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God makes available to live a hap–
py, peaceful life, and, above all, it
stood for God's eterna! life. The
tree of the knowledge of good and
evi l represented the way of disobe–
dience, reasoning apart from God,
acquiring knowledge through ex–
perimentation and a way of life of
outright rejection of God's revealed
knowledge.
The first humans were given a
choice to take either of God's way
of life and his Spirit through the
tree of life, or of the
way of selfishness, of
determining for one–
sel f good and evi1.
God went so far as
to direct them to
choose correct ly
with a firm warning,
sayi ng they would
surely bring certain
death on themselves
if they took of the
tree of the knowl–
edge of good an d
evi l:
Satan's existence.
lt
is this Satan
who "deceiveth the whole world"
(Rev. 12:9).
This Satan subtly twisted what
God told our first parents, Adam and
Eve (Gen. 3:1 ). Eve listened and
Adam, it seems, stood tacitly by
without comment (verses 2 and 3).
The first humans now Iistened to
Satan instead of God! The woman
believed this Satan- she became
deceived and chose the wrong way of
life by taking of the tree of the
ernment and chose Satan's in–
fluence and government instead.
They made a decision for the whole
human fami ly that has descended
from them.
Their choice brought on terrible
heartache! Giving birth to child ren,
raising a family and maintaining
that family would now become a
problem. Through toil and labor,
surrounded by wyeds that would
produce "thorns and thistles," man
would live out his life until he
ret ur ned "to the
ground" from where
he was originally
taken (Gen. 3:16-
19). Even worse,
their choice cut hu–
manity off from ac–
cess to the tree of
Jife (3 :23-24), which
symbolized contin–
ued direct access to
God and his Spirit.
"And the Lord
God commanded the
man, saying, Of
every tree · of the
garden thou mayest
freely eat: but of the
tree of the knowl–
edge of good and
evi l, thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the
day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt
surely die" (Gen .
2:16-17) .
The tree of life represented God's
way of life, the way of giving, of
loving one's neighbor. It symbolized
the spiritual understanding God
makes available to live a happy,
peaceful life, and, above all, it stood
for God's eternal life.
That's why aJI this
sutfering and hard–
sh ips today! That's
why roan has suf–
fe r ed throughou t
histo r y! Just like
father Adam and
mother Eve, man–
kind as a whole has
chosen to reject God
and his ways. Except
for a very select few,
to whom God has
revealed his truth,
humanity as a whole
has gane cont rary to
God and r ejected
right knowledge
from God on how to
live in harmony and
God and His Way
Rejected
Picking up the story in Genesis,
chapter three, we read about the
choice the first two human beings
made.
In verse one we find a serpent on
the scene, but more than a ser–
pent-a superpowerful being, who,
in t imes past had rejected God and
God's way of life, permanently
establishing himself as an adversary
against God. He was the harbinger
of a negative spiritual attítude.
He's known in the Bible as "the
dragan, that old serpent, which is
the Devíl, and Satan" (Rev. 20:2).
Our free article
Did God Create a
Devi/?
details t he story behínd
32
knowledge of good and evi l. " .. . she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat,
and gave also unto her husband with
her; and he díd eat" (Gen. 3:6). The
man knew better, but he followed his
wife's lead.
They both rejected God's com–
mand. T hey chose to do their own
things apart from God and apart
from his vital, revealed knowl–
edge- spiritual knowledge on how
to get along with others, knowledge
on how to live to produce and main–
tain genuine, lasting peace and hap–
piness. Adam and Eve rejected life
and chose death! Most tragic, they
rejected God's Spirit and his gov-
peace. That's why the world has its
troubles and heartrending ills.
Jt
is
a cause-and-etfect relationship.
Had Man Chosen Correctly
Ponder this. H ad Adam and Eve
chosen correctly there would have
been established on this earth an
entirely ditferent way of life. The
earth itself wouldn 't have been
cursed. God's way of life, summed
up in the Ten Commandments- the
first four showing !ove toward God
and the last six lave toward neigh–
bor- would have been established.
The earth would have become a
utopía! Instead of lying, cheating,
The
PLAIN TRUTH