Any Christian with a functioning brain must sooner or later wonder what it was humanity did tin Eden?
We have all stood accused by the Church of inheriting original sin - but no one can even tell us what that sin actuall was - is that fair? Dont we at least have the right to be told what it was? I thing so, but notice no one ever tells us? Do you know why? No one knows! Instead we are handed that Sunday School stuff about forbidden fruit - God must have been pretty immature to curse humantity for eathing a few bananas, yeah?
Recently I decided to revisit Genesis and see if I could make any sense of original sin - here is what I found, I think it will astonish most readers - let me know what you think.
Gnesis tells us that following creation, God surveyed all He had made and said it was "very good." This defined what good was from the perspective of Genesis - that was before the ten commandments, in Eden man had only one commandment to obey.
Gods first commandment was to Adam; Dont mess with the knowledge of good and evil He said, or you shall surely die! So this was not about fruit, nor the tree it grew upon, they are metaphors, this was about knowledge, the knowledge of good and evil.
To whom was God speaking when He gave that command? You may say to Adam and Eve, and Genesis agrees, but have you considered the fact that at that time the entire human population numbered only two?
Its a biblical fact. read it yourself. So when God commanded Adam He was in fact commanding the entire human race - a global population of just two! Stay away from the knowledge of good and evil, or you shall surely die - as a species! In other words, humanity will become extinct!
If that is so, then whatever this knowledge was, it must have been powerful - dont you just wonder what it was? Lets find out - what exactly was the knowledge of good and evil?
As we mentiond, God defined good as being his creation, it was very good. So the knowledge of good is clearly the knowledge of Gods creation - what does that mean?
This is not the kind of knowledge a monkey would acquire - he knows which trees to shimmy up to get hold of his favourite bananas - there is nothing wrong with that kind of knowledge, its natural and necessary for survival. Rather the kind of knowledge God was talking about refers to human inquisitiveness - probing, inquiring, trying to discover what makes nature tick - that is the knowledge of good, the knowledge of the natural and material world God created. To paraphrase God: Dont seek that kind of knowledge of my creation, or you will surely die, as a species!
So the knowledge of good is the knowledge of the natural and material world God created - funny, my dictionary defines that kind of knowledge as being science! That's what science is - the gathering of knowledge about the natural and material world by inquiring, observing and experimenting. Thus we see - and this will be confirmed - that the knowledge of good was science.
So what was the knowledge of evil? Since evil is the antithesis of good we can assume that evil knowledge is any knowledge that is harmful to or destructive of good - that is to say, destructive to Gods creation, the envirnoment!. So the knowledge of evil is technological knowledge! Technology uses the knowledge gaind by science to manipulate the natural and material world to mans advantage, producing an artificial outcome such as electricity or an explosion.
So the knowedge of good and evi is sceintific and technological knowlege - touch that stuff and humanity will become extinct!
Notice modern scientists now voice the same warning - unless we stop destroying nature we will become extinct - yes we will surely die! Why will this occur, what is causing it? Two words; science and technology, the knowledge of good and evil.
Modern scientists may not want to hear it, but Eve was in fact the first human scientist, and she soon slapped a lab coat on Adam too! Thus we understand what happened in Eden, they were two rebels, two non-conformists, two commandment breakers, and God was not amused!
Why did they do this? They were not content to remain as the natural creatures God intended, they wanted to be like Him - knowing both good and evil.
Notice this tells us God is into the knoweldge of good and evil too! See, God is a scientist, though on a much higher plane that we can imagine, and His creation certainly bears that out.
Is this possible, is God really a sceintist and technologist? You bet - listen to this quote from Genesis;
And God said: Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing both good and evil.
The plural in the sentence tends to hide the other reality there - Adam had become like God, knowing science and technology - he knew both good and evil!
If we say this is not sceince, that some moral sin was committed, then we say God is a God of sin, Adam sinned and became like God.
Have you ever heard these things before? Quite a revelation I think, and I could go on further, but for now thats enough.
Any comments? It does seem that I have uncovered the true original sin, what do you think? Let me know!
By the way - I realize this conflicts with the notion of why we need a savior - I can answer that too - but first I would like to get some feedback if anyone is interested.
God love ya! :roll:
Kerry