Today, people are more aware of what they eat than ever before! But Jesus says in Mark 7: 18,19 "Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him, because it does not enter his heart, but it goes into his stomach and then is eliminated." So, when Eve and Adam ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it was already known that "this too shall pass". Knowing there was a deceiver on the earth where God put man, a plan was already in place to overcome any stumbling.
In The Original Sin, we started before the Garden of Eden to show how the peaceful perfection was shaken. Untouchable were two trees - the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Since we know that the adversary would not want us to have everlasting life, it makes sense that he would choose the other tree to tempt the humans.
But we also realized that Adam was never tempted before. The Bible says that Adam named all the creatures, but just as Jacob was renamed Israel, one could argue that Adam did make mistakes in naming creation.
I'm a firm believer in James 1:5 - "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you". In our limited capacity, the thought of "Knowledge of Good and Evil" might be what God wanted for us, but without the fruit from the tree of everlasting life, our new-found knowledge goes to "finding fault".
Prior to eating from the Tree, Adam and Eve were naked and were probably aware of it. Yet afterwards, the KNEW they were naked, and with their new "wisdom" they decided for themselves that they should hide their nakedness.
It's been many generations since the first man and woman, so we have become accustomed to the pitfalls of knowing good and knowing evil. Many of us have even believed that it is foolish not to know these things. Yet knowing good and evil is not the same as having wisdom - which is something still available, yet forfeited in the Garden when Eve and Adam decided to become gods.
Here is today's challenge: Name 10 things that you consider "Good". It does not matter what your reasoning is, just go ahead and list them. I'll give a few ideas:
Imagine your world with having an abundance of your 10 items. Seems like a pretty happy life, right?
Now, do the same challenge, but name 10 things that you consider "Evil".
Now imagine a world without these things. Would you be satisfied?
In Ecclesiastes 1:9, Solomon observed that "there is nothing new under the sun". From the dawn of Creation, those things that you have determined Good and Evil were all present (in one form or another). The ingredients for making a great pizza were there, as well as those things that "creepeth and crawleth". They all existed in a balance by God's amazing design.
Yet, when we determine what is Good and Evil, the balance is upset. We favor drinking water and horde it - thus someone else experiences drought. We gather in exclusive teams - thus another becomes an unprotected victim of murder and lies.
Isaiah 45:7 puts this balance this way: "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." In Genesis 1:2, there was darkness - but no balance. In verse 4, " God divided the light from the darkness". He did not get rid of the darkness, but in creating light, created balance of day and night.
Much like building a sand castle on the beach, you dig a hole to gather the sand to build. You do not say "I built a hole", but without the hole there would be no castle. Over night, the tide comes in and brings the shore back to balance.
Now I want you to imagine that you are a vampire. Why a vampire? First, I know that you have already judged that vampires are evil and forgotten there is a balance. But more importantly is the concept of living forever (as long as you avoid a stake through the heart). I could have just as easily said, "imagine you were immortal or will live forever." Yet, many of you would have concepts of Greek mythology or living out your immortality playing harps on the clouds.
If you knew that you would never die, how would that change the way you looked at life around you? Would you try to take over the world? Perhaps - learning all the secrets to bend the world to your choosing may be an option. Or, without impending demise, would you take one day at a time? "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34)
Over time, in your current mortal life, you have probably changed your mind about things multiple times. Those judgments you made in your past, after gaining wisdom and experience, have become silly. Unfortunately, having a short life on this earth, many do not re-evaluate their thinking and walk their lives out in prejudice.
"Judge not" seems to be a walk of ignorance, yet Jesus went on to explain (in Matthew 7) the immediate failures in judging. As an immortal, that is one who has eaten from the Tree of Life, you would know the difference between labeling (as Adam did in the Garden) and judging. But as mortals, we want our way - blind to eternal consequence.
So far, we've realized that the Original Sin is trying to make ourselves into gods and that the forbidden fruit is an unbalanced meal that causes us to judge unbalanced. These themes will be revisited later, but for today, I would like you to consider how you act on your knowledge of good and evil.
Here are 5 things that you might want to consider:
See how observant you are to the world around you. Then see how you handle what you observe, stop yourself from judging and getting irritated. In time, you will see more things, and you will learn to evaluate through an immortal, Tree of Life, perspective. Remember, God is there to show you how.