There is a story that God put the man and the woman in a garden and told them that all the trees of the garden were theirs to eat from, except for one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then the serpent came and asked them, “Did God really say that you could not eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge… Assuredly, you will not die when you eat the fruit, but will become like God, knowing both good and evil.” So the man and the woman looked at the tree of knowledge of good and evil and decided to eat its fruit.

To many people this sounds like a story about how God made an arbitrary rule and punishment and then decided to visit all the evil in the world on humankind because a couple human beings decided that they weren’t going to follow an arbitrary and purposeless rule. Continue reading “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Part One)” →