Ancient Battleground: Tree of Knowledge
Fought by Lying Words of Eternal Death
The usual interpretation of Original Sin revolves around the fallacy that God withheld knowledge from mankind whilst Satan, Prometheus, promised man the gift of knowledge to make man, and woman, equal with God. This is certainly coherent with a simplistic reading of the text Ge 2:17; 3:1-5, 22). This pits God against Man over Control of Knowledge. When Man attempts to obtain knowledge, God punishes all mankind with death; physical death now and eternal death later. From this mythology enters modern man with Enlightened Science which finally promises to free the Chosen Few from the bonds of death while they enter a glorious future of their making. The heroes of this myth are Plato, Aristotle, Galileo, Newton and Einstein which its fundamental villains are Bible believing Christians wallowing in superstitious ignorance trying to hold mankind back from their Star Trekian future; or Star Wars for the more Gnostic minded. But, is any of this actually true?
Trees, Women and Magic Words Intertwined
Promising Hidden Knowledge and Pleasures
Sir Doyle had Sherlock Holmes state, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” At its core it does contain a starting place for the mind casting about for threads to follow. The problem is agreeing to what is impossible, what is probable and what is truth. This is the conundrum Woman faced listening to Satan’s words. This is also the same conundrum every person faces when reading this passage with one essential caveat; Woman did not yet have a sinful nature but everyone since has such a nature with a natural hostility against God which bias’ one’s understanding (Ro 1:18-28). The natural man, sinful nature, cannot ever understand God’s truth because he, or she, has exchanged His truth for their lies following the very method of Satan (Jn 8:44; 1Co 2:14). However, to those who are saved and studying to show themselves approved to God, they are guided by the Holy Spirit to gradually learn God’s truth (1Co 2:13; 2Ti 3:16-17). And it all began right here but it did not end here for the battleground for people’s souls is knowledge transmitted by words which are the only weapons Satan truly possesses. Words are also the means by which God expresses His will both in Creation and in His Bible which becomes the only means by which people may be saved from sin and ignorance simultaneously (Jn 3:16-21; Ro 10:8-17). Therefore, we must go to the words to discover what is truth in order to separate the impossible from the improbable and follow the red thread of Christ’s blood shed for our salvation (He 9:22; 9:27-10:1-10).
Herein is where the immature and uninterested leave the post. This is not uncommon and the writer of Hebrews was scathing in his criticism of those who decide to remain willfully ignorant in God’s word (He 5:11-14). They are constantly tossed about with every changing wind of foolishness rather than praying to God for wisdom (Ep 4:11-14; Ja 1:5-8). Let us look at the words tree of knowledge of good and evil (Ge 2:17).
The work, knowledge, is a noun commonly found in Proverbs. The first nine chapters lay the foundation for understanding God based on the fear and reverence of God and the knowledge of God. Chapters 10-29 uses this word in reference to the physical realm, especially interpersonal relationships, based upon the elements set forth previously. One cannot learn to live in the world until one has an intimate and foundational knowledge of God. Thus, this knowledge guides you if you have reverence and knowledge of God in His word. Knowledge without these two qualities becomes dangerous to the user. This knowledge controls the user rather than vice versa. But, we must go further for this knowledge has two modifiers: Good; Evil. Good is only good when it is used for its intended purpose; i.e., according to reverence and knowledge of God. If knowledge is used outside of its intended purposes then it becomes our next quality. Evil refers to knowledge used apart from its proper context: God. Good and Evil form a contrasting duality, common in Hebrew, emphasizing that knowledge is not neutral but dangerous when not used as God intended. Hence, God was not withholding knowledge; He was simply telling Man that knowledge is dangerous with deadly consequences if not used under God’s Control. The consequences of seeking such destructive knowledge is death: Immediate spiritual death, separation from God; with inevitable physical death for rebelling against God.
Now, Satan already knew this! He had faced his judgment before Creation when he originally rebelled against God (Isa 14:12-15; Ez 28:14-17). Satan engaged Woman in discussion because she received her knowledge from Man who received it from God. She added to God’s word, do not touch, which may have come from Man (Ge 3:1-7). Satan is attacking her knowledge of God’s word using his words which he knows are lies; this is Reflexivity; use of lies to promote a false position advantageous to one’s self {supposedly}. He follows up with a supportive Fertile Fallacy, another lie, by say she would not die if she ate. True, she would not immediately die physically, she was needed to produce offspring; she would die spiritually but that was his plan to gain Control over mankind. The Fertile Fallacy: “you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The two words, know and knowing are present tense verbs related to our noun previously discussed. These two words are experiential knowing building a totality of knowledge. Satan claims that God knows experientially that when you gain knowledge YOU will be as He is. You will gain knowledge experientially to rival God’s knowledge such that you will also understand good and evil. Again, another Fertile Fallacy because being as God is not based on knowledge; it is based on being. Knowledge cannot make one equal to God; Satan already learned this in Heaven. When Woman and Man rebel they will gain this experience also which gives them dangerous knowledge they cannot control: they are the evil and eternally separated from God immediately and in danger of being in judgment forever as they are powerless to undo this change. They who were strong in God, Good, now discover they are weak in sin, Evil. Not only that, they are also enslaved to Satan, Sin and Death. Like the Ouroboros, they have willingly exchanged truth of God for the lie of death. Their quest for knowledge apart from God devours them. This chapter of Genesis closes with God making this statement. Man’s experiential knowledge apart from both the reverence and knowledge of God, apart from God’s Control, is the means by which mankind will seek to be as gods (Ge 3:22). This is the actual beginning of what we call Postmodernism, not so modern (Ec 1:9-11).
Man and Woman Condemned Themselves
But God Provided Himself as Sacrifice for Sin
There was another tree, of Life. Man and Woman gave up access to life for lies which they knowingly embrace replacing the truth they lost. Every person ever born has been a slave to sin and ignorance. God continued to provide Good Knowledge in the form of His Word, Bible (Jn 1:1-5; He 1:1-2). Christ was not nailed to the tree of life to die; He was nailed to our tree of knowledge apart from God to die in our place if one believes God’s truth (Ro 10:8-13). Today, the battleground remains knowledge. Science is not truth, it is simply a means of catalogue observations into theories that at their core are incomplete and very dangerous because God is left out of the equation. Gramsci, Bernays and informational media systems team up to promote their knowledge, lies. There is only one source of absolute Truth; Scripture.
What was impossible? That trees contain a substance for life or knowledge. What was improbable? That mankind would exchange life for death by coveting knowledge apart from God. What is the Truth? One can receive life only through Christ. Transhumanism, medicines and whatever else knowledge may dig up to cheat death will fail because this Creation will cease and they will still face the Judgment as will Satan (2Pe 3:3-7; Re 19:20; 20:10-15). Satan uses violence when knowledge fails to persuade or when he loses control because even he is not omniscient. Which knowledge will you choose to follow; this is the true battleground?