101 Myths of the Bible: how ancient scribes - Conscious Evolution TV

48
yth #20:
God planted a Tree of Life and a Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil.
The Myth: And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there
he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God
to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in
the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Gen. 2:8–9)
The Reality: These two special trees symbolically represent the Egyptian deities
Shu and Tefnut.
In the Garden of Eden God planted two trees, the Tree of Knowledge of Good
and Evil and The Tree of Life. Eating from the former gave one moral knowledge; eating
from the latter conferred eternal life. He also placed man in that garden to tend to
the plants but told him that he may not eat from The Tree of Knowledge (and therefore
become morally knowledgeable). About eating from the Tree of Life, God said
nothing:“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17).
Later, the supposedly evil serpent told Eve that God’s threat was empty.
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God
had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the
fruit of the trees of the garden:
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall
not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman,
Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Gen. 3:1–5)
Adam and Eve did not die when they ate from the tree. Indeed, God feared that
they would next eat from The Tree of Life and gain immortality.