Alternate Interpretation of the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil"

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I would like your opinion on an alternate interpretation I have of a biblical passage. My interpretation has been very helpful in my day-to-day life and overall life philosophy and I’m wondering if it is Biblically correct in your opinion.

My interpretation of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” as described in Genesis 2:9, 2:17, 3:5 and 3:22 is that the only thing that is keeping man from living in paradise is the “Knowledge of Good and Evil”,
or even the idea that Evil exists at all.

The traditional idea of Evil is contradictory, if God has created everything, then why would he create Evil or let it exists. In my opinion, everything God has created is beautiful and perfect.

Evil is a distortion of the truth used by some as a means of justifying acts of violence and neglect and as a means
of manipulation. It has been used out of ignorance to explain phenomenon such as natural disaster and disease, but as we come to understand these phenomenon we can appreciate God’s design and the beauty, power, and complexity of His creation.

I would like to understand if this interpretation has ever been considered. I have done a great deal of research but have not found it mentioned.

Thank you for your help,
Sid Rothchild
 
I’ve not heard that before. The interpretation I like is that the only thing Adam and Eve were not free to do was to define for themselves what is good and what is evil. That’s the interpretation the Catechism seems to go with in CCC 396.
 
SidRothchild said:
I would like your opinion on an alternate interpretation I have of a biblical passage. My interpretation has been very helpful in my day-to-day life and overall life philosophy and I’m wondering if it is Biblically correct in your opinion.

My interpretation of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” as described in Genesis 2:9, 2:17, 3:5 and 3:22 is that the only thing that is keeping man from living in paradise is the “Knowledge of Good and Evil”,
or even the idea that Evil exists at all.

The traditional idea of Evil is contradictory, if God has created everything, then why would he create Evil or let it exists. In my opinion, everything God has created is beautiful and perfect.

Evil is a distortion of the truth used by some as a means of justifying acts of violence and neglect and as a means
of manipulation. It has been used out of ignorance to explain phenomenon such as natural disaster and disease, but as we come to understand these phenomenon we can appreciate God’s design and the beauty, power, and complexity of His creation.

I would like to understand if this interpretation has ever been considered. I have done a great deal of research but have not found it mentioned.

Thank you for your help,
Sid Rothchild
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I think this is more of a philosophy question than sacred scripture question. The problem with the thing you propose is that you say evil does not exist, yet then go on to say there are acts of violence and neglect. If there is no evil, there is no violence. There is no neglect, because there is no standard better than another. Everything is perfectly acceptable in a world without evil. If you get rid of good and evil, it becomes paradise for only you. That is contrary to God’s plan. When it becomes paradise for self, then all others must suffer for self’s paradise to come to fruition.
 
Joe_5859 said:
I’ve not heard that before. The interpretation I like is that the only thing Adam and Eve were not free to do was to define for themselves what is good and what is evil. That’s the interpretation the Catechism seems to go with in CCC 396.
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I like that as well, that may be more accurate.
 
bmullins said:
I think this is more of a philosophy question than sacred scripture question. The problem with the thing you propose is that you say evil does not exist, yet then go on to say there are acts of violence and neglect. If there is no evil, there is no violence. There is no neglect, because there is no standard better than another. Everything is perfectly acceptable in a world without evil. If you get rid of good and evil, it becomes paradise for only you. That is contrary to God’s plan. When it becomes paradise for self, then all others must suffer for self’s paradise to come to fruition.
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Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate your well thought out ideas.

I don’t know that you need evil to have morality. I also don’t agree that for one to have paradise others must suffer. There is certainly suffering in the world, but it’s important to not label suffering and struggle as Evil, it is a part of God’s plan. If we label suffering/struggle as Evil then it is easy to take a “means justify the ends” type of attitude.

I don’t think violence and neglect are Evil, there is usually a good explanation as to why they are happening and if it can be explained it can easily be remedied. Labeling things as “Evil” often leads us to disown our own obligation to fix a situation. An example of this: a child is starving to death in Africa, we do nothing and the child dies…if we just say that famine is Evil then we have no accountability. However, in reality, the child did not die because of the “Evil” of famine, the child died because we did not feed him. Our we “Evil” because of this, or are our actions “Evil”? No we feel helpless and inadequate, which is an explanation of why we did nothing to save the child.

I am not trying to say that it is a perfect philosophy, but I think it’s worthwhile discussing.
 
SidRothchild said:
The traditional idea of Evil is contradictory, if God has created everything, then why would he create Evil or let it exists. In my opinion, everything God has created is beautiful and perfect.

Sid Rothchild
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Everything God created is good, including man. Evil entered the world through sin. God allows evil to exist because man has free will.
 
I think in your last post your definition of evil is a bit narrower than mine. I don’t see evil as something that cannot be controlled or something that I can ‘blame’ for things. I see evil as something that isn’t good. An act can be evil and still be preventable.
 
bmullins said:
I think in your last post your definition of evil is a bit narrower than mine. I don’t see evil as something that cannot be controlled or something that I can ‘blame’ for things. I see evil as something that isn’t good. An act can be evil and still be preventable.
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Thank you for the feedback. I have a hard time verbalizing this idea because I struggle even thinking what we would consider “Evil” at this point. People have stopped thinking that disease is due to Evil spirits and I don’t think that many people think that the Devil is at play when their house is leveled by a tornado.

I suppose “sin” could be considered the definition of “Evil”. We were given Jesus and the prophets to help us clarify what God’s will is, so the act of not doing what God wants is the only acceptable definition of Evil.

Perhaps a more appropriate interpretation of what I am trying to say is that the labeling of anything other than actions as “Evil” is the cause of all of man’s suffering. So, it may be correct to label the actions of a group of people (i.e. their sin) as Evil, but labeling the people themselves or their ideas as Evil is not and will lead to suffering.

Again, I am just trying to work through this idea, I’m not trying to say it is correct.
 
SidRothchild said:
Thank you for the feedback. I have a hard time verbalizing this idea because I struggle even thinking what we would consider “Evil” at this point. People have stopped thinking that disease is due to Evil spirits and I don’t think that many people think that the Devil is at play when their house is leveled by a tornado.

I suppose “sin” could be considered the definition of “Evil”. We were given Jesus and the prophets to help us clarify what God’s will is, so the act of not doing what God wants is the only acceptable definition of Evil.

Perhaps a more appropriate interpretation of what I am trying to say is that the labeling of anything other than actions as “Evil” is the cause of all of man’s suffering. So, it may be correct to label the actions of a group of people (i.e. their sin) as Evil, but labeling the people themselves or their ideas as Evil is not and will lead to suffering.

Again, I am just trying to work through this idea, I’m not trying to say it is correct.
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Thanks for clarifying. That is how I understood your OP, but it helps to have it spelled out like that.

I think you make a good point, but I disagree with your overall emphasis on this as the primary interpretation of the “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”. On this, I agree with the comments of the other posters.

Thanks for raising the topic though, and thank you to the other responders. It has been helpful.
 
Jim_Dandy said:
Everything God created is good, including man. Evil entered the world through sin. God allows evil to exist because man has free will.
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In spite of the all the philosophizing ,Jim Dandy you have said it simply right. And that’s fair enough for me!;)👍
Peace, Carlan
 
Carlan said:
In spite of the all the philosophizing ,Jim Dandy you have said it simply right. And that’s fair enough for me!;)👍
Peace, Carlan
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Excuse the extra long post, below but this discussion has helped me connect a few things.

Well, it seems you’re right, because this is where I am ending up…however, this also has helped me define what “sin” or Evil is. This was what I was trying to get at, not so much why it exists.

In the Old Testament sin was defined as Moses by anything that went against the 10 Commandments. However, it seems that those Commandments were a bit flexible. For example there was the commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Kill”, but under certain circumstances it was perfectly acceptable to kill (i.e. stoning an adulterer, crucifying Jesus, war, etc). Therefor, before Jesus one had to subscribe to “moral relativism”. Meaning there were no absolute rules. Whether something was a sin or not was very much decided by Man and not by God.

Jesus abolished moral relativism by creating 2 commandments that could be followed absolutely:
Code: 
1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength

2. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
What does this have to do with the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”? Well, it goes back to an earlier post: “Adam’s only sin was attempting to define what was Good and Evil himself”. Without Jesus’ 2 commandments Man had to create his own definition of what was Good and Evil because the 10 Commandments were incomplete. With the 2 perfect commandments from Christ we no longer need to have to subscribe to Moral Relativism.

To sum it all up, the only thing that is keeping man from living in perfect harmony is that we try to define for ourselves what is Good and Evil instead of following the 2 commandments created by Jesus.
 
:hmmm:Yes, Adams sin of disobedience still plagues God’s Children. We pray. Peace, Carlan
 
St. Thomas Aquinas On “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”

This state enjoyed by man depended on the submission of the human will to God. That man might be accustomed from the very beginning to follow God’s will, God laid certain precepts on him. Man was permitted to eat of all the trees in Paradise, with one exception: he was forbidden under pain of death to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Eating of the fruit of this tree was prohibited, not because it was evil in itself, but that at least in this slight matter man might have some precept to observe for the sole reason that it was so commanded by God. Hence eating of the fruit of this tree was evil because it was forbidden. The tree was called the tree of knowledge of good and evil, not because it had the power to cause knowledge, but because of the sequel: by eating of it man learned by experience the difference between the good of obedience and the evil of disobedience.

~ Conpendium, Second Treatise on Faith the Humanity of Christ, Chapter 188
 
SidRothchild said:
I would like your opinion on an alternate interpretation I have of a biblical passage. My interpretation has been very helpful in my day-to-day life and overall life philosophy and I’m wondering if it is Biblically correct in your opinion.

My interpretation of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” as described in Genesis 2:9, 2:17, 3:5 and 3:22 is that the only thing that is keeping man from living in paradise is the “Knowledge of Good and Evil”,
or even the idea that Evil exists at all.

The traditional idea of Evil is contradictory, if God has created everything, then why would he create Evil or let it exists. In my opinion, everything God has created is beautiful and perfect.

Evil is a distortion of the truth used by some as a means of justifying acts of violence and neglect and as a means
of manipulation. It has been used out of ignorance to explain phenomenon such as natural disaster and disease, but as we come to understand these phenomenon we can appreciate God’s design and the beauty, power, and complexity of His creation.

I would like to understand if this interpretation has ever been considered. I have done a great deal of research but have not found it mentioned.

Thank you for your help,
Sid Rothchild
Click to expand...
The classic Catholic teaching is that God did* not* create evil; He gave man free will and the abuse of this freedom is the cause of evil-God allowed this for His own purposes. The Catechism says this:

**396 God created man in his image and established him in his friendship. A spiritual creature, man can live this friendship only in free submission to God. The prohibition against eating “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” spells this out: "for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die."276 The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil"277 symbolically evokes the insurmountable limits that man, being a creature, must freely recognize and respect with trust. Man is dependent on his Creator, and subject to the laws of creation and to the moral norms that govern the use of freedom. **

As long as man trusts God, recognizing and acknowledging his own limitations, then sin would never have entered his world. By mistrusting God, and so disobeying Him, man put his trust in* himself*, a mere creature. The result is that man knows good and evil-the good of God’s creation, and the evil of anything that lies outside of or opposes God’s will, beginning with man’s own first sin or act of disobedience of that will. All other sin that followed continues to be our experience-our knowledge- of that which opposes the will of God, i.e. evil.
 
… hi my dear friends ,

… following is my own brief insight into this subject and not church teaching …

… when god created the angels they were not in heaven as such but a transitory state which made it possible to go against gods will , they were tested and some gave their non - serviam and were sent to hell , they did not go to hell for sin or evil but because they refused to do gods will , the holy angels went to heaven because they agreed to do gods will …

… this will get controversial – note this please , heaven is the angels world for starters , it is also a part of our reality but our main home will always be here when our paradise the garden of eden is recreated at the end of time or so , like the angels adam and eve in the beginning had no knowledge of good or evil , in our world thjese things cannot and do not exist , but like the demons man having gone against gods will finds himself outside of reality , in this delusion , it is like a big game we must take deadly serious as we do experience suffering , death , hell etc …

… but evil , sin , suffering , sickness , death , purgatory , hell and even a not as perfect as possible experience of god or heaven cannot happen to man , this is imperfection , and any imperfection in the creation is a reflection on the creator – any imperfection in the creator and he cannot exist , so when demons and man went against gods will he had to throw us out of reality , otherwise he would cease to be and this cannot be , we automatically move outside reality when we go against gods will too ,

…if we go to hell it will seemlike forever and ever , but in reality there can be no forever in hell or heaven as these are measurements of time and there is no time or way of measuring change or time in these realms ,in purgatory you can measure time as the suffering lessens but 1 day may seem like 20 yrs etc , you get it i’m sure …

… there is actually no such thing as good or evil , the reason why we have them and we’re in such a mess is adam and eve listened to satan tell them that if they touch that forbidden tree they will be like god knowing good and evil , they were deceived thinking the knowledge would be great , god had told adam and eve not to touch that tree for on what day you touch that tree dying you shall die the death , it is really the tree of death , the punishments came swift and god changed our whole world from reality into a world of good and evil , even himself being this too although i know it sounds bad , god is just acting and can do anything outside reality but in reality god cannot do what he does here , and man has become god in his own mind knowing good and evil , he is judge , jury and executioner of all the endless infinite laws and rules in his head , and more …

… and satan now dominates this worlkd , if man wants to dio trhe devils will then so be it says god , we are being punished this way too , but because we’re outside reality in this delusion nothing is really real , even though it sure seems so and we experience it all mosty certainly , god has fixed all this mess the instant it went wrong but we must exp it gradually unfold , change and time are an illusoion of necessity , we always have to exp our existence gradually unfold , we can’t not exist , be a baby , be a chiuld , adult , in heaven or hell etc etc all at once , but god is not in time and cannot be in time or do things over time so to speak , god is in now , and all is present at once in now , but we exp now unfolding gradually out of absolute necessity , you see it post fall in genesis how reality is being chajged by god in various ways , and how formally normal things have all become good and / or evil ,…

… the whole of salvation history has reALLY BEEN ABOUT MAN BEING ABLE TO GET BACK AT THE TREE of life in my opine , after the fall god puts cherub with flames of sword to guard the tree of life so man can’t get at it and get reality back and live forever again , we are in a sort of opposite of reality in terms of a world of good and evil now , and death is the ultimate consequence iof everything to do with the tree of death , i think the tree of life is an olive tree by the way , a real tree but symboluic too even now , the next time we get a sniff that the journey of man to getting baCK THE TREEW OF LIFE is when noah sends the bird out to seek dry land and the bird comes back with an olive branch , a little sign perhaps on our journey , next big encounter with what i think is the tree of life is moses talking to the burning bush , i think it was the tree of life being guarded by cherubs using flame agaiun as in eden …

continued the next post too –
 
… the first use of olive oilo recorded is in exodus under gods instruction you know …

… jesus is the tree of life and all who eat its fruit and drink its nectar will have eternal life , the cross was made of various pine trees , but the tittilus or plaque was made of olive wood , so jesus is partially fixing the consequences of the tree of death here with himself the tree of life , as to the tree of death being an aple tree , a few centuries ago it was common to call all fruit bar berries apples , so note this , but the apple tree does hgave a small thorny crown doesn’t it ??? , my own current speculation on the forbidden fruit is a pineapple trhough , i know the name is newer but providence could use 3 or 4 types of pine on the true cross and provide the legend of the apple to lead us to conclude the forbidden fruit was a pineapple , and it comes across very forbidden among all fruits being a very hard thorny crust and having a crown of thorns , food for though …

… jesus spent time in the gardfen of olives , as did king david , and olive oil is very significant sacramentally , therapeutically , and in many ways , the young bridesmaids in jesus’ parable who ran out of olive oil for their lamps were locked out of the wedding feaat or heaven , all the elect are like olives not quite ripe yet perhaps , jesus is the olive tree of life for all , it mentions the tree of life in the book of rev and i’ll look into that more later , but it also talks about 2 prophets who are olive trees and lampstands whoo preach , are killed , resurrected , and ascended to heaven on a cloud , i think the firsr refers to jesus and somehow jesus is coming back to do simkiliar work but more to cokplete what’s needded to get reality back , i think the end is not too far oiff so it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few yrs and deceades , we’ll see …

… man has become like a demon now , evil and prone to evil and very demonic , but he can struggle to heaven , but even when man is being good he is really just being like a devil disguised as an angel of light , true , sad but true , but god has already fixed all this mess , we just haven’t experienced the fix yet , and make sure you don’t exp hell at all costs no matter what dear friends …

… i know a lot of this is controversial and very incomplete , so if you have any q’s or (name removed by moderator)ut welcome …

… good and evil are real and do exist and do most certainly have consequences , you will go to heaven or hell so great care is needed , but all this world , us and our whole worlds incl god is not reality even if it seems so , when we go back to reality thanks to the work of christ ongoing then this delusion will disappear like it never happened , god never and cannot lose , or he is imperfect and would cease to exist as such …

… man has gotten everything satan promised our first parents but it sure turned out to be a dud , we’re stuck with bad parents , that’s rthe way it works , adam and eve were bad parents and we all suffer from that , but god is fixing all , he has fixed it before it went wrong really , we just don’tr exp it like that – that is all …

… everything is good and evil in our world now , the sun harms us badly but we need it to live , same with water , all our food and drink , everything in creation really , all has been made good and evil , it is total insanity in peoples minds this forbidden knowledge , it really is , and let us not forget the forbidden knowledge of good and evil came from satan and not god and is the absolute rooit cause of all our problems , why trust knowledge from satan ??? , think about it …

… but hell will seem like all eternity no matter what so do gods will , and one last note : you go to heaven for doing gods will and not for being good or nice people etc , you go to hell for not doing gods will and not for being evil or sinful people , the point is gods will is what you must do , and those people who say i’m good and i never do evil so god could never send me to hell may want to think about this , are they really doing gods will ??? …

… there’s a GREAT DEAL MORE TO THIS BUT THOUGHT I’D TELL YOU MY OWN THOUGHTS …

… may god bless and love you all 👍🙂 ,

… john …
 
John_Russell_Jr said:
.
… but hell will seem like all eternity no matter what so do gods will , and one last note : you go to heaven for doing gods will and not for being good or nice people etc , you go to hell for not doing gods will and not for being evil or sinful people , the point is gods will is what you must do , and those people who say i’m good and i never do evil so god could never send me to hell may want to think about this , are they really doing gods will ??? …
… john …
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Thanks John for your response. I can’t say I understand all of it, but based on your last point I think we all ended up with the same conclusion, at least that’s what I get from it. The meaning of the text is that Man should follow God’s Will, not make his own determination of Good and Evil.

Thanks again for the (name removed by moderator)ut, it has been very helpful.
 
SidRothchild said:
Thanks John for your response. I can’t say I understand all of it, but based on your last point I think we all ended up with the same conclusion, at least that’s what I get from it. The meaning of the text is that Man should follow God’s Will, not make his own determination of Good and Evil.

Thanks again for the (name removed by moderator)ut, it has been very helpful.
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And we’re told God’s will. We’re to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. Anything less lies outside the will of God for man.
 
John_Russell_Jr said:
… hi my dear friends ,

… following is my own brief insight into this subject and not church teaching …
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There is no need for us as Catholics to be troubled with this question. We have the clear teaching of the Church.

Peace to all.
 
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