Satan didn't do it...God did. Vine, W.E. god does not want us to be curious for such things but we are so dull that we do not understand what god wants for us and therefore continuously make the wrong choices, that tree makes us blind spiritually. Hi, Hillary. If that was too long or didn’t make sense, here’s the short version: The problem of evil only works if we’re talking about an omnibenevolent and all-powerful God, hence the necessity of his inclusion in it. Keep an eye on your inbox for updates. That’s just the nature of nature. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. Mankind lost access to the tree of life after disobeying God’s command to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The woman, following the “shrewd example” of her mate who thought he had placed the guilt upon her, quickly pondered: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:13). Hillary Morgan Ferrer is the founder of Mama Bear Apologetics. Were we ever to meet, I’d shake your hand, maybe even give you a hug. Consider the child that has been subjected to unspeakable evil. It’s not like he built a staircase that they had to use every single day and said, “Thou shalt not step on the 4th step. Let’s pretend that we made it the perfect environment where they didn’t want to leave. Click To Tweet. It didn’t initially appear as if the first one went through. 2. Why, then, did God put the tree in the Garden of Eden and allow Satan to tempt Adam and Eve? God could have prevented Adam and Eve from ever having the choice to rebel against Him, but again that’s not love, and God IS love. God did not want robots, and he will not force His love on us. Thanks! Does that mean God can no longer do anything to him? I thought to myself: I love trees. He didn’t deny them food, and then punish them for eating. Joey asks "If God knew that Adam & Eve would eat off the Tree of Knowledge, why did he put it in the Garden of Eden?" God did it. If this question has plagued you, you are not alone. Love can only be given freely. God wanted a relationship with us! He created the tree because it was a manifestation of his character, of his love. He plans on creating a new proverbial “sterile” environment in the future. Therefore, with this single defamatory charge, many men have attempted to forsake all weight of culpability and responsibility. The tree was the proverbial door in the perfect house that God created for us. [citation needed] The ten points are known as Sephiroth or Sephirah, or the ten emanations or attributes of God.Kabbalah is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. Hillary, thank you for your thoughtful response. I think the freewill argument fills the gap because we started with the endpoint that the Christian God is the one true God and worked our way backwards to the freewill premise. All trees in the Garden were attractive to the eye and/or good for food, so it is likely that Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Life while they lived in the Garden. Mama Bear Apologetics is a registered trademark. Supreme Pleasure in God. Something wonderful happens? Rich Deem has discussed these very questions. Man has continued in his endless search for ever more subtle, sophisticated, and convincing excuses that could set him free from his moral and/or spiritual responsibility. Now, some might object to God’s method’s by asking, “Did God give Adam and Even enough information to make an informed decision? And here a dilemma is posed, either God did not know what was going to happen with this bothersome little tree, or if He did know, then why did He make the tree? The Tree of Life as pictured by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) The tree is see Give God the credit. Think of it more like contaminating a sterile environment, or decay. added). In both it symbolizes ongoing provision for physical life. Now, since you haven’t offered any other reasons to doubt part 1 rather than any other argument, you’d need to either try a different approach or refute Hillary’s argument allowing for the existence of God and the presence of evil to coexist. So I did, right then and there. I honestly don’t know how God could have made it easier to choose Him. The tree of life is mentioned three times in Genesis 2, in Eden, and again four times in Revelation during the New Earth. As much as I love Chuck, he will never love me back. Thank you for the opportunity of dialog. Should a friendship ensue, I would support you, and you would support me. The only way to give this choice would have been to command something that was not allowed (2004, emp. What's love got to do with it? added). Very few of us reasoned our way into Christianity. There is no relationship. The tree of life in Eden must have had some role to play in maintaining the life of Adam and Eve (and possibly the animals). Question: "Why did God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden?" Something horrible happens? This would have been God’s just punishment for such a presumptuous sin, not merely a ‘magical’ effect of the Tree of Life. This is basically the crap in the middle where we get to experience what a world full of sin looks like. To this end, God had bestowed on the tree a supernatural power. Is there obedience without choice? My question is how can you be so certain that what you believe in is true? God did not want robots, and he will not force His love on us. The presumption that God was real was always there. Thus, from that endpoint, we worked our way backwards to the freewill premise. Skeptics often complain that God set Adam and Eve up to fail. Adam was also given a simple law to obey. Moreover, the Old Testament also uses trees as metaphors for the life that God gives, especially since trees remain perpetually green in the arid climate of the Middle East and thus, in a certain sense, “eternally alive” (Jer. Inc.). Your email address will not be published. The attraction of every tree in the garden represented a fundamental piece intended to distract any possible craving that man might have for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. . “Science can disprove God,” “Natural processes alone can produce design,” or “Science uses facts, religion uses faith.”) After completing the unit, the kids were given the opportunity to submit questions about the creation story, so today I went back to answer them. He works ALL things according to the counsel of HIS Will. Adam and Eve were free to do anything they wanted, except eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Are they still free? In the middle of the garden were two special trees. Well, we live in a fallen world, and God’s ways are a mystery. That is a real, trusting relationship. [“The tree in the garden was basically the easiest test to pass… and we still failed”, How could Adam and Eve have failed? Click To Tweet. Answer: God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden to give Adam and Eve a choice to obey Him or disobey Him. Therefore, all His actions toward man—from his creation to his redemption—were products of His love. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Something great happens? God didn’t trick Adam and Eve. The second tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. added). Well, we live in a fallen world, and God works in mysterious ways. However, He did point out the tragic consequence of eating from the tree, which was not a result of the tree’s intrinsic nature, but of disobedience to God’s command. Everybody laughed, which hurt my daughter's feelings because she was quite serious about her gratitude. He could not force His love on us without it exterminating any hope for a loving relationship. added). However, assuming that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was evil is the main error that a person makes while wanting (or not wanting, as the quotation above makes obvious) to understand God’s ways. Did he want to have an excuse to exile them from Paradise? The truth is that when man falls into sin and disobedience, God should not be blamed. Required fields are marked *. keep in mind that there is a tree of life from which we can eat also Those who trust in Jesus Christ by faith will live in the restored Eden and partake of the tree of life. Moses urged the people of God: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). I had the kids repeat a sentence with me multiple times. She is working on her second master’s degree, and yet can’t seem to figure out the simplest cooking recipes. As a Christian, I don’t think I would have disagreed with any of your points. It’s real. Could it be that we would make better life choices if we un… Why is this? If you were in danger, I would intervene for you, as you would for me. added). “And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. However, as noted earlier, God is love (1 John 4:8); and this trait of God, as exhibited in the tragic story of Eden, is shown in His providence for man. God allowed Satan to tempt Adam and Eve to force them to make the choice. For many, the question, “Why did God create this tree,” is unanswerable, since they cannot reconcile the idea of a benevolent God with the fact of the creation of something that resulted in man’s fall. The Tree of Life stood in the centre of the Garden of Eden which elsewhere is called ‘ The Garden of the LORD ’.1 It was a real tree, to be sure, but let me suggest that it was also symbolic of the fact that God was, and is, the source of eternal life and blessing. The function of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is to make sure that the pleasures of all the other trees in the garden are supremely pleasures in God. Why Did God Make the Tree Good? The truth, however, is that regardless of the scenario, God will always get a pass. The inspired writer James declared: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone” (1:13, emp. She did not. He wanted for man to love Him, not because it was the only option available to him, but because it was the only option that would guarantee him eternal joy. He didn’t want to create robots. (1994, emp. How could Adam and Eve have failed? Adam was in a sinless state and was warned by God not to partake of the tree. The truthful and unavoidable conclusion, then, is that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was in fact “very good.”. In fact, God went to lengths to guard Adam and Eve from ever getting near the tree again (Gen 3:22-24). Genesis 1:31 records: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” Scriptures clearly declare that everything God had created was not only good, but “very good.” Exodus 20:11 records that everything was created in the six days of divine creative activity; thus, nothing was created after those days. Click To Tweet. She is coauthor and editor of the Mama Bear Apologetics book, and has been married to her husband, Dr. John D. Ferrer, for over 12 years. He didn’t force them to sin. The first tree was the tree of life. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:9). Rather, it was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Creator’s masterpiece is a harmonious symphony that delights our ears. We have to remember that this is not the world that he created us to live in, and as believers in Jesus, it is not the eventual world in which we will live forever. Nevertheless, when expressing discernment and/or intimate involvement, Moses used the term yada. They wouldn’t have eaten the fruit If they really knew what that would do to the rest of humanity, right?” Can’t we still fault God for their decision because He didn’t give them enough information? (1999), Diccionario Expositivo de Palabras del Antiguo y Nuevo Testamento Exhaustivo (Colombia, Editorial Caribe. Love can only be given freely. added, italics in orig.). You and I are engaged in a conversation. It was beyond his reach. Couldn't Christ have been spared suffering if God had just nixed the tree? He was very upfront about the whole Death thing. Rampant evil. As for knowing if the Christian God exists, there are numerous other arguments, such as the Kalam Cosmological Argument, the Fine Tuning Argument, the Moral Argument (which also causes atheists to have the Problem of Good), and the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God wanted a relationship with us! Who Made the Tree Good or Bad? When Adam and Eve sinned and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as God had explicitly warned them not to do, they lost access to the … [citation needed] The ten points are known as Sephiroth or Sephirah, or the ten emanations or attributes of God.Kabbalah is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. Instead, they sought satisfaction in the forbidden tree. We don’t really know, but we can be sure that it didn’t have a 10-foot diameter. Some exegetical notes, observations, and tentative conclusions: 1. Janet, © 2021 Mama Bear Apologetics® If you don’t want to tempt them you never mention it—and make sure the temptation is not available to be yielded to (2000, emp. Now you owe me your life!” I have heard adult atheists profess this kind of understanding of the redemption plan, and it is better to nip this line of thinking in the bud because it reflects a poorly-informed understanding of the nature of love. In order for man to have choices that allowed for the use of his personal volition, a divine command was necessary. As an atheist, I’ll attempt to share my thoughts on your question. Second,God also placed the tree of life in the midst of the garden (Genesis 2:9). The fact that this tree, too, was in the midst of the garden served as a means of attraction to do good when man was influenced to disobey God. 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