by Black Man 11 Replies latest jw friends
I remember in one of my Bethel entrants school classes, the instructor commenting on the events that went down in Genesis chapter 3 and commenting that one of the reasons why the serpent was so persuasive was because he "evidently" partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. Because he had taken such a course, he could persuasively convince Eve to do the same.
I can't remember what source material he used to support this assertion. Anyone else heard of this and would like to expound?
Blackman
Sounds like a fairy story to me.
Radar
That smells like one of those "isms" that Circus Overseers are allowed to speculate upon without textual proof, just as a perk. Keeps them just that side of mortal and accountable, thus imbuing them with a mystical diet-flavor of divinity. Interesting.
The insight book further expounds on this point.
The WT will always depicts the serpent on the tree of knowledge of good and bad in its illustrations, never near it, or slithering on the ground. Their rendition seems very likely to me. The woman could not have been easily convinced by an animal talking to her. I mean, think about it, even a 5 year old child knows that serpents don't talk.
But the serpent was showing Eve by example that the tree was not harmful as God said it was, but rather, it was beneficial. Just look at the results, look what it did to a mere serpent, imagine what it could do for a human!
And that's it was presented to me. The serpent partaking of the tree, seemingly gaining the ability to talk AND discerning what is good and bad and then presenting this offer to Eve of even GREATER ENLIGHTMENT that God did not want her to acquire. That supposedly is why the woman didn't find it so hard to believe that the snake was talking to her. The snake made it seem as if the "tree" had granted it the ability to converse and be enlightened.
Black dude,
That's the most logical explanation I could think of, that's why I agree with it.
Sending this back to the top................
Seems like this Bethel instructor ate it too...
So......that means the serpent was wearing clothes?
I always felt that they were naive and innocent. After all, Adam and Eve knew nothing of deception or evil. Here was this snake saying that god doesn't want you to eat this fruit cause then you'll be just like him...and who wouldn't want to be just like the very thing that created you? After all, the lie was just being invented at this point....
Can you say unfair advantage here? Here, lets give the two humans a test...but they have no knowledge on how to defend themselves against this trial. I know...I'm being over-simplistic in a way, but then again we are talking about talking snakes and eating fruit that will make you like "God."
