Tree of Knowledge

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It has always seemed to me that the only knowledge they gained by eating of the forbidden fruit was knowing they were naked. Does anyone else get that feeling? Knowing they were naked and feeling ashamed. Although there is nothing shameful in being naked at all. It doesn’t seem to me as though they became knowledgeable about anything else.
 
It has always seemed to me that the only knowledge they gained by eating of the forbidden fruit was knowing they were naked. Does anyone else get that feeling? Knowing they were naked and feeling ashamed. Although there is nothing shameful in being naked at all. It doesn’t seem to me as though they became knowledgeable about anything else.
Are you familiar with the Catholic doctrines (plural intended) on Original Sin which include the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? How would you explain Adam’s human nature with clothes or without clothes?
 
Are you familiar with the Catholic doctrines (plural intended) on Original Sin which include the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? How would you explain Adam’s human nature with clothes or without clothes?
Adam’s and Eve’s human nature without clothes would seem to be sexual. Although this first husband and wife were intimate before the Fall. They were told, as well as the animals, to “be fruitful and multiply,” and that can’t be done without intimacy. But I take the “their eyes were opened to them” to mean they didn’t know everything God did, as the snake had promised Eve. I instead see it as that Adam and Eve must have felt, not only ashamed of their nakedness, but their disobedience as well, and possibly even disappointed that all the forbidden fruit left them with was a bad taste in their mouth, so to speak. In answer to your first question; I think I’m well familiar:confused::o Although I must not be, to have started this thread. Sometimes, it’s about interpretation. We know we know what we’ve been taught… sometimes it’s just that our interpretations can be differing.
 
It has always seemed to me that the only knowledge they gained by eating of the forbidden fruit was knowing they were naked. Does anyone else get that feeling? Knowing they were naked and feeling ashamed. Although there is nothing shameful in being naked at all. It doesn’t seem to me as though they became knowledgeable about anything else.
What they lost was their innocence, that quality Jesus finds in children that allows them to stand before God in simple love and faith uninhibited by the knowledge of the gulf that exists between God and us.
 
catholic.com/magazine/articles/before-sin

This discussion reminded me of this article. I read that prior to taking formal Theology classes, and right now can’t seem to remember what the forbidden fruit symbolized or what knowledge they gained from it. I don’t even remember the points we raised anymore! I’ll have to find my notes and re-read them, but right now, I’m looking forward to someone who can articulate thoughts on this subject 🙂
 
The story of Adam and Eve begins with Genesis 1: 26 when God declared that He would make human beings – us – in His image. God is a transcendent super-natural Pure Spirit Creator without restrictions which is way different from everything He created including humankind. We are physical material beings with a decomposing anatomy. Still, God loved us so much that He created us with a spiritual soul. Our spiritual soul is why we can share in God’s life, why we are in God’s image, why we can choose heaven.

I can say “us” because we are Adam’s descendants because in Genesis 1: 28, God blessed Adam and Eve so that they could be fertile and have lots of children who would have lots of children who would …

Genesis 1: 28 belongs with the creation of humankind. Genesis chapter two gives the details of Adam and Eve’s beginning days before they had children. It is important that we learn about the beginning of human history when there was only the first two humans on earth. The first thing we learn in Genesis 2: 7 is that human nature is an unique unification of a material body and a spiritual soul. Humanity begins with Adam as the original human person.

Obviously, Adam had to live in a place where he could find food to eat. God, as a loving Creator, in Genesis 2: 8, planted a wonderful garden and then, in Genesis 2: 15, He settled Adam in this garden known as the Garden of Eden. In my old neighborhood, there is this saying: “There is no free lunch”. Adam had to cultivate and care for the garden. This is the beginning of the science of agriculture.

In this garden, there was a tree with a very weird name, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We learn in Genesis 3: 6, that this tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for knowledge. The next weird thing is that Adam already had the important knowledge of right and wrong without eating the tree’s organic fruit.

I will pause here for comments as I am sure there are some.
 
In this garden, there was a tree with a very weird name, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We learn in Genesis 3: 6, that this tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for knowledge. The next weird thing is that Adam already had the important knowledge of right and wrong without eating the tree’s organic fruit.

I will pause here for comments as I am sure there are some.
I remember our professor told us that eating here has a special significance; it symbolizes the appetite. The sin here was more than the sin of pride; it was the sin of letting appetite (for being like God, obviously) overrule obedience to God’s command. I also remember raising this points to the question “What sins most resemble Adam and Eve’s sin”: Situations where we attempt to be in control of the natural law such as allowing gay marriage and transgender and other “trans” identities are very much like their sin because we are attempting to overthrow God and natural law with our will.

I hope I don’t get blasted for the points I raised here. It seems I’ve chosen very controversial topics to make a point 🙂
 
I remember our professor told us that eating here has a special significance; it symbolizes the appetite. The sin here was more than the sin of pride; it was the sin of letting appetite (for being like God, obviously) overrule obedience to God’s command. I also remember raising this points to the question “What sins most resemble Adam and Eve’s sin”: Situations where we attempt to be in control of the natural law such as allowing gay marriage and transgender and other “trans” identities are very much like their sin because we are attempting to overthrow God and natural law with our will.

I hope I don’t get blasted for the points I raised here. It seems I’ve chosen very controversial topics to make a point 🙂
May I offer this suggestion.

There are at least two approaches to the sin of Adam. We can look at the tree as a real one growing in the midst of other trees and plants. Adam would get as hungry as we do. Adam would delight in a good meal as we do. I have always had a difficult time with the word appetite in a “philosophical type” context. It seems like here, appetite is a natural part of a human. The question is – Is Adam seeking beyond his natural being? Does he want his nature to be like God’s? This general approach is helpful in the learning process.

The second approach is to go to the heart of the matter. What is the basic reason for the forbidden fruit? Does Original Sin go beyond human desire and straight to the obvious friendship relationship between God and His creature? What is God in the original friendship relationship between humanity and Divinity? Exploring answers to these questions is where the Catholic Church steps in.
 
St. Pope John Paul II gave an excellent explanation as to what this passage meant in his encyclical “Veritatis Splendor,” the Beauty of Truth.Scroll down to third paragraph in the section of the FALL to read his words

defendingthebride.com/mc/truth.html#fall

.
 
May I offer this suggestion.

There are at least two approaches to the sin of Adam. We can look at the tree as a real one growing in the midst of other trees and plants. Adam would get as hungry as we do. Adam would delight in a good meal as we do. I have always had a difficult time with the word appetite in a “philosophical type” context. It seems like here, appetite is a natural part of a human. The question is – Is Adam seeking beyond his natural being? Does he want his nature to be like God’s? This general approach is helpful in the learning process.

The second approach is to go to the heart of the matter. What is the basic reason for the forbidden fruit? Does Original Sin go beyond human desire and straight to the obvious friendship relationship between God and His creature? What is God in the original friendship relationship between humanity and Divinity? Exploring answers to these questions is where the Catholic Church steps in.
Thanks for this! I will also look at “Theology of the Body”, as suggested by other posters 🙂
 
Thought I’d link to this thread to further this discussion. It’s quite sad that the discussion became rather heated toward the end 😦
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=972258
This is what I posted in that thread. It is apparent that some, not all, people have no clue about the real Catholic teachings which flow from the first three chapters of Genesis. How sad.

From post 28.

For me, the problem is the first two sentences in post 1.
"The tree of knowledge is known for its content which is the knowledge of Good and Evil. This means that Evil is as true as Good. "
The first sentence is totally false as a Catholic teaching. The second sentence is make-believe. Sometimes I wonder what has happened to simple common sense regarding Divine Revelation in the first three chapters of Genesis. :o

Explanation of the tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil – in case someone is interested.

From the universal Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition
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. (1730, 311, 301)

Additional comment about content.

Too often, for some folks, the “knowledge content” appears to be hanging from the tree ready for Adam to grab it, eat it, learn it, and then become “knowing good from evil.” The Catholic teaching is that Adam is a genuine human being with a true human nature created by God. Genesis 1: 26-27. This means Adam knew right from wrong, (Genesis 2: 15-17, Genesis 3: 11, CCC 355-356 and CCC 1730), before he digested the organic fruit from the forbidden tree with the weird name.
 
St. Pope John Paul II gave an excellent explanation as to what this passage meant in his encyclical “Veritatis Splendor,” the Beauty of Truth.Scroll down to third paragraph in the section of the FALL to read his words

defendingthebride.com/mc/truth.html#fall

.
Thanks. Pope John Paul II’s words (and the author’s explanatory sentence after) are so good that they deserve to be quoted and posted as part of the thread.
In Pope John Paul II’s encyclical “Veritatis Splendor,” section 35, we read,
“With this imagery (the above passage in Genesis), Revelation teaches that the power to decide what is good and what is evil does not belong to man, but to God alone. The man is certainly free, inasmuch as he can understand and accept God’s commands. And he possesses an extremely far-reaching freedom, since he can eat ‘of every tree of the garden.’ But his freedom is not unlimited: it must halt before the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil,’ for it is called to accept the moral law given by God. In fact, human freedom finds its authentic and complete fulfillment precisely in the acceptance of that law. God, who alone is good, knows perfectly what is good for man, and by virtue of his very love proposes this good to man in the commandments. God’s law does not reduce, much less do away with human freedom; rather, it protects and promotes that freedom.”
**The “tree” represents not just to be able to know the difference between good and evil, but the claim to be able to determine by our own reasoning the standards to which we are obligated to conform our lives. **​

I recall reading somewhere (and I think it was in one of Pope John Paul’s talks or writings) that Adam and Eve’s eating from the tree was an attempt to usurp God’s power - to "be like God, knowing good and evil. (Gen 3:5). That was the lie Satan fed them and they chose to believe it and act on it.
 
It has always seemed to me that the only knowledge they gained by eating of the forbidden fruit was knowing they were naked. Does anyone else get that feeling? Knowing they were naked and feeling ashamed. Although there is nothing shameful in being naked at all. It doesn’t seem to me as though they became knowledgeable about anything else.
They became aware of evil, the most basic of which is spiritual separation from God. And, by contrast, they would come to know good, a concept previously unnecessary and irrelevant because everything, in their experience, had been good. Now they would exist in a state of raw self-consciousness, ashamed of the sin they had committed and the consequences it had resulted in; they wanted to hide, which they did. We’re all in hiding, to one degree or another, from God and the truth of who He created us to be. This is why the catechism teaches that man is divided even within himself as a result of the Fall.
 
They became aware of evil, the most basic of which is spiritual separation from God. And, by contrast, they would come to know good, a concept previously unnecessary and irrelevant because everything, in their experience, had been good. Now they would exist in a state of raw self-consciousness, ashamed of the sin they had committed and the consequences it had resulted in; they wanted to hide, which they did. We’re all in hiding, to one degree or another, from God and the truth of who He created us to be. This is why the catechism teaches that man is divided even within himself as a result of the Fall.
Pardon me.

The Catholic teaching is that Adam and Eve had fully-complete human natures at the very beginning. It is not accurate to somehow imply that knowing good is a "concept previously unnecessary and irrelevant because everything, in their experience, had been good. (from post 15) That “concept previously unnecessary and irrelevant” sounds like the foundation for the evolution of the soul. Evolution of the spiritual soul is not part of Catholic teachings.
 
Pardon me.

The Catholic teaching is that Adam and Eve had fully-complete human natures at the very beginning. It is not accurate to somehow imply that knowing good is a "concept previously unnecessary and irrelevant because everything, in their experience, had been good. (from post 15) That “concept previously unnecessary and irrelevant” sounds like the foundation for the evolution of the soul. Evolution of the spiritual soul is not part of Catholic teachings.
Pardon me, sounds like you’re presuming/imagining a fair bit here. They knew good, as it was the only thing they’d experienced up til then, but couldn’t distinguish the two-good and evil, as separate, identifiable realities simply because they had never experienced evil. Had they trusted God, they never would experience it; they never would have entered the pigsty of life apart in some manner from their Creator.
 
But God will use the evil that man brought upon himself and found himself in the midst of to bring about an even greater good in the end.
 
Pardon me, sounds like you’re presuming/imagining a fair bit here. They knew good, as it was the only thing they’d experienced up til then, but couldn’t distinguish the two-good and evil, as separate, identifiable realities simply because they had never experienced evil. Had they trusted God, they never would experience it; they never would have entered the pigsty of life apart in some manner from their Creator.
Genesis 2: 15-17
 
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