Yesterday while reading the early pages of the Genesis account of God’s acts of creation I noticed something that until now I haven’t seen, or least hadn’t been able to receive.
As you may remember from the creation accounts there were two trees in the Garden of Eden. The “Tree of Life” and the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” Both trees are present in the pre-fallen state of perfection; as such the trees are part of the creation which God declares to be “good!” What stood out to me is that in God’s declaration that God’s creation is good, including the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the possibility of evil intrinsic to the existence of this Tree in no way thwarts goodness. God speaks this Tree into being, God sees this Tree and God calls this Tree “good.”
What are some of the implications for our theology and practice if God creates a Tree which holds the possibility of the knowledge of good and evil, and God says that the existence of such a tree is good? (Remembering that Hebraic concept of knowing is intimate and penetrating more than intellectual assent).
Not directly related is another thought:
This reading also spurred my thinking about the first “sin.” I find my self wondering whether “hermeneutics” might be the first sin.
The Serpent asks our first mother “Did God really say…?” Our Mother offers her interpretation of God’s command, which isn’t too far removed from what God said. Could it be that failing to live what is known, and choosing interpretation is the first sin? In the absence of living all that is tacitly known the first man and woman curse themselves with objectifying what they already knew of God. Their interruptive act creates an artificial dualism. Humanity is separated because we cannot live what we know.
Peace, dwight
