Tree of "Good and Evil". What is it really?

[MarcR]

I honestly do not understand why people have ganged up on Russell to get him banned. I've found that many 'Christians' here at this forum are mean spirited bullies. Why do Christians attack people who are different from them and why bully people instead of discuss or ask Q's?

Admittedly, I haven't read through the entire thread here, and there's stuff he wrote which I don't quite understand, but I don't have the patience to read through it all. However, what I did see was this member attempting to discover if there was a deeper symbolic meaning to some part of scripture. Jesus spoke to us in parables and symbolism. The bible is full of metaphors, parables, symbolisms, dark sayings, etc....

The bible interprets the bible after all = If it were not so we would never understand the book of Revelation.

Some examples of how scripture interprets scripture is this:

a TREE can symbolize a number of things = such as: shelter, a person or righteous believer [Psalm 1:3; Isa 7:2], a cedar tree could symbolize a country or nation [1 Kings 4:33, Ps 29:5],the Cross [1 Pet 2:24, Acts 5:30 as in being hung on a 'tree']

The OCEAN can symbolize things such as: the world (Isa 17:12 sea of humanity Ps 98:7, Rev 17:15), Baptism[1 Cor 10:1-2], mean or merciless attacks from people (Jer 6:23, Jer50:42),Spiritual/emotionalinfluences the Word ofGod or truth (water of the word), people, sea of humanity/people or nations or unruly massesof society/people (Isa 57:20)

Does anyone think what I've posted above is "occult"? ... seriously..?
Do the majority of Christians not understand that the bible interprets itself?
Go look at all the dreams people in scripture had and look at how those dreams were interpreted via symbolism. Rarely was a dream literal. Look at the dream about the 7 ugly cows swallowing 7 fat cows.. What looks like foolishness is often from God. (God also speaks to non believers by the way - That dream was given to Pharaoh)

The bible isn't occult. - It interprets itself. ---- That doesn't mean people will always get it right of course.

Being here at CC is certainly an eye opening experience.. I'm seeing all manner of behaviours, accusations, suspiciousness, bullying, and the likes.. It leaves me scratching my head. But at the same time, Yeshua was also bullied & persecuted and misunderstood. When He told the pharisees that He would rebuild the temple in 3 days the pharisees went all sideways gnashing their teeth...... so I guess I should not be so surprised at what I have witnessed at CC.

The bullying I myself have been subjected to here from Ember and her possé has been extreme and unrelenting. I most likely will be leaving at some point. My own experience here has not been pleasant because of mean spirited bullies and rude remarks. I don't quite understand how people can be so suspicious and ignorant.

After seeing how strongly Paul, John, and Peter reacted to anything that perverts the Word of God,

many of us, who believe, feel obliged to respond as strongly in our own time.

There are many things in Scripture which may be interpreted differently; but there are fundamental truths that must not be compromised.

While you may feel bullied, and some may agree with you, much of your trouble has been of your own making.

You seem to have some difficulty separating disagreement with your ideas (which is right and proper on any forum) and personal attack. (which is not)

ember has no posse! if others have agreed with her they are entitled to arrive at the same conclusion as ember independently. If something is true, many people are likely to see it as true. Even things that are untrue might have a large number of people believe them. I have seen mean-spiritedness and rudeness on the forum; but I have not seen mean-spiritedness and have seldom seen rudeness from ember; and not at all from Angela.

An expression of outrage or indignation from someone who has earned respect and has not received it is NOT rudeness.

An expression of disdain toward someone who has earned respect from someone who has not is indeed rudeness.

Nobody should be subjected to unprovoked disrespect; but it is not up to any of us to determine that we have earned respect.

You know that you have earned respect when you receive it from those who disagree with you.

 

[cupid]

Gen. 1:2 Amplified Theistic Evolution Bible: Genesis 1:2
And the earth, (whose matter had been created at the Big Bang moment), was without form, (a spinning cloud of rocks, dust and gases) and void (of spherical shape, but an accretion disk), and darkness was upon the face of the deep (disk of rotating rocks).
And (the great Shechinah), the spirit,(the panentheistic or Natural Laws) of God, (i.e.; The First Cause), moved upon the face of the waters, ( i.e.; spinning molten rocks).

And this is your problem, Cupid. Put down the bow and stop listening to the serpent.

What do you interpret the "spirit of God" to be...?

 

[cupid]

There is a body of Jewish literature called the Cabbala which consists and occult practices. It is far outside what is accepted in mainstream Judaism! It appears that you are following some teacher of NT mysticism. It is certainly NOT consistent with mainstream Christian thought!

Madonna took Kabbalah lesson from Rabbi in Hollywood.
The kabbalah has one part which rabbi used when they copied the bibles over in every generation before the printing press had been invented.
I think it was called Gematria.

 

[cupid]

Well! People can apply the text as they see fit and your welcome to it. But yes I am basing my thought on the consciousness of the trees. They are acting with intelligence. To say they are just woody trees flies in the face of all the emotion and consciousness being exhibited. This leads me to them being some form of spiritual being. If you read the entirety of my posting you can follow the thought to its conclusion.

I agree with much of this.

Trees are things which took a long time to grow, and are very old things.
It is like intelligence.
Intelligence comes in what is now called Multiple Intelligence.

Like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was probably reference to the common sense of the Self.
Man is too Self-ish.

That was exactly what Jesus taught, that we are born selfish and do not ever get weened into being charitable. [Matt 25:31]

 

[cupid]

Finally. It's about time someone banned that clown.

I'm always worried about banning people because that was what the Pharisees did wasn't it?

Rev 5:5 says the lamb is coming to explain the book sealed with seven seals, which I think s the Bible.
So who really knows what is the right things to accept or reject...?

 

[oldhermit]

I'm always worried about banning people because that was what the Pharisees did wasn't it?

Rev 5:5 says the lamb is coming to explain the book sealed with seven seals, which I think s the Bible.
So who really knows what is the right things to accept or reject...?

A little judicious exegesis that is rooted in the grammatical structure of the text goes a long way in determining truth from error. Have you ever read first and second Corinthians?

 

[oldhermit]

I agree with much of this.

Originally Posted by RussellJBenigno

Well! People can apply the text as they see fit and your welcome to it. But yes I am basing my thought on the consciousness of the trees. They are acting with intelligence. To say they are just woody trees flies in the face of all the emotion and consciousness being exhibited. This leads me to them being some form of spiritual being. If you read the entirety of my posting you can follow the thought to its conclusion.

This is nothing but pure nonsense. What he was doing was assigning human attributes to inanimate objects. Even more than that, he was attempting to reassign meaning to something that scripture has already assigned meaning to. He is completely ignoring how scripture represents these things and trying to attach his own meaning to them. This is what the serpent did to Eve in the garden regarding the prohibition of the tree. He reassigned meaning to the tree that was completely foreign to the revealed meaning given by God and Eve fell for it.

 

[cupid]

A little judicious exegesis that is rooted in the grammatical structure of the text goes a long way in determining truth from error. Have you ever read first and second Corinthians?

Hmmm,...
But I am sure the high priest said the same thing as he condemned Jesus, though.

 

[cupid]

This is nothing but pure nonsense. What he was doing was assigning human attributes to inanimate objects. Even more than that, he was attempting to reassign meaning to something that scripture has already assigned meaning to. He is completely ignoring how scripture represents these things and trying to attach his own meaning to them. This is what the serpent did to Eve in the garden regarding the prohibition of the tree. He reassigned meaning to the tree that was completely foreign to the revealed meaning given by God and Eve fell for it.

But trees are actually living things.
And different trees do have symbolic meanings according to the definitions in Strongs' Concordance, too.

Symbolism is an ancient language too.
What about the Tree of Life...?

What is that to you?

 

[oldhermit]

Hmmm,...
But I am sure the high priest said the same thing as he condemned Jesus, though.

The problem with the Jews was they NEVER engaged in exegesis. They abandoned all reliance on the language of the OT scripture and did the same thing this guy was doing. They assigned their own meaning to the text and Jesus accused them of making the word of God void by doing so. Truth is knowable and lies exclusively within the grammatical structure of the language of the text.

 

[oldhermit]

But trees are actually living things.
And different trees do have symbolic meanings according to the definitions in Strongs' Concordance, too.

Symbolism is an ancient language too.
What about the Tree of Life...?

What is that to you?

Perhaps you should read post 87 on age five of this thread. This will show you what I am talking about.

 

[cupid]

The problem with the Jews was they NEVER engaged in exegesis. They abandoned all reliance on the language of the OT scripture and did the same thing this guy was doing. They assigned their own meaning to the text and Jesus accused them of making the word of God void by doing so. Truth is knowable and lies exclusively within the grammatical structure of the language of the text.

What about this verse:

Revelation 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.


2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?


3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

 

[cupid]

Perhaps you should read post 87 on age five of this thread. This will show you what I am talking about.

WOW,...
That made my head hurt.
Do you have like a one sentence summary on this?

 

[Dino246]

Gen. 1:2 Amplified Theistic Evolution Bible: Genesis 1:2
And the earth, (whose matter had been created at the Big Bang moment), was without form, (a spinning cloud of rocks, dust and gases) and void (of spherical shape, but an accretion disk), and darkness was upon the face of the deep (disk of rotating rocks).
And (the great Shechinah), the spirit,(the panentheistic or Natural Laws) of God, (i.e.; The First Cause), moved upon the face of the waters, ( i.e.; spinning molten rocks).

Apologies if this has been addressed already...

Cupid, you quoted the "Theistic Evolution Bible"... I see enough just in these few lines to convince me that it is a heretical corruption, not a Bible. Please find and follow a reputable, widely accepted Bible version, and leave the creative writing projects to the unrepentant atheists. For your own good.

Some fairly straightforward astrophysics will refute much of the quote (look up angular momentum in the solar system!). I would encourage you to look for the YouTube videos by Spike Psarris. And yes, that is spelled correctly.

 

[oldhermit]

What about this verse:

Revelation 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.


2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?


3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

Are you sure you want to get into this?

 

[Ahwatukee]

What about this verse:

Revelation 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.

2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?


3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

Hi cupid,

The scroll that the Lamb (Jesus) is taking out of the right hand of God the Father, is the same information that makes up the book of Revelation, which is what you are reading from.

 

[oldhermit]

WOW,...
That made my head hurt.
Do you have like a one sentence summary on this?

LOL no, but can you see the difference between biblical generalization of a text and what this guy was shoveling?

 

[entranced]

Reading into the text a little far...what if the emotions were attributed to the trees in order to show a general shift in the atmosphere of the garden??? As a poetic device, that would be like me saying: the walls wept and my chair groaned when I decided to write another post in this thread.

 

[entranced]

Forgot to put a smiley face in there

 

[cupid]

Apologies if this has been addressed already...

Cupid, you quoted the "Theistic Evolution Bible"... I see enough just in these few lines to convince me that it is a heretical corruption, not a Bible. Please find and follow a reputable, widely accepted Bible version, and leave the creative writing projects to the unrepentant atheists. For your own good.

Some fairly straightforward astrophysics will refute much of the quote (look up angular momentum in the solar system!). I would encourage you to look for the YouTube videos by Spike Psarris. And yes, that is spelled correctly.

The Theistic Evolution Bible needs be examined because it uses modern science to explain everything in Genesis.

Its pretty good.
In regard to the spinning molten rocks around the sun, that did happen: