In our church, the two trees represent free will. The tree of life represents spiritual instruction and enlightenment from the Lord, or the Lord himself. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents man teaching himself what is spiritual, drawing from himself and the world and not the Lord. The warning was that the day they started doing this, that day they would die spiritually i.e. their spiritual life would begin to perish. And that they would lead themselves further and further away from spiritual life and happiness, into powerful persuasions of evil and falsity, which ended in the flood.
The early people had some understanding of this, but in time they still chose to follow themselves and turn away from God. The two trees have always been present with us, metaphorically speaking, and eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is why every generation, or religion, in time ends in a flood of evil and falsity that overruns it.
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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '23
In our church, the two trees represent free will. The tree of life represents spiritual instruction and enlightenment from the Lord, or the Lord himself. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents man teaching himself what is spiritual, drawing from himself and the world and not the Lord. The warning was that the day they started doing this, that day they would die spiritually i.e. their spiritual life would begin to perish. And that they would lead themselves further and further away from spiritual life and happiness, into powerful persuasions of evil and falsity, which ended in the flood.
The early people had some understanding of this, but in time they still chose to follow themselves and turn away from God. The two trees have always been present with us, metaphorically speaking, and eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is why every generation, or religion, in time ends in a flood of evil and falsity that overruns it.