Wrestling with (the) Word(s): Trees and Gardens

It could be said that modern propaganda and advertising was started in WWII by the Nazi's. They were the first ones in the modern era to really utilize media, public ignorance, and constant bombardment to create a perfect storm for lies to become truth. They created a bubble, painted a picture, and gave the German people only one view of the world. The result was a morally ignorant and blinded society. They were convincing, subtle, and very effective.

What really happened in Germany was morality became a blur - good and evil became something that was hard to distinguish. This phenomenon is not new however. This happened at the beginning of humanity and continues on today.

All of us who went to sunday school or vacation Bible school as a kid know the story of Creation. God made everything and called it good. When He breathed life into man He called it very good, and when He saw man alone He said, "It is not good for man to be alone." Therefore, woman was made as companion. In all of this greatness, the very epicenter was the Garden of Eden. Man and woman cultivated and was responsible for all of this. One of their most important and peculiar responsibilities was to not touch or eat from the tree at the center of the garden - the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

And this is odd. Ever since I was a kid I thought this tree was a weird, magical tree that had power to transfer the knowledge of good and evil. In my past few years on the college level, I have heard many question and confusing answers on this subject. One particular answer to the "Why?" question that has always bothered me is that God had to have something to test man and woman - the tree's purpose and God's command to not eat from it is to test man and give him the option of sinning. This is very confusing since we no longer need a tree to sin. There were plenty of things man and woman had a choice in without the tree to sin against: to lie to each other, to lie to God, to get angry in an argument, etc. But God put this tree in the garden for Adam and Eve to have the option to choose not to love God? This is far fetched to me.

So what is the tree? What does it mean to have a knowledge of good and evil? What's so bad about knowing the difference?

This is exactly what God was trying to keep - the distinction between good and evil. The word knowledge in Hebrew is "da'at", which means to join together. This is the same word that the Bible uses when it says, "And Adam knew Eve," to connotate sexual intercourse. The word means much more than acquiring a new fact. With this in mind, we can see real danger of this tree. To make a literal translation it would say: "The Tree of the Joining of Good and Evil." The danger was not to know what evil and good is; the danger was to no longer no the difference.

So why the command not to eat from it? I do not believe the first sin had to be to eat from it. However, I find it completely natural that such a significant symbol has such a command to come with it. It was not the only command given to man to break. He was also commanded to cultivate the earth and to make a family. The command is not odd or unique in and of itself IF you understand the meaning of the tree itself.

What may give us more insight to the meaning of this story and commandment is to look at our lives now. What "trees" are we eating from in our lives to join good and evil into a blur?
Something to ask yourself as you get a chance to reflect on your day today.

Commandments and Relation

Growing up in the west you hear about religious commandments. We have the Ten Commandments, the Great Commandments, and even Jesus saying, "A new commandment I give unto you..." on top of numerous commandments He quoted and loved. Jesus loved the commandments, as He should if He was the one giving them to man.

Yet Evangelicalism seems to have a love/hate relationship with Commandments. At one instant we claim that Christianity is not a religion but a relationship: "We don't need religion and its laws that make us work to become good; we need God and His Son." While this is true to an extent, we turn around to many "other" communities - like homosexuals and those who have abortions to name a couple - and blast them with commandments instead of God's Son:"Thou shalt not murder." It's a game many of us don't realize we are playing, and it is slowly becoming a deadly game for Evangelicals.

Why are we afraid of commandments as a way to approach God relationally? Why are we afraid of relationships when we approach others who are unrighteous?

The Hebrew word for commandment is mitzvah. The root word of mitzvah is tzavta, which means "connection." What this tells us is that God did not give commandments in order to be legalistic, demanding, and ritualistic. On the contrary, God gave commandments as a way to connect to Him. Commandments are the way we connect to God, not the way we appease or become right with God. We become righteous by connecting with God. The commandments were given in order to guide is in the way we ought to go - the way we were created to go. We were created to be in relation with God, but we fail to do so every time we deny the way He created us. Therefore, the commandments are the vessel by which we reconnect with God. This is why the commandments have not become obsolete for the Christian. Because the commandments were never meant to engender righteousness; they are merely there to display the way by which we become righteous - through our relation with God.

Any thoughts, concerns, or disagreement? This is just fresh thoughts that could be dead wrong, but are brought about by understanding what "commandment" really means.