Knowledge of "Good" and "Evil", not such a bad thing?

Question

Why would "God" punish his people for wanting to have knowledge of "good" and "evil". If you think about it, relatively, if we didn't have knowlegde of "evil", then we would never know what "good" is.
And first of all, it makes no sense that a pure god would create "evil" or have "evil" come from something he had created. If you want to go with the Christian belief that God created everything in this universe, then he alternately created "evil" himself. Possibly to give this contrast to the "goodness" of Himself.
Or maybe its just that there is a positive and negative to everything in this world. Its not "good" and "evil", its just positve and negative constantly cancelling each other out. There is not a "God" entity in heaven choosing sides and punishing/rewarding, we're just HERE. Our actions cause reactions,whether they're positive or negative.

Christians/ Non-Christians,your opinions on this please, this is always a nagging question on my mind, im personally not a christian

Answer 1

Christians follow a false interpretation of the story.



The real god of the story is the serpent, the tree, and the fruit, which together create the ancient symbol the Caduceus, which is our symbol for medicine today. The serpent represents the wisdom of the pharmacia... psychedelic enlightenment through a forbidden psychoactive plant, a magic mushroom which you'll find this "Tree" depicted as in many pieces of ancient Christian artwork such as the Plaincourault Fresco.



It's the same symbology used in the story of moses healing people with the serpent, the serpent IS NOT "satan" the tyrannical god who is just a liar and a cruel authority figure that wanted to keep them ignorant is Satan.



The forbidden fruit is the manna from heaven, the honey, the bread of life, which is Jesus himself... :-) and as the bible says... you have not lived until you've ate of this bread..



John 3:14

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

Answer 2

I have often wondered this myself. But also, you kind of have to wonder why he just kind of put a sign on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that said "Do not touch." I mean, you'd think that if he really didn't expect and want us to learn that stuff at one point or another that he'd have at least put the tree farther away.



Think of everything as a balanced equation. In order for there to be great good, there has to be something equally as bad. In order for millions of dollars to go towards food for the homeless, that same amount of money is not going towards building a school.



I've also wondered if our sense of what is right and wrong is actually what defines us. Aren't our very personalities, at their roots, based on what we perceive as good and evil, and how/whether we choose to act on that sense? So, if we didn't have that sense, wouldn't we just be mindless zombies.



No, I don't think the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a bad thing at all. It did create the ability to be evil, yes, but it also made the ability to be good. As it is said over and over in the monotheistic religions, God has a plan, and I certainly think that the Tree was just the beginning of that.

Answer 3

You are close to the knowledge of God. You have missed the point of the story of Adam and Eve. I don't know if it's because you've never read it and are just taking others words. God was not keeping knowledge from them. The "knowledge" they got was by the experience of deciding for themselves what to do instead of taking God's word for it. Like the old saying goes; Experience teaches a dear school, but a fool will have no other. For anyone paying attention the Bible IS FULL of explanations of the law of cause and effect. For example, when God was calling them and they finally came, Adam explained that he was hiding because he was naked. God, knowing "cause and effect" as He does said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you done what I told you not to do? He knew the effect. He created cause and effect. He knows them all. We have all been deciding our own ways all this time. What have we learned about cause and effect? We don't even own up to effects we cause! He explains cause and effect in the Bible. Even some little things.

Pro 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

He is the ultimate intellectual!

Answer 4

You're right - good and evil already existed. There are universal laws in this universe that God is subject to as well. That's why we needed a Savior.

And yes, you're right - if there was no evil, there would be no good. You know what? you've paraphrased a passage from the Book of Mormon right there. Bet you didn't expect that one.

God did not choose to punish Adam and Eve - they chose to break a law, which resulted in a consequence that they became fallen and were unworthy to be in God's presence, as God is a perfected being, and any sinful person in His presence would be spiritually "fried" - I guess that's a good way to put it. That's why Moses had to be transfigured to see God.

Any other questions about the Book of Mormon - message me. You're onto something.

Answer 5

God is good by definition, so to know God would be to know good. Before Adam and Eve ate from the fruit the knew God and were in perfect communion with God, which is to say all they knew was good. Evil is by definition not good and since God is good it would therefore be not God. When Adam and Eve ate from the fruit they learned what it was to be outside of God and therefore good and by extension that is what the knowledge of evil was. God did not create evil, it is evil by his absence from it and it not being his will.

Answer 6

In the secular law, it is referred to as "mens rea", literally, a guilty mind. It means, loosely, that a person has conceived of an act they know, or reasonably should know, is wrong. Followed by actus reus, the act of carrying out the known evil, renders one guilty of a crime.



Legally, a child is incapable of mens rea, as the child does not know good from evil, and is therefore incapable of having an evil mind, and by extension, incapable of committing a crime.



To ask for the knowledge of good and evil, or to seek to obtain the knowledge of good an evil, is to ask for the ability to commit a crime. With crime comes punishment. It would be better to remain a child, having no knowledge of good and evil, than to obtain knowledge of good and evil and become guilty without excuse.



.

Answer 7

As far as I understand it, "the tree of Knowledge" was meant only to be a temptation -- to test our trust and respect for God versus our own curiosity. That is, once they picked the fruit from the tree, they created sin themselves by choosing to disobey by asserting themselves. Fyodor Dostoevsky mimics this idea in some of his writings, the general message of some of the text being that once we give up our free will for the good of society we will become perfect beings.

Answer 8

I don't think God punishes us for his "personal" pleasure. I mean look at some of the things we do in order for God to take action. Free-will lets us go to the point where we know we're wrong, yet we won't face it under any circumstance. That's where God intervenes.

Answer 9

Think of it as Adam and Eve have the status of newborns.





Newborns have no knowledge of Good or Evil, but they are inherently good. When they were tempted (btw I think God was tempting them, not the devil) and gave into temptation, it showed their maturation into toddlers (so to speak). Have you ever met a toddler? They are horrible little things!

Answer 10

from what i know it wasn't that Adam and Eve sinned by picking the apple from the tree but by wanting to be like "God' not like Christlike or godlike or anything like that but in an arrogant way.

an interesting question to ask yourself is are good and evil separate entities or is one simply the lack of another i think it's up to you to deciede for yourself

Answer 11

God created the option for evil... he is not to blame for our decisions. To sin means to rebel against God. He created us so that we could willingly glorify Him.

Answer 12

hi



we know every thing about evil

because god say in Our holy bookm which is alQuran.

if u want o will explain for u what was written in Quran about what do u want to know

Answer 13

Difference between good and evil you ask? How about this scenario: walk next to me with $1000 and let me pick-pocket you. Now that's good for me because I am no longer broke and family gets to eat, and it is evil to you because you're a victim. Go figure.

Answer 14

satan said, paraphrasing "if you eat the apple you will be like the angels who know the difference between good and evil..."



the temptation of satan is that man can decide for himself what is good and what is evil. We have the freedom to choose good or evil, but NOT make up what is good and evil, that is original sin. Jesus Christ is the cure! God bless!

Answer 15

i don't know if knowledge of good and evil is bad but I do know that that's a gay question...

Answer 16

You are using reasoning from the vantage point of nonbelief in the God of the Bible, so as the Bible says, it is foolishness to you. If you really want to know, you must first believe that He is.

Answer 17

Isaiah 45:7: "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."



I personally don't believe in good and evil in this sense, I believe it's all a continuum and it's human nature in different extremes. Nothing supernatural, biblical, or "demonic" about it.

Answer 18

People without the knowledge of good and evil couldn't have known that it would be wrong to disobey.



FYI, Jesus' message was not original. He (and his alleged teachings) were copied from the man-gods of much earlier religions.

Answer 19

what you're saying is that ultimately, god and satan are one in the same, right? i completely agree with you. this is my view completely.

Answer 20

You're going to get a lot of answers that have "free will" thrown into them. They won't make any sense. Just warning you.



I agree with you. We are just here.

Answer 21

Good and evil are on a scale. whenever you create anything, there is a best and worst. evil accompanies anything good. sorry. thats life and physics even. there is no way to only create good in this world.

Answer 22

because they were already good but they were ruined and now have sinful nature