The Two Trees - My Genesis Ponderings

by cedars 190 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Phizzy

  I'm Irish, didja mean treetrees ?
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  cedars

  I'm starting to lose it now! lol

  

  Cedars
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  N.drew

  There are millions of trees Cedar! LOL. Thank you. I'm going to look for The Little Prince (I remember the trees). I didn't forget.
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  palmtree67

  I downloaded the book suggested by Prodigal Son yesterday, but haven't had a chance to check it out yet.
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  ProdigalSon

  I downloaded the book suggested by Prodigal Son yesterday, but haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

  Can you share where you found it to download? Was it free? I ordered it from Amazon in paperback, which is great for reading at the gym or the beach, but I would love to have it in pdf format where I can copy and paste and bombard you guys with it
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  palmtree67

  I downloaded it to my Kindle.

  $10

  But the link you gave allowed pdf format, too. First time I ever saw that on Amazon.
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  smiddy

  Hi Cedars ,i`ve just come across this thread and only looked at the 1st.page so far ,so forgive me if someone has already made this comment.Eve couldn`t have been too bright choosing the option she did.If she had have used her grey matter she would have chosen the tree of life first and then taken of the tree of knowedge.Just saying.

  smiddy
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  Fernando

  Hey Cedars!

  Two perspectives that may be of some interest:

  • the 20 minute Holy Grail versus Poison Chalice scene in the Harrison Ford movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade".
  • the "fictional" but detailed behind the scenes account in the 100 page book "Two Trees" by Robert Ingleson

  From my anti-religion perspective both are stunningly accurate and deeply insightful.
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  cedars

  Thanks Fernando, I'll give that some thought! However, you should know I've pretty much made up my mind on this one. It is impossible to fully understand what supposedly went on in the Garden of Eden without inventing facets of the story that simply aren't included in the text. The Society's version of the narrative (and indeed, the version of most Christian faiths) is highly augmented. For example, nowhere is sin mentioned as being a by-product of eating of either fruit, neither is the fruit described as imbuing the human race with sin that can be passed down from generation to generation. Rather, the by-products of eating from both fruits are described in positive terms, i.e. one gives life, the other gives understanding.

  The concept of inherited sin arising from this incident was added on later, most notably by the Apostle Paul - and even he struggles to explain things clearly in a way that expounds the Genesis account satisfactorily. It's a tough apple (if you'll excuse the pun), but I don't see why I should need to fall into the same trap of accepting theories as to what happened that aren't documented in the account itself. Surely if these details were so crucial for humans to grasp, they would have been included right at the outset.

  Cedars
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  Fernando

  Hey Cedars!

  I think I get where you're coming from in that more could have been specifically spelled out in Genesis.

  Death it seems at least was outlined as a negative consequence both in Genesis and by Paul. I would hold that death is rather stark physical evidence of dysfunction, aberrance or sin making a start in the heretofore perfect human family. Although we have now come to accept death as inevitable, I believe few of us fully embrace it as normal or desirable.

  (Genesis 2:17) . . .But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.”

  (Romans 5:12) . . .That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned—.

  (1 Corinthians 15:22) . . .For just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will be made alive.

  When I look at spiritually blind, confused, inebriated, insane, infantile and dead Pharisees I do not see this condition as normal either. After my own spiritual awakening I now find the Pharisees' spiritual condition deplorable, dysfunctional and aberrant. It is clear to me from personal experience that Adam experienced first of all a spiritual separation from God followed by gradual physical decay and death.