Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

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Augustine3

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We all know about this tree in Genesis.

I found this verse in Sirach:

“With wisdom and knowledge he fills them; good and evil he shows them” - Sirach 17:6

Any comments?
 
Then the Lord formed human beings from the dust
and sent each of them back to it again.
2 He gave them only a limited time to live,
but he gave them authority over everything on earth.
3 He made them to be like himself,
and gave them his[a] own strength.
4 He made all other creatures afraid of them;
he gave them authority over all the animals and birds.
6 He gave them their tongues, their eyes,
their ears, their minds, and their consciences.
7 He filled them with knowledge and understanding
and showed them the difference between good and evil.
8 He gave them his own insight
to let them see the majesty of his creation.[c]
10 They will praise his holy name
and proclaim the greatness of all he does.
11 He made knowledge available to them
and gave them the Law as a source of life.
12 He made an eternal covenant with them
and revealed his commands to them.
13 They saw the splendor of his majesty
and heard the glory of his voice.
14 He warned them against unrighteousness
and taught each person how to treat others.
 
Augustine3 said:
Sirach 17:6
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The Most Holy Trinity gave them some knowledge with the command not to eat of the forbidden tree.

Sirach 17:
5 He created of him a help-mate like to himself: he gave them counsel, and a tongue, and eyes, and ears, and a heart to devise: and he filled them with the knowledge of understanding.
6 He created in them the science of the spirit, he filled their heart with wisdom, and shewed them both good and evil.
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There are more than one way to gain knowledge of good and evil. The sin of Adam and Eve was not the seeking of knowledge but of eating from the tree.
 
Mary_Ellen said:
There are more than one way to gain knowledge of good and evil. The sin of Adam and Eve was not the seeking of knowledge but of eating from the tree.
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I have always been under the impression that the “eating from the tree” is a metaphor for trying to put their own understanding (knowledge) above God’s.

Peace!!!
 
Augustine3 said:
I found this verse in Sirach:

“With wisdom and knowledge he fills them; good and evil he shows them” - Sirach 17:6

Any comments?
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In Sirach, God acts to give knowledge and wisdom to His people.
In Genesis, Adam and Eve defy God’s will in the attempt to grab some knowledge for themselves.
 
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Eating from the tree is not about legitimate search for truth, it refers to the prideful arrogation to one’s self to determine good and evil, rather than listen to the objective good offered by God.
 
I have been under the impression that pride was not the only thing that led Adam and Eve to sin but maybe a little bit of fear as well. Adam was given dominion over all the creatures, yet this serpent had challenged and was insubordinate…
 
Immediately after eating of the fruit of the tree and ever since that moment humankind has literally known good and evil, and has had the opportunity to gain the wisdom to run from the evil and towards the good alone. With the aid of revelation/knowledge and grace, this knowledge can help turn man back to God.
 
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The tree offered a different kind of knowing. For example, to know a frog fully one must become a frog.

When Adam and Eve ate from the tree they not only knew what lacked good, they became what lacked good. They entered a kind of knowing we were not fit to know during our earthly lives. Imho.
 
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He showed them the difference between good and evil.

Deuteronomy 30:19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
 
From the Easter Proclamation:
O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!
O happy fault
that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!
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I may stand corrected, but my own thoughts for the past several years or so have been that the salvation isn’t about restoring original innocence, but about bringing you to greater holiness than we could have had without the fall.

Indeed, sin seems rooted in our partial knowledge and goodness. The story of the fall illustrates how we’re first told something is sinful, but are made to doubt God’s goodwill toward us. We look at the thing that’s been forbidden and admit “I see goodness here.” And indeed, we’re not wrong. Afterall, evil isn’t a thing in itself. It is a negation or perversion of the good. God does not create evil. Evil exists between nothingness and existence. Afterall, we acknowledge natural evils like natural disasters. Not all evil is moral evil. But when tempted, we see goodness, whether it’s a good end or the partial goodness of an action, and this doesn’t merely bring us to disobedience, but to doubt God’s goodness. And there we see how Adam’s sin is pride and even what it means to be called to faith.

Faith is not mere believing that God exists or accepting the tenants of the Church. It is a restoration in our trust in God, our willingness to accept our humble state, to look even at an act of crucifixion and proclaim salvation.

Afterall, what we did to Christ on the cross was not a sinless act. But God permits sin and brings better things out of it and thus brings us hope.
 
Augustine3 said:
I have been under the impression that pride was not the only thing that led Adam and Eve to sin but maybe a little bit of fear as well. Adam was given dominion over all the creatures, yet this serpent had challenged and was insubordinate…
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I had never heard that idea before. Did it come from someone’s writing?
 
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