Is there much difference between a god that says you cannot touch that apple tree and a WT dictate that you cannot read unauthorized material?
If that was what was said, dear cameo-d (peace to you!), I would venture to say, no. But that wasn't the statement. The statement was "You shall not eat of it, even touch it, because you will die [if you do]." Unfortunately, many have taken this... and used it to mislead others... as a command... and not the warning that it was. "As for the stove, do not turn it on, no, don't even TOUCH it, or you will be burned."
What promise did the apple hold? If you know good and evil and the difference between the two...does this not mean that you know the truth?
As dear tec (peace to you!) pointed out, it wasn't about knowing the difference between the two; it was about knowing, literally, the two. In reality. Knowing good... and knowing... bad/evil.
If you were to be as wise as the god ruling over you, would you not then know the truth of all matters?
The warning wasn't that they would know wisdom, dear cameo-d. If that were the case, it would have been the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad and Wisdom. Or Good and Wisdom. Or Bad... and Wisdom. THAT... Wisdom... they could know by eating from the Tree of Life, which IS Wisdom.
Why would such a god restrict his followers from knowing this?
So that they wouldn't "know" what He said they would if they ate? Good.... AND bad?
Could it be because he would have no one left to lord over?
Ummmm... they ate, dear one. That didn't change who the Most Holy One of Israel had left to "lord" over. What many forget is that they DID eat. So, SOMEHOW... if the Serpent was correct... they DID become like God. How? They came to know good... and bad. Which was the "promise." How so? They knew life (good)... and now knew death (bad).
Some would argue, "Oh, no, they didn't become like God... and live forever. In fact, God cast them out so that they couldn't get to the Tree of Life and LIVE, forever, like God." But that wasn't the "promise" made by the Serpent as to that Tree, was it? What did that one say? "You will become like God, knowing good... and bad." Not, "You will become like God and live forever." Why wasn't that the promise? Because eating from THAT Tree did not grant everlasting life. One had to eat from the OTHER Tree [of life]... which Adham and Eve had been doing all along (which is how they lived, without dying)... to live forever.
Had they eaten only from that Tree... they would have lived forever. But they wanted to be like God: knowing life... AND death... yet living forever. Neither God NOR Satan made THAT promise. Eve was tricked, however, into believing that that was the offer. Adham knew it wasn't but attempted to BUY the right to everlasting life... the "keys" to death and Hades... by selling his progeny. Which is why Christ had to act as "redeemer/repurchaser."
What really happens when you eat the apple and "your eyes are opened"?
Two things: first, you are no longer blind as to what is "bad" IN you, but now see that you are in fact "naked" before God... and have reason to be ashamed... and hide... and second, you die. True, that death isn't immediate, but it's imminent and so, in God's eyes, you're already dead. Unless you're allowed to eat from the OTHER Tree... the one that STOPS death... you're as good as dead because there's nothing else to stop the process. Death can already be seen "in" you.
Suddenly you realise that Garden is walled-in. It is not all encompassing. There is something beyond it.
Sorry, but this wrong because you knew THAT before you ate. Because BEFORE you ate you had freedom... to go in... and out. You were not confined by ANYTHING... either spiritual OR physical. You were like the angels who would enter and leave between the physical and spiritual realms without restriction. Now, however, you see NOT that the Garden is walled-in... but the realm from which you came... and must how return to... is walled... out. That while life was IN the Garden, there is nothing but death outside of it. And where you didn't see that death before... because you were blind... you can't see anything BUT, now that your eyes have been opened.
I hope this helps, dear cameo-d, and again, peace to you!
A slave of Christ,
SA
