President of the US. Not even close. Or a ruthless dictator of a backwards country. The mightiest hurricane to ever hit the planet in its primordial soup would be less than a weak fart to God.

Answer 3

A sort of tribal mentality of then, and also of now, arbitrarily decides that some things are wrong for common people to do and to know about, and that some things are to be taboo unless they are favored by the priests and or by the leaders to favor their personal power.

Our science did never really agree on this, and our science is utmostly interested in the possibilities and potentialities of forbidden fruits. Our science might find out that the forbidden fruit was not an apple but an orange, and our science might also decide that the forbidden fruit might be carefully tested, and also find out that that fruit was not the sweet Chinese orange, as China never was in the Bible, but the Mesopotamian bitter and therefore somewhat poisonous orange.

Tribe priestly leaders and astute power seeking strongmen may arbitrarily decide that something is forbidden for the rest of us, and that you have to follow their holy precept otherwise you will be condemned, beheaded, stoned to death, burned at the stake, expelled from the local paradise and, even worse for you, barred from entering the Paradise of yonder upon your death.

Some say that knowledge is power, the alternative and glowing power of science, the bright ability to competently more actively partecipate in the process of creation, or at least in making a better world for all of us.

The blunt power seeking leaders may feel themselves endangered by the power got by others thru knowledge. Whenever such priestly leaders and strongmen cannot enslave the knowledge of others, and neither buy it, they will fight it trying to forbid it, fighting against those who are the bearers of the knowlegde.

Such was the world of then, and more or less so is most of the world of now.

Answer 4

The Knowledge of Good and Evil was the Knowledge of how to go to other gods; Eve was tempted to worship the tree....you will find from anthropology that many early men were tree worshippers....and thus, became the first idolater. She encouraged Adam to join her in this idolatry, which angered God....the recurring theme of the Bible of course is that God gets angry when people commit the sin of idolatry...that is, going to other gods, others, rather than to Him, our Father and Creator and Benefactor.
There are many places in the Bible where God, speaking through the prophets, tells of the vengeance He will take upon those who apostacize....that is, commit idolatry. It did not end with Adam and Eve. Idolatry is everywhere it seems.
This is an Evangelical Christian point of view.

Answer 5

Without that knowledge, humans would have needed to rely on God's knowledge (judgment) about what they should and should not do. By choosing to eat the "forbidden fruit", Adam and Eve were basically saying, "we'll take it from here God". They were saying that they would rather make up their own minds about right and wrong (good and evil) instead of relying on God's wisdom.

What was wrong with that...well, for one, it was essentially a rejection of God. It also sounds a lot like a spoiled teenager who wants his/her parents to "butt out" of their lives and let them make their own decisions but still expects the parent to pay all the bills and bail them out of any problems that happen when they make bad decisions. Sorry kids, you can't have it both ways!

In fact, the behavior of Adam and Eve after they ate the fruit was shockingly similar to the behavior of my six year old son! When he does something that I've told him not to do, his first reaction is usually to hide. When I call out to him (and, like God, I know where he is already, I just want him to face me), his next reaction is usually fearful (eyes down, trying to maintain his distance)...then, if it is at all possible, he tries to blame someone else for the disobedience (as Adam did) or he tries to make excuses ("I forgot", "My friend told me to" or, as Eve did, "I was deceived").

Why was it wrong?...simple...it was disobedient! They acknowledged God as their creator and accepted that he had legitimate authority over them as their creator (just as a parent has legitimate authority over a child) and they disobeyed a direct command from him! Doesn't matter if it is a child, an employee, a soldier, or any other person...it is wrong to disobey a person (or a God) who is in a position of authority over you!

Answer 6

Logic tells us that, the more one knows (not only is aware of) the least one is bound to make a mistake and/or offend someone.
Right and wrong should have been present in Adam and Eve´s curriculum, if only to KNOW the rules of the game.
How can one eat according to another society´s manners if one doesn´t know anything about them? Some burp after a meal and consider it polite, where in other countries it is considered bad manners. One should eat EVERYTHING of what is offered in some others to avoid offense.
But the old testament´s writers were trained to obey and not to think. So the story reflects their idiosyncrasies.
To avoid sinning when one doesn´t know the rules, one has to avoid every action.
And that is in itself an incongruity.

Answer 7

Simply because God told them not to eat from it!!!! Law of the Land!!! Adam said Eve made him eat the forbidden fruit, Eve said the serpent made her do it. Ever since then we have experienced the evil side of the equation. God has always said, "Ask and you shall receive". With trust and faith in God good things will come to you, all he asks is that you ask for your sins to be forgiven!!

Answer 8

As far as I understand it, knowlege of right and wrong, gave them the power of choice. After this burden of choosing was given to them, They couldn't eat of 'the tree of Everlasting Life' in the pit of hell of their own making if they should choose wrongly. At that time of their evolution they were meant to stay innocent like the angels.

It is a very complicated scene there, and few are given understanding of this seemingly simple story.

Answer 9

Let me start, Skeptic, by telling you that I would've given you best answer to my last question, but somebody reported me, and the question was removed. I'm still scratching my head as to why, but Yahoo!'s gotta do what they gotta do.

Anyway, on to your question. Y'oughta know "Yada's" know. Which is to say, the Hebrew word for know is "Yada". Now that means nadda, y'oughta yada, since we yada a word's nadda till we pair it with a meaning.

O.K., I'll stop. I'm in a hyper mood. Basically, the ancient Semetic psychology of "knowledge" is inseparably linked with experience. Thus, an ancient Jew would never say he knew what a lamp was until he lit one himself. This is why the same word is used to mean "conjugal intercourse". To say you "knew" a woman had the connotation of saying, "I experienced a woman."--a far more suggestive phrase in English.

How this applies to good and evil should be becoming apparent; Adam and Eve had already experienced goodness, and thus knew it. God wanted man to have the option of disobedience--evil--and thus, through obedience, men (and women) would actually procure merit. Part of this, I'm sure, also had a demonstrative aspect to it--we believe heaven is eternal after all, and having the example of Eden to show us the painful result of sin will prevent another Lucifer. At the same time, God wanted man to succeed, since He did not want man to put himself in the same position the Demon did--a state we commonly call Hell.

We could, of course, sit and debate if giving His creatures free will was a just course for God, since it presents the possibility of Hell. There is something viscerally powerful, however, about a God who had the "courage" so to speak, to make a creature with the potential to rebel, and at the same time have the potential to triumph over evil by sheer will. But this is really peripheral to your question.

To get back to your question, God knew that the result of sin was Hell, be he also knew that by the act of triumphing over sin, man would merit the right to sit at God's right hand, ruling the cosmos in equity and truth.

As it stands, Christians still look forward to this, but it will be accomplished by uniting ourselves to our mediator, Christ, that perfect man who redeemed the race of man. By offering Himself in an act of supreme love and obedience, He merited to sit at the right-hand of God. He now calls us to Himself to be His brothers, and joint-heirs, offering us all He has earned.

Answer 10

In the Hebrew language that the Old Testament was written in, 'knowing' means personally experiencing. "Adam knew Eve, and she conceived," means that Adam had sexual relations with Eve.