.
The ban on the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, was tempered by a
carte blanche to eat fruits from all the rest of the trees; including the tree of
life. So it's not like God pigeonholed Adam and forced him to eat from the
wrong tree in order to survive. Earlier, in Gen 1:29, God gave Adam
permission to eat all manner of plant life. So he had lots of options. An
abundance of other nutrition was available. Therefore, if Adam ate from the
wrong tree, he had no excuse for it. And that is what really made eating
from that tree so serious— it was willful, and done in full understanding of
both the ban and the consequence.
Compare Num 15:27-31 where willful sin is described as a category of sin
for which there is neither atonement nor forgiveness under the terms and
conditions of the covenant that Yhvh's people agreed upon with God as per
Deut 29:9-15.
But why on earth would God plant a deadly tree in an otherwise perfect
environment? Was that really necessary? What real purpose does a tree
serve that has the potential to kill? Why even create such a tree in the first
place? Was that tree a bad tree? No, it was not a bad tree. When God
finished creating, He looked over His work on the 6th day and pronounced it
all not just good, but "very" good.
The tree of the knowledge of good and bad wasn't a bad tree per se; any
more than toad stools, poison ivy, lightening, rattlesnakes, scorpions,
avalanches, tornadoes, typhoons, hurricanes, cactus needles, tsunamis,
earthquakes, electricity, fire, lava, and arsenic and hemlock are bad in and
of themselves. Those things are hazardous, yes, but they all fit into the
natural web of life. When people willfully cross over boundaries, ignoring the
dangers, and start messing around, then they get hurt and it's really no
one's fault but their own. For example :
San Francisco was once destroyed by an earthquake related to the San
Andreas fault; but where did they rebuild San Francisco? Right back in the
same place.
Los Angeles is at risk of the same San Andreas, and are even now as I write
this is preparing for a major quake. Are there plans to evacuate Los Angeles
and relocate the city? No. They plan to ride out whatever the San Andreas
and/or any of the other faults throw at them. City planners and disaster
control specialists have already calculated the body count because the
Andreas is overdue for a massive slip and so is one known as the Puente
Hills Blind Thrust System. City officials know big quakes are coming but
nobody is getting out of the way.
All around the island of Japan are ancient monoliths, some as much as 600
years old, with the inscription : Do not build your homes below this point.
The monoliths testify to past tsunamis. People back then set up those
monoliths to warn future generations; but do future generations listen? No;
they don't listen. 25,000 Japanese are listed as dead and/or missing from
the tsunami of 2011 because they settled in communities below those
ancient water marks.
The below-sea-level city of New Orleans was flooded by hurricane Katrina in
2005. Did city planners wise up and relocate the city to higher ground? No;
they rebuilt right back in the same place.
On the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of the Congo rumbles two
mile high Mt. Nyirangongo; one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
The city of Goma, consisting of something like one-million people, will be
pelted with falling rocks and lava splatter, and buried by molten rock and
pyroclastic flows of superheated dust just as sudden as the city of Pompeii if
that mountain should ever decide to get serious about its business. Past
eruptions bear this out.
And as if the volcano itself isn't threat enough, 2,590-hectare Lake Kivu
nearby conceals an enormous underwater concentration of carbon dioxide
and methane which could be released by a major eruption, spreading a
lethal cloud across Goma that would spare no one.
Are Gomites concerned? No. Thousands of homes-- shacks constructed of
hand-hewn eucalyptus boards and sheet metal roofs --have been built right
on top of the solidified lava of past eruptions. In other words; the Gomites
are knowingly living at ground zero; right in Mt. Nyirangongo's known kill
zone.
Adam was given fair warning what would happen if he ate from the tree. It
was just as fair a warning as parents give their kids not to poke paper clips
into wall sockets or lean over a dog too close with their face when they pet a
strange one. Consequences for spurning a parent's rules in those cases can
be very terrible.
†. Prv 22:3 . . A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes
precautions; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
Cont.
/
The ban on the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, was tempered by a
carte blanche to eat fruits from all the rest of the trees; including the tree of
life. So it's not like God pigeonholed Adam and forced him to eat from the
wrong tree in order to survive. Earlier, in Gen 1:29, God gave Adam
permission to eat all manner of plant life. So he had lots of options. An
abundance of other nutrition was available. Therefore, if Adam ate from the
wrong tree, he had no excuse for it. And that is what really made eating
from that tree so serious— it was willful, and done in full understanding of
both the ban and the consequence.
Compare Num 15:27-31 where willful sin is described as a category of sin
for which there is neither atonement nor forgiveness under the terms and
conditions of the covenant that Yhvh's people agreed upon with God as per
Deut 29:9-15.
But why on earth would God plant a deadly tree in an otherwise perfect
environment? Was that really necessary? What real purpose does a tree
serve that has the potential to kill? Why even create such a tree in the first
place? Was that tree a bad tree? No, it was not a bad tree. When God
finished creating, He looked over His work on the 6th day and pronounced it
all not just good, but "very" good.
The tree of the knowledge of good and bad wasn't a bad tree per se; any
more than toad stools, poison ivy, lightening, rattlesnakes, scorpions,
avalanches, tornadoes, typhoons, hurricanes, cactus needles, tsunamis,
earthquakes, electricity, fire, lava, and arsenic and hemlock are bad in and
of themselves. Those things are hazardous, yes, but they all fit into the
natural web of life. When people willfully cross over boundaries, ignoring the
dangers, and start messing around, then they get hurt and it's really no
one's fault but their own. For example :
San Francisco was once destroyed by an earthquake related to the San
Andreas fault; but where did they rebuild San Francisco? Right back in the
same place.
Los Angeles is at risk of the same San Andreas, and are even now as I write
this is preparing for a major quake. Are there plans to evacuate Los Angeles
and relocate the city? No. They plan to ride out whatever the San Andreas
and/or any of the other faults throw at them. City planners and disaster
control specialists have already calculated the body count because the
Andreas is overdue for a massive slip and so is one known as the Puente
Hills Blind Thrust System. City officials know big quakes are coming but
nobody is getting out of the way.
All around the island of Japan are ancient monoliths, some as much as 600
years old, with the inscription : Do not build your homes below this point.
The monoliths testify to past tsunamis. People back then set up those
monoliths to warn future generations; but do future generations listen? No;
they don't listen. 25,000 Japanese are listed as dead and/or missing from
the tsunami of 2011 because they settled in communities below those
ancient water marks.
The below-sea-level city of New Orleans was flooded by hurricane Katrina in
2005. Did city planners wise up and relocate the city to higher ground? No;
they rebuilt right back in the same place.
On the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of the Congo rumbles two
mile high Mt. Nyirangongo; one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
The city of Goma, consisting of something like one-million people, will be
pelted with falling rocks and lava splatter, and buried by molten rock and
pyroclastic flows of superheated dust just as sudden as the city of Pompeii if
that mountain should ever decide to get serious about its business. Past
eruptions bear this out.
And as if the volcano itself isn't threat enough, 2,590-hectare Lake Kivu
nearby conceals an enormous underwater concentration of carbon dioxide
and methane which could be released by a major eruption, spreading a
lethal cloud across Goma that would spare no one.
Are Gomites concerned? No. Thousands of homes-- shacks constructed of
hand-hewn eucalyptus boards and sheet metal roofs --have been built right
on top of the solidified lava of past eruptions. In other words; the Gomites
are knowingly living at ground zero; right in Mt. Nyirangongo's known kill
zone.
Adam was given fair warning what would happen if he ate from the tree. It
was just as fair a warning as parents give their kids not to poke paper clips
into wall sockets or lean over a dog too close with their face when they pet a
strange one. Consequences for spurning a parent's rules in those cases can
be very terrible.
†. Prv 22:3 . . A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes
precautions; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
Cont.
/
