Was the tree in Eden evil?

[Chad]

Is it loving to keep people in ignorance?

What is ignorant is the disrespect here towards GOD. Nevermind the pm I recieved from this person with hideous comments about the 'questions' and mockery against Matthew Henry who is clearly filled with wisdom by GOD in his commentaries.

Account closed.

 

[pickled]

eve brought the apple to adam.adam put eve before God. adam took a bite.this is when sin entered the world ..paul said that sin entered the world through adam...adam didnt seem to have a problem with the TREE before this . was the tree the problem for adam and eve? i think satan knew adams weakness was eve . the tree is all good and it was/is fulfilling its purpose.
we all know that it is alot easier to sin if wives say it is ok . what a slippery slope that is . if our wives are not a challenge to us spiritually we need to pray that they become so .in other words keep us on our toes spiritually rather than us backslide.

 

[maciek]

Tree is only symbol..

Tree is symbol of life here...tree of life...Immortality...Tree of knowledge...Morality...Man's immortality depends on man's morality...eternal life is man's choice..God respects man's freedom..The Bible has lot of symbolisms and we need to pray and listen to God to understand them...:lightning

 

[Nigh]

Gen 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

The tree was not evil...I know because God told me so in His word.

I don't think the focus here is on the tree, but on the choice. God knew that Satan would tempt Adam and Eve, and if it wasn't about the tree, it would have been about something else. Satan has been using the same tactics since he rebelled against God to drive a wedge in between God and man. Satan tempts me with bitterness, lust, greed, and a multitude of other things everyday...never has he used a tree though. Probably because...
I Cor 10:23 "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive. ... 25Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."...28But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it...
Satan can't tempt me with pork, or crab anymore...I've been given permission to eat it. Therefor I won't be rebelling against God if I eat...Adam and Eve were rebelling against God when they ate the fruit. The rebellion was the sin, not the fruit.

I believe the tree was much like any other in the garden and when God put a limit on Adam and Eve He knew there was a chance they would rebel. The punishment for their rebellion was, among other things, knowledge of good and evil. The act of rebellion, or their sin, presented them with the knowledge of evil, it wasn't contained in the fruit. If they were told instead, not to touch the end of their nose with their finger and they did anyway, they would have been given knowledge of good and evil. Because they rebelled, not because evil was in their noses.

Satan corrupted them. Titus 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. The moment they rebelled, they were corrupted and no longer pure, therefor all things were not pure (ie the fruit).

God bless,
Nigh

 

[Faithin1]

Because God knows the beginning and the end, it was no surprise to Him that Adam & Eve disobeyed Him. He made us with a "free will" because He didn't want robots who would have no alternative but to follow Him. He clearly told them what he did not want them to do. Using the free will God gave them, they chose to give into the temptations of the devil rather than to follow God's orders. God may test us, but He never tempts us, only Satan tempts.

God wants us to follow His laws and to be obedient, but He also knows that we will sin. Knowing this, He has made a way for us to be saved from our sins....through the blood of Jesus!

 

[Chad]

eve brought the apple to adam.adam put eve before God. adam took a bite.this is when sin entered the world ..paul said that sin entered the world through adam...adam didnt seem to have a problem with the TREE before this . was the tree the problem for adam and eve? i think satan knew adams weakness was eve . the tree is all good and it was/is fulfilling its purpose.
we all know that it is alot easier to sin if wives say it is ok . what a slippery slope that is . if our wives are not a challenge to us spiritually we need to pray that they become so .in other words keep us on our toes spiritually rather than us backslide.

I disagree. This is more of a sign of a weak man who will try to justify his sin through the blame game. How ironic. Eve blamed the serpent yet she had a choice of her own. Adam blamed Eve yet he had a choice of his own. See the coincidence? So now we blame the wives for causing us to backslide? Scripture says that the man is in charge of his household. All responsibility on him, but perhaps not entirely but still, he is called to be in charge.

Ephesians 5:22-26
“You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; He gave His life to be her Savior. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything. And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God's word”

 

[pickled]

i am not blaming eve . i was saying that adam is responsible.. all sin entered the world thru adam .. i dont blame my wife . paul refered to this very situation when he said that woman are easily deceived by satan and that we need to be careful

 

[hopefulson]

Faith and innocense

It would appear to me that the preserving armor of Adam and Eve was Faith. Walking in it they could not within its guidance do wrong. The moment they breached that faith however they entered the domain of discretion, hence the law and death. The domain of a new guidance the knowledge of good and evil, and we have sought to recover the leading of that original faith from that day. Now we share the very soul and nature of God by his own hand in Jesus and his inheritance with us. Now even the power of discretion will be ours in freedom in abiding Faith in Christ Jesus. This is a small part of my perception of this tree and the garden events. All comments are welcomed and encouraged.

 

[MaxSeven]

To all addressing topics with God's word,
thank you for you Zeal and desire to maintain the integrity of God's word which is life and truth. May God continue to bless you with wisdom and courage to stand for our HIM who made it possible for us to be enlightened by his word. I lift you up to God that he may continue to open your eyes that you may see wonderful things in HIS law.(psalm 119:18)

 

[Cogito]

I dont think that it was evil at all. Only wrong. The tree was there because God gives us free will to make our choices; without the choice of evil available, none of our choices could be good.

 

[steve1979]

what the tree is

the tree is the knowledge of good and evil. the evil in it all was that they knew what God had said and the consequences surrounding that, and disregaurded what they knew was right. now sin came by MAN because he was accountable to god to a certain degree to the way his family and homelife was run. thats what i believe. as far as mysterious things go heres a scripture i like to use to dig myself out of these kind of holes deuteronomy 29:29 the secret things belong to the Lord our God.

 

[pixie]

The Tree

Was the tree in the garden of Eden evil. I don't think it was meant to be, by our Lord. Someone taught me the following about that tree and it has held me closer to God's love.
This person told me that in likelihood, the tree was put there by God, because it was a necessity towards His plans at that time. And God gently asked Adam and Eve to leave this tree alone. Something like this probably.... "I give you all of this garden and I love you deeply, I just ask that you not touch this tree. It is needed for a purpose of Mine, but you cannot have of it's fruits."
I don't believe Adam and Eve were tempted by God, but that temptation came through satan.
Don't forget that God's battle with satan, started even before Adam and Eve. I kind of think that God had a bit of a mess to clean up, because of Lucifer. The tree could have been part of this mess.

Just a thought that came to me, through a ministers help.

May we all know the peace and joy, that our King brings us. AmenPixie

Don't forget, just how great our Father is.

 

[Firstborn]

Gen 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
If you read these two verses it looks like if the Garden of Eden and the kingdom both were created in the beginning. Why both if God want man to stay in the Garden. I think when God put man in the garden it was the first step of His perfect plan, with man. Because only after the plan was completed, man was ready for the kingdom. This is Gods plan (my opinion). In Gods heart there was this desire to be a Father and to have children of His own. Rev 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
He could not create children, like He created the angels and everything else, there must be a birth, a spiritual birth. When He started with Adam and Eve He had John 3:3 in His mind, a birth from above. So after 4000 years man was ready, and God send His son, the seed, to conceive our prepared spirit, and out of that a new creation was born. 1Jo 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten …... You see when we are born again we are not created like the angels even Adam and Eve but begotten. We are spirit of His Spirit, like my children are flesh of my flesh. We are His real children, and He created all these temporally things, like the earth and … just for us to become His children. Maybe through the tree God showed us, if you are created you sin like the devil and man, but if you are born of God you sinneth not. We become like Him through Jesus. If Adam and Eve stayed in the Garden, they would always be just visited by God. Now through Jesus we inherit the Kingdom, and live with God as His children. This is just in a nutshell.
Be blessed
Niel

 

[gracemygift]

Whoa! easy there!

Think of it like this,

I warn and scold and promise my children that immense pain and suffering will come from touching the burner on the stove. Does this mean they should never use the stove. No. Now while this is true when they are toddlers, because of a lack of understanding and ability to use the stove correctly, I forbid them to even touch it, for their saftey. However when they are grown, it would be little them to treat them in this manner. I would then teach them how to correctly use the stove.

I think this was a chance for them to get a miner lesson in the knowledge of something good - obedience. Satan, who comes to steal kill and destroy meant to use it for their harm. There are natural, spiritual, and relational consequences to our every action, some good and some bad. God would use these consequences to disciple uson how to live correctly.

I don't think that God removing Adam and Eve from the garden was a punishment at all but maybe an act of love. Think of the consequences had God left them there to further harm themselves by eating of the tree of life.

The problem I have with your last statement above is that your denying that the banishment from the Garden is a punishment is denying the very truth set forth in God's Word that Adam sinned, that he is our forefather in sin. By denying original sin existed, then what was Christ's purpose in coming to Earth? Why do we need a Savior? And you also end up having to deny God's wrath, one of His divine attributes which would have been exercised on every one of us *because of our sin, which originated in Adam*. Just something to think about.

 

[stephen]

Why was there this tree in the middle of the garden. Was it evil or a bad thing? Is God bad for putting it there to tempt Adam and Eve? Is knowledge of good and evil a bad thing?

I have some thoughts but would like to here from you guys first.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts
Pedro

Trees and such vegetable matter
cannot be attributed any sense whatsoever.

Bad or evil thing......Neither.

Bad for temptation? No. They were deceived into thinking it was ok to disobey God.

Knowledge of evil...good or bad........Neither......but you have to make the right choice today. God says "Choose life" The life of following Jesus, who alone can give life.