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RosieG

Was eating an apple from the Tree of Knowledge the original sin? If true doesn't that bother you? Why would GOD want us to be ignorant?

Posted - November 29, 2019
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Responses


  • 5391

    No, the story is not evidently true, and it only bothers me in that false beliefs which have enslaved countless lives, minds and societies to the forces of ignorance were built upon such baseless claims.

    This post was edited by Don Barzini at November 29, 2019 9:59 AM MST
      November 29, 2019 9:20 AM MST
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  • 113301
    Thank you for your reply DB.
      November 29, 2019 10:00 AM MST
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  • 6023
    That is precisely why some people worship Satan.  Because he encouraged them to gain knowledge.

    I vaguely recall that there may be a religion, where the first Humans were encouraged to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.
    Doing so wasn't the "sin" that got them banished.

    Of course, there is the story of Prometheus ... who stole fire to bring to Humans.

    And many Eastern/Oriental beliefs have deities (and dragons) bringing knowledge to Humans.
      November 29, 2019 10:43 AM MST
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  • 113301
    I am always suspicious of those who encourage dumbing down as a way to worship GOD. I think smartening up is what we should always do. Thank you for your thoughtful reply. So Satan encourages people to smarten up then? Where is that written Walt? I have never heard that. I know. I lead a sheltered life. :) This post was edited by RosieG at November 30, 2019 2:29 AM MST
      November 30, 2019 2:28 AM MST
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  • 10718

    God doesn't want us to be ignorant.  In fact, He created us with the ability to think and to know.

    When a child is born, it doesn’t know good and evil.  To it, everything’s good.  It’s not until that child is told there’s a difference that it gains that knowledge… the knowledge of good and evil.  With that knowledge, their innocence is gone.  They now must choose between good and evil.  Doing evil brings guilt, while doing good doesn’t. 

    The serpent told Eve that by eating the fruit God had forbade, that she “would be like God, knowing both good and evil”.  And when she ate it she knew all right… she instantly knew she’d disobeyed.  Guilt.  To help ease that guilt she got her husband to eat the fruit too.  (didn’t work; the guilt remained).  Suddenly they both knew they were naked and quickly tried to hide their nakedness from each other (fig leaves).  There’s no saying how long they had been naked in front of each other before this point, but suddenly they were ashamed of it.  Does a baby know it’s naked?  We see babies and even young children playing naked - even out in their own yards.  They aren’t ashamed.  Why should they be? 

    These two once innocent beings (Adam and Eve) were now filled with guilt – they had disobeyed their Father and they knew it.  Therefore, when God comes to talk with them they quickly hide themselves from Him. (guilt and shame). When He asks them why they’re hiding, they give the excuse that they were naked (like God hadn’t seen them naked before… He created them naked!  He’s seen them naked in the garden since He made them).   When a child takes a cookie from the cookie jar after it was told not to, what happens?  It feels guilt.  It may try to hide its actions from mom and dad, but most of the time it doesn’t work.  They somehow “know”.

    The tree of knowledge wasn’t knowledge of things (science, math, engineering, and such), it was the knowledge that there are two things - good and evil.  Had they never ate the fruit they would have remained innocent, not ignorant.

      November 29, 2019 11:22 AM MST
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  • 6023
    As far as to a child "everything's good" - "good" can be misunderstood, because it is such a vague concept.
    A child doesn't know "good vs evil" ... but it does know "good vs bad".
    Even a newborn knows when something is "bad", in that it is harmful or uncomfortable - and "good" is pleasurable or comfortable.

      November 29, 2019 11:32 AM MST
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  • 10718
    Evil and bad are not synonymous
      November 29, 2019 11:48 AM MST
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  • 6023
    Yes, I know.
    And "good" has separate meanings when we are talking "good vs evil" or "good vs bad".

    So I was saying a child thinks everything is "good" refers only to the argument of "good vs evil" - not the argument "good vs bad". 
      November 29, 2019 12:01 PM MST
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  • 10718
    a child doesn't know the difference between good and evil until it is told/learns it.  We, as adults, do and transfer our "knowledge" onto the child (meaning we see the child's actions through our perspective).
      November 29, 2019 12:20 PM MST
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  • 113301
    Apologies Shuhak. Isn't innocent ignorant? If you don't know then you are ignorant. I can't up to wherever you are that would make your last sentence make sense. Thank you for your thoughtful reply. So anything you can add that would help me get to where you are on this?
      November 30, 2019 2:32 AM MST
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  • 10718
    Innocence is when one does/says something due to the lack of knowledge and accepts being incorrect when corrected. 
    Ignorance is when one does/says something due to the lack of knowledge and refrains to accept being incorrect even when corrected.
      November 30, 2019 10:02 AM MST
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  • 113301
    I'm gonna have to put that in my pipe and smoke it Shuhak. Ignorance can be willful and purposeful. It can also be honest and sincere. Also the corrector may be a liar so there is that with which one has to contend. Or someone with a very strong partisan bent. We are considered to be ignorant by non-believers. Thee and me. You and I. No one ever used that word directly to me but their answers to my questions indicate it. They try to "correct" us all the time. We don't react as they would like. And so it goes. Thank you for your reply! :)
      November 30, 2019 10:25 AM MST
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  • 46117
    This is like taking the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and totally changing the plot, the meaning and the message.

    I don't get why you keep asking the same thing.  Do you love to argue about this?  It mystifies me.

    We do not know ONE thing that we can prove.  OKAY?  NOT ONE.  Not if it means proving it on HERE.  GOD FORBID.  Let's stick to questions we can answer without getting entangled in INVISIBLE messages that cannot ever be proven ON HERE or ANYWHERE for that matter.
      November 30, 2019 10:10 AM MST
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