[Ester]

Neither the bible nor its author are contradictory. In order to understand the origin of sin, you must first acknowledge that the "tree of knowledge" was not a literal tree. Consider the usage of the word "know" in the bible: for example in Gen. 4:1, " And Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bare a son etc.." Here, the word know is synonymous with sex.
The beguiling of Eve by the serpent (who by the way walked uprightly before the curse), and Eve's partaking of the "fruit", is symbolic for the sexual relationship between Eve and the serpent.

I would have liked to go deeper with this topic; unfortunately, I do not have much time at the moment.

[ndigila]

Originally Posted by grip_daddy

If Adam ate the tree of life, he could not have died physically so his fallen state could not have been rescued?

Like I said before, the spiritual death is a separation from God, which could not have been solved by the tree of life. The incarnation of Jesus united the humanity and divinity and solves this problem.

To quote St Irenaeus "In His unbounded love, God became what we are that He might make us what He is."

[ndigila]

Originally Posted by Ester

The beguiling of Eve by the serpent (who by the way walked uprightly before the curse), and Eve's partaking of the "fruit", is symbolic for the sexual relationship between Eve and the serpent.

What were the fruits of the other trees? Did Adam also have sex with the serpent?

[grip_daddy]

Ester,

Why is it that there is no mention of a fruit in the verses containing *know* in the rest of Genesis? Your class of thoughts also interpretate "the middle of the garden" to mean the private area, does it mean therefore that the tree of life which was also in the middle of the garden was also sex?

@Ndigila,
You aren't answering me how the tree of life could perpetuate life, rather, you are explaining how it could perpetuate death.

[Ester]

Ndigila and Grip,

No, Eve had sex with the serpent first, and then her husband Adam (Gen. 3:6). The result was that she conceived twins. Cain was from the serpent's seed; while Abel came from Adam. Genesis 4:1 says that: "Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel." Note how Cain and Abel are born in close succession. . Compare this with Seth's birth in Genesis 4:25, "And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth..."

The result of partaking of the 'fruit' was a knowledge that they were naked, a reference to the sexual nature of the sin (Gen. 3:6-7).
In addition, Gen.3:16 says that the woman was cursed in childbearing; a punishment befitting the sexual nature of the 'crime.'

[reggie_woic]

Wow, Ester..outrageous as it sounds, that actually makes sense.

[ndigila]

Originally Posted by grip_daddy

@Ndigila,
You aren't answering me how the tree of life could perpetuate life, rather, you are explaining how it could perpetuate death.

I'm not sure what you're asking. Are you asking what the purpose of the tree of life is?

[ndigila]

Originally Posted by Ester

Ndigila and Grip,

No, Eve had sex with the serpent first, and then her husband Adam (Gen. 3:6). The result was that she conceived twins. Cain was from the serpent's seed; while Abel came from Adam. Genesis 4:1 says that: "Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel." Note how Cain and Abel are born in close succession. . Compare this with Seth's birth in Genesis 4:25, "And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth..."

The result of partaking of the 'fruit' was a knowledge that they were naked, a reference to the sexual nature of the sin (Gen. 3:6-7).
In addition, Gen.3:16 says that the woman was cursed in childbearing; a punishment befitting the sexual nature of the 'crime.'

Just because its written in the same Bible verse doesn't mean they were born in close succession. If that was the case, in verse 2 it states that Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a farmer, were they born as adults?

Adam and Eve were told to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And this obviously involved sex. Were Adam and Eve supposed to have sex without realizing they were naked?

Also, if the fruit of that tree was sex, what does that say about the fruit of the other trees? Weren't they food?

Finally, in Genesis 3:22, God says "Behold, the man has become like one of Us to know good and evil." God says that eating of the fruit resulted in Adam being like him, does that mean that God also had sex with the serpent or had some kind of sexual encounter?

[grip_daddy]

Ester,

Unless you twist Genesis 4:1, your argument cannot hold. Children born in succession do not speak for more than one fathering the entire world's history. The bible is very clear on who fathered Cain.

What was the garden? You didn't answer that.

@Ndigila I am asking how could the tree of life perpetuate life and what life in particular. To me a fallen state means death and not life.

[ndigila]

Originally Posted by grip_daddy

Ndigila I am asking how could the tree of life perpetuate life and what life in particular. To me a fallen state means death and not life.

A fallen state means a state of spiritual separation from God. If man ate of the tree of life, he would have been stuck in this physical life, in a fallen state.