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One wonders: How does the WTBTS gain knowledge to these things?
Yet, these trees were planted with man in mind.
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1932 The Watchtower, July 15, page 222
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1953 "New Heavens and A New Earth, page 72
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Why would Adam or Eve choose the tree of knowledge instead of the tree of life.
by smiddy 37 Replies latest watchtower bible
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THE GLADIATOR
God told Eve not to eat from the tree of Knowledge of good or bad because he wanted her to eat from it. He understood women. Well he should; he made the first one.
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Dis-Member
There is also no 'evidence' that God told Adam if he chopped his own leg off it would hurt but I'm sure adam knew not to.
What hogwash logic.
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Comatose
What an awesome point. I thought I had discovered all the things that didn't make sense in the account. This one is great. So, not only were they dumb for not eating it, but it was right there and they had no command not to eat it. lol
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NewYork44M
Perhaps the Adam and Eve is just a story with a very powerful lesson.
Knowledge is the ultimate pursuit of humans. We are willing to sacrifice our lives in the pursuit of knowledge. But more than just knowledge, Eve was looking for the understanding of the difference between good and evil. Isn't that is a pretty big aspiration. That overlays knowledge with ethics, which is a very human experience.
Would you be willing to sacrafice your life for this?
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respectful_observer
The Tree of Life recently came up in conversation with some JWs recently. A pioneer posed the question whether the Tree of Life was a literal tree; another JW (Elder) very quickly stated that the WT has always taken the stance that it was not a literal tree. The pioneer then opened her Bible and read Genesis 3:22-24:
22 Jehovah God then said: "Here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad. Now in order that he may not put this hand out and take fruit also from the tree of life and eat and live forever, --" 23 With that Jehovah God expelled him from the garden of E'den to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. 24 So he drove the man out, and he posted at the east of the garden of E'den the cherubs and flaming blade of a sword that was turning continuously to guard the way to the tree of life.
She said (paraphrased) "to me those verses seem to say that the tree of life was a real thing, maybe even it was something that Adam and Eve ate from to ensure their enternal life. Verse 22 quotes Jehovah as saying they could physically touch its fruit and eat it. Verse 24 says that the cherubs and flaming sword were posted specifically to prevent Adam and Eve from accessing the tree of life."
"But the Watchtower says it wasn't a real tree."
"I understand that, but look at what those verses say."
"I DON'T CARE WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS! I CARE WHAT THE WATCHTOWER SAYS!!"
I couldn't believe it. Everyone just looked at each other and it got really quiet. The elder realized he'd just yelled at this pioneer and how crazy he sounded. So he followed it up with this gem...
"Sorry, all I meant was that we need to trust what's in the Watchtower. Even if the actual Bible verses seem to say something different, we need to trust the Slave, otherwise run the risk of apostate thinking."
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Comatose
i dont think the watchtower says it was not a real tree.
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adamah
Yeah, it's an old fable (where a talking animal is a BIG hint as to nature of it being a fable, ALA Aesop's fable, a common literary device that was an expression of an inherent tendency towards anthropomorphism).
The same basic plot is found in various other Nations of the region, with slightly-different variations on the same theme, eg Prometheus stealing the fire (as a symbol for knowledge) to give a gift to mankind, or even closer, the Greek pantheon of Gods giving Pandora a gift of a box which she was told NOT to open; her curiosity got the better of her (in Eve's case, it was rephrased as 'desire' and 'wanting'), and the box contained all the evils of the word, which escaped; only "hope" remained in the box for her to keep.
Xians rework the story by inserting the element of God's punishment supposedly pointing to the hope of salvation in Jesus. Same, same....
The Gods in the story of Pandora were clearly setting up a trap for humanity by giving humanity a woman (reflecting their misogyny), and hence why the Genesis account contains that same element of Divine entrapment and blaming the women, with God going out of his way to make sure "the fix was in".
The story is ripped a new one in this cartoon by Darkmatter 2525, where Jeffrey's (God's angelic assistant) protective steps designed to prevent the pair from eating the fruit are over-ruled by God to create a Divine 'slip and fall' accident:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_a6RjR_AHY
Adam
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adamah
NY44 said-
Perhaps the Adam and Eve is just a story with a very powerful lesson. Knowledge is the ultimate pursuit of humans. We are willing to sacrifice our lives in the pursuit of knowledge. But more than just knowledge, Eve was looking for the understanding of the difference between good and evil. Isn't that is a pretty big aspiration. That overlays knowledge with ethics, which is a very human experience.
Would you be willing to sacrafice your life for this?
Yeah, it's actually a very-old story with a deep and profound message (aside from the obvious "do what God says, or else all Hell breaks lose" theme, which is the PERFECT message for writings (Torah) that contain boring legal civil and criminal codes). It's also a great origins story, to explain to early listeners how they came to find themselves in the situation they were in.
It worked within the context it was written in, but some people won't see it for what it is, and insist on taking it as literal history and having applicability to the current day and age.
Ironically, the story actually reflects the age-old tendency of humans to be unconsciously influenced by their pre-existing biases, believing what they WANT to be true (confirmation bias), and how trivially-easy it is for the clever serpent to deceive the foolish humans by getting them to accept a big LIE (based on the use of 'weasel words') after softening them up beforehand with a few 'truths'.
Unfortunately, that subtle message is lost on many believers, who fail to see their own Bible is telling them the techniques it uses in the chapters that follow, as if the Bible is hiding its manipulations "in plain sight".
Adam
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Vidiot
Respectful_observer, that story is f**king priceless.
Any doubt that the WTS is being (for all intents and purposes) idolized by now should be out the window at this point; that had to have been a "wait a minute" moment for a good number of people present.
Regarding the intro post, smiddy has brought up a really interesting paradox...
...the WT makes a big thing about the Genesis creation narrative being literal history, and humankind being created "perfect". More importantly, they fold the "everlasting life" concept directly into that; the two doctrines are - for all intents and purposes - joined at the hip.
However, that makes acknowledging a literal second Tree in the Garden highly problematic.
Why?
Because if Adam and Eve needed to continue to eat from it to keep living, it therefore follows that "perfection" and "everlasting life" are not fundamentally intertwined, which directly contradicts the previously mentioned major aspect of WT theology and eschatology.