John 5:39

[poptart]

Down through history, people have used and quoted the Bible in effort to explain or rationalize an ideology or agenda.
The examples are endless.
Bible verses, stories, or ideas are pulled out and put into a context of a person's choosing, and it can sound reasonable.

For one, we recently saw Barack Obama cite Scripture while explaining why he was taking executive action on illegal immigration.

Jesus, speaking to the Jews, said this...


John 5:39
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.


Of course at that time, He was speaking of the Old Testament.
The entire Old Testament He was talking about was pointing to, and preparing for -----> Him.
Matthew 5:17.

And we know that the entire New Testament is testifying that this Christ has come, and He is Jesus.

The entire Bible, ALL of Scripture, is testifying to Christ.

It is not testifying to an ideology, a way of life, a religion, a concept, diligence, goodness, or anything else.


Genesis 2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

John 3:36
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.


For humans, it must be Christ Jesus -- and this is why the entire Bible is testifying to Him.

[Jay in Phoenix]

Down through history, people have used and quoted the Bible in effort to explain or rationalize an ideology or agenda.
The examples are endless. Bible verses, stories, or ideas are pulled out and put into a context of a person's choosing, and it can sound reasonable.

Genesis 2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Poptart, I'm going to use this one quote from the Bible to ask a question. I would then like you to answer that question as honestly as possible, without you leaning on any Biblical quote or reference. Just you answering in your own words. You use the Bible like a crutch in every single post in this forum and you have never answered with your own words without it.

Please, just try it for once. I also ask you to do the same in the thread below this one where I last responded.

Here is the question(s).

The tree of knowledge would seem to be a metaphor for remaining blissfully ignorant. Why is knowledge of good and evil a bad thing? Isn't all knowledge a good thing? Why should you die from seeking and gaining enlightenment and truth?

This seems a little Quranish to me, what with the threat of death and all.

[poptart]

1) Why is knowledge of good and evil a bad thing?

It's our normal state of being.
We all have a sense of good and evil.
If someone doesn't have this sense, they are "retarded" in some way -- or they are a sociopath or psychopath.


2) Isn't all knowledge a good thing?

Overall, yes, knowledge is a thing to be valued.


3) Why should you die from seeking and gaining enlightenment and truth?

In our current world, nobody should die for that.


---------------

I've read from Genesis 1:26 - the end of Genesis 3, many times.
And I know I will read it many more times.
As I see it, without being clear on this beginning, understanding of the rest of the Bible goes off in many directions.

Now you must understand that you've sort of done just what I spoke of in my post to start this thread -- in a reverse way.
You've taken one line from the Bible, and having used your own ideas (and perhaps ideology), you have determined that it does not make sense.
And beyond that, you've demanded that I not reference any other part of the the Bible in explaining how it might make sense.

It's one verse.

You can't pluck a verse out like that and not look at the paragraph it is in, the chapter it is in, the Book it is in, and the Bible that it is in.
Hitler did this. :)


So in a bigger context, here is a very short answer to the question about the verse.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

This was speaking of a specific knowledge, not overall knowledge.
Knowledge of... good and evil.

Adam knew no evil.
It was completely foreign.
It was not like it is now with us and our surroundings, where evil abounds.
Things with him and his surroundings were -----> good, or very good, as God said many times.
Complete peace.

There was no sin, no bad, no evil, only tranquility.

By eating from the tree which God commanded not to eat of, he was making the choice that he wanted to know evil.
And because God is only Light, and there is no darkness in Him (1 John 1:5), if Adam wanted to know evil, he was making his break from God.
Adam broke the covenant.

"You will surely die" isn't a death threat.
It was just God explaining the reality.

Man is merely a created being -- who can not live apart from the Creator.



We have made the same choice as Adam - and we have also died spiritually.

[Dinsdale]

Adam knew no evil.

Uhm... the entire Bible revolves around mankind's origins in the Middle East.

Science has all but proven that man's origins are in Africa.