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newton3003
Guest
Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. “ 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” Does this mean that the less we know, the more we can love God instead of fearing him? And what exactly is God testing, when He tests us? For we know He tests us. How far back does this go?
When Adam and Eve came into being, there was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We know that God commended them not to eat from it. They ate from it anyway, after being enticed by Satan through a serpent.
Things could have been far less complicated if the Tree wasn’t around. Adam and Eve would continue throughout their lives not knowing evil. A cynic might say they would also not know anything if they didn’t eat from it. All they would know is what God commanded them to do, which is to be fruitful, multiply, have dominion over living things and fill the earth and subdue it.
What was the point of God putting the Tree in the Garden of Eden if he didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat from it? Was He testing their obedience to Him, or was He testing Satan so see the lengths he would go to thwart God’s Creation, or was it a little of both?
From what we know of God, He’s been testing us for a long time. Is it a matter of our love for Him, or of our obedience to Him? When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, was He testing Abraham’s love for Him, or was He testing Abraham’s obedience?
It seems that in the Old Testament it was a matter of our obedience to Him, hence the 500 some-odd Laws. We were expected to obey those Laws. There was even a Law that commanded us to love God, so it would seem that obedience to Him was paramount, to the point where it eclipsed our love for Him.
But Jesus comes along and essentially says, it’s not a matter of our obedience to Him, it is a matter of our love for Him. So instead of loving by numbers, or with our mind if you will, our Love for God can include just two commandments which encompasses all the Laws of the Old Testament. Any person who truly loves God pretty much has the commandments written in their heart.
Is the testing of our faith always induced by God? The Bible infers that any tests which aren’t induced by God, come to us in the form of temptation. James 1:13-14 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”
Which sort of leads us back to Adam and Eve and the Tree of Good and Evil. God told Adam and Eve not to eat from it. The fact that they went against Gods command to them would imply they committed an act of evil by eating from it. The temptation to eat from it came from Satan. God concluded in Genesis, after the Flood, that “…the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.” No one can really argue that, if one accepts that to disobey God is to commit an act of evil, as Adam and Eve did in eating from the Tree.
In a sense, then, the Tree had no bearing on man’s capacity to commit evil, but man, having eaten from it, may as well use it to discern good from evil in the eyes of God. And for those who believe that it is a matter of love for God more than a matter of obedience to Him, the Tree at least makes one aware of whether what one is doing is out of love for God or out of earthly temptation which leads to evil.
When Adam and Eve came into being, there was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We know that God commended them not to eat from it. They ate from it anyway, after being enticed by Satan through a serpent.
Things could have been far less complicated if the Tree wasn’t around. Adam and Eve would continue throughout their lives not knowing evil. A cynic might say they would also not know anything if they didn’t eat from it. All they would know is what God commanded them to do, which is to be fruitful, multiply, have dominion over living things and fill the earth and subdue it.
What was the point of God putting the Tree in the Garden of Eden if he didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat from it? Was He testing their obedience to Him, or was He testing Satan so see the lengths he would go to thwart God’s Creation, or was it a little of both?
From what we know of God, He’s been testing us for a long time. Is it a matter of our love for Him, or of our obedience to Him? When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, was He testing Abraham’s love for Him, or was He testing Abraham’s obedience?
It seems that in the Old Testament it was a matter of our obedience to Him, hence the 500 some-odd Laws. We were expected to obey those Laws. There was even a Law that commanded us to love God, so it would seem that obedience to Him was paramount, to the point where it eclipsed our love for Him.
But Jesus comes along and essentially says, it’s not a matter of our obedience to Him, it is a matter of our love for Him. So instead of loving by numbers, or with our mind if you will, our Love for God can include just two commandments which encompasses all the Laws of the Old Testament. Any person who truly loves God pretty much has the commandments written in their heart.
Is the testing of our faith always induced by God? The Bible infers that any tests which aren’t induced by God, come to us in the form of temptation. James 1:13-14 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”
Which sort of leads us back to Adam and Eve and the Tree of Good and Evil. God told Adam and Eve not to eat from it. The fact that they went against Gods command to them would imply they committed an act of evil by eating from it. The temptation to eat from it came from Satan. God concluded in Genesis, after the Flood, that “…the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.” No one can really argue that, if one accepts that to disobey God is to commit an act of evil, as Adam and Eve did in eating from the Tree.
In a sense, then, the Tree had no bearing on man’s capacity to commit evil, but man, having eaten from it, may as well use it to discern good from evil in the eyes of God. And for those who believe that it is a matter of love for God more than a matter of obedience to Him, the Tree at least makes one aware of whether what one is doing is out of love for God or out of earthly temptation which leads to evil.