Ge 3:22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"
I know the word "know" can mean "understand" or "experience or partake of." But it must mean "understand" here, because God says "become like one of Us." If it means experience or partake, then God would be experienceing or partaking of evil.
Any ideas?
2007-11-13 04:18:27 · 26 answers · asked by ChuckBoutwell 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Ignorant= no
Innocent= yes
Pure= yes
2007-11-13 04:23:38 · answer #1 · answered by keoh6 5 · 2⤊ 3⤋
It was a test. Any parent will tell you what happens if you lock a kid in a room with a closed box and warn them that no matter what they do, not to open the box. . . . You think God doesn't know that?
God made man in his own image. To borrow from Bahu'llah, Man is the only part of creation with all the attributes of God. The QA test is to see if he would have the autonomy and the chutzpah to disobey a direct order. If you look at the paleontological evidence, has it occurred that Man was not the first to take this test, but was the first to actually pass it? God didn't love his other creations less, but they ended uptaking a different path, like any other animal.
2007-11-13 04:37:28 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
God doesn't look at sin (hence why jesus said father, why have your forsaken me at the crusifiction because jesus took on the sin factor (evil) for the world). Jesus is the reason that God deals with man. If it wasn't for him and God's wisdom and plan for man kind then everyone including noah and his family would have been destroyed in the flood. Read 1 Corth. 2:7-8. To pick up what the mystery is in verse 7, read Acts 9 (the entire chapter), Acts 28 (the entire chapter, pay close attention to the last 9 versus), Galations 2: 7-8 and Ephisians 2 (the entire chapter).
2007-11-13 04:34:03 · answer #3 · answered by PreciousLady 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Before eating from the tree, we were naive, and didn't know that good or evil existed. With the knowledge of evil comes hardship, pain and suffering, and that is without God banishing us from the garden. When we didn't know evil, we were spared from the pain and suffering. I believe that living forever also brings with it some hardship and suffering, from which we were spared. It's sort of the same temptation as eve faced, isn't it? It sounds so wonderful to live forever and never die, why would God keep us from that? Isn't that what the snake said?
2007-11-13 04:29:11 · answer #4 · answered by Lady M 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I always found it interesting that the warning from God concerning punishment (..."You will surely die"..) was given to the first humans in the garden of Eden where, by design, there was no example of death. How could Adam and Eve have "KNOWN" what that really meant without eating the fruit thereby gaining the knowledge? God could just as well have said, "Eat the fruit of that tree and you will surely bleeblesnort."
I would have tried it just to find out what "die" meant. How bad could it be knowing how much your creator loved you?
2007-11-13 04:35:53 · answer #5 · answered by lunatic 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because God created us, and everything else. Notice in the Bible whenever it tells about something He created (in Genesis) It says "And God saw it was GOOD." He didn't intend for evil to enter into our world. He intended us to live forever, and everything would be good. We weren't meant to know the things of God. Look what the world has become because we know things! It is a mess!!!
Man found out about evil, now he does evil things.
2007-11-13 04:31:58 · answer #6 · answered by byHisgrace 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is the tree of the "knowledge" of good and evil, not the tree of good and evil. God cannot be God without "knowing" what evil is, but that does not mean he partakes in evil. Adam and Eve's sin was not specifically eating the fruit, but the desire to be like God, the difference between them and modern Christians being that we want to be as Christ-like as possible, but know that we cannot be "gods". Their sin was the exact same as Lucifer's, really, to attempt to elevate themselves to God's level.
2007-11-13 04:26:40 · answer #7 · answered by herfinator 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Not at all. God wanted man to remain sinless and worthy of remaining in the paradise. Read beyond the passage you quoted and you will know the consequence of their action.
It also means that there is no such thing as absolute freedom. Man cannot just do whatever he likes without facing a consequence or adversely affecting others' lives.
2007-11-13 04:31:34 · answer #8 · answered by kent333ph 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The Biblical god likes to play "gotcha".
And yes, he'd probably prefer it if people stayed ignorant. Look at all the Bible verses saying things like "be as a baby", etc.
Even more important, the sellers of major religions want people to stay ignorant. The more conservative the religious sect, the more they discourage you from asking questions.
If anybody tells you not to question them, be afraid. Be very afraid.
2007-11-13 04:26:55 · answer #9 · answered by catrionn 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Chuck, He did not want us to stay ignorant. He wanted us to be obedient, pure, and thankful of what he had given. He delighted in his creation of the world and man, (created in his image) but the enemy came to destroy. Since we disobeyed God, then we need to suffer the circumstances. But if not for Jesus, we would all be doomed after we die. But Jesus gives us another chance.
Of course God the father and creator of the whole universe knows evil. Somethings puny humans will never get, that is where faith comes in.
2007-11-13 04:32:49 · answer #10 · answered by Lady Louisa 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Knowing Good and Evil allows us the opportunity to chose wrongly for evil is often disguised as a good. We become like God in that we become the final arbiter of deciding for ourselves what is Good and what is Evil
2007-11-13 04:31:15 · answer #11 · answered by Gods child 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋