Q&A Forum - June 2005

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God was warning them about a fruit that was bad for them. It is like the government warning people not to eat certain foods or not to smoke tobacco. The government doesn’t say if you make a mistake and eat this bad food or smoke tobacco, we will kill you. No, the government is saying don’t do this because the bad food might kill you or the effects of long-term tobacco use might kill you.

I don’t believe God was testing Adam and Eve like we were taught in Sunday school. I believe God was warning them out of his love for them. God was saying “avoid this poisonous tree because if you partake of it, it will harm you.” So what was the tree? Was it a real tree? Why would God plant a poisonous tree amongst all the good trees? Again, I don’t believe there was a literal forbidden tree. I believe the story of the trees is a parable.

If you go back and read Genesis, you will notice there were actually two trees (Genesis 2:9). One was called the Tree of Life and the other was the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. It was this second tree that was forbidden. It was not an apple tree, as is taught in most churches and portrayed in pictures. How many times have we seen a picture of Eve taking an apple off a tree and giving it to Adam? But show me where it says it was an apple tree. The tree was called “the knowledge of good and evil”.