Apologetics Series: The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
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Saturday, April 3, 2010I was thinking to myself this morning that it would be cool to have a series of posts about controversial issues in the Bible. So, every Saturday throughout the entire month of April, I'm going to be publishing a new post along those lines. Since I'm just starting today, I have chosen the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil as today's topic. However, the rest of the posts in this series will be topics chosen by the readers of this blog! So send me your comments, emails, or vote on the poll (to your right) and give me your input!
"And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."-Genesis 2:9, 16-17
I have heard the question asked time and time again of why God placed the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. Was God tempting man? No, for "...God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:" (James 1:13) The fact is, God has instituted a "whosoever will" program (Revelation 22:17), and He does not force anybody into serving Him. Think about it. If there was no Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, then man would have had no option but to serve God.
One of the ways that we are "created in the image [i.e. likeness] of God" (Genesis 1:26), is that we have a freewill just as He does. Had God created man with no choice but to serve Him, then man would have been little more than a drone, serving God because He had to. That's not love, is it? No, and that's not what God wanted either, because He desires that we love Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind (Mark 12:30).
The Lord wants us to serve Him out of our own freewill, not out of obligation. It's a choice that nobody, not even God, is going to make for us; we've got to decide for ourselves.
2 comments:
I agree with you, love without choice is simply not love. Without a choice in the garden, Adam wouldn't be able to say, "I may want this, but I want you more." That's how we say no to the world, and yes to God.
What I just realized as I wrote that is that God says THAT to US. Wow. He had all the glory in the universe and beyond, all the praise and worship He could ever desire, and yet He looked upon the world of rebels and decided that as much as He desired (deserved!) the worship given to Him, He wanted to save us more, no matter the cost. Thank you Jesus!
Camden
Philippians 2:5-11 (Long, but amazing)
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Wow, amazing blog! I'm so glad I found this post because I was just thinking about this before church this morning. I just posted on my blog about why there is evil in this world, and while I knew God had to give us the choice to love Him or it's not real love, I didn't immediately connect the tree to that as well.
It was kind of like a "duh" moment--I should have thought that through more. I wondered why God would put a tree like that in the garden--it seemed odd because of how tempting it would be. But, if He hadn't put the tree there Adam and Eve wouldn't have had a choice. Even though they had free will they still wouldn't have been able to choose if there was nothing else to choose besides God.
I get it now! :) Thanks for posting!
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