Was knowledge of God the issue? Or, was it our lack of respecting the boundry God gave. It may have been knowledge of evil that was set apart.
it was the idea that Satan tempted man with the idea she could be like God.
Eat from the tree and you will not die. You will be God.
Well we see how that worked out. We are not God.
Instead of the generic term "God", i prefer the term "Christ", to associate the divine with Jesus' own brand of self-knowledge. This is the only understanding of "God" that i am interested in.
There are dozens of opinions about "God"...each one an idol, imo.
Jewish literature describes a Jewish opinion of "God" , and human genesis. I don't agree with their notions and i don't think Jesus agreed with them either, with plenty of evidence to suggest that.
So i give no weight to their story of human genesis, as well as it's attempt to offer analysis of current human conditions, compared to original conditions.
I can only comment on the misunderstandings about knowledge versus faith, good and evil. I don't think i can redeem the traditional Jewish story by reinterpretation.
I consider the Jewish story of genesis to be the product of priest-craft, which is about controlling the largest amount of people with the smallest police force.
It's possible the story was a valid description of man's genesis, originating in some other culture. But by the time it is appropriated for use by priests, it may now be butchered beyond recognition.
The first thing to notice is it validates man's genesis. It put's a divine stamp of approval on the making of man, calling it "good".
I have news. Good is a quality of Christ. By appropriating this quality to itself, mankind does indeed presume to be Christ. Likewise, when man claims to "live", or to "exist", or to be "true" or to be "real", again, man presumes to be Christ. Again, Christ is Jesus' own version of what divinity (God/Good) is like, based upon his own brand of self-knowledge.
God is good. So, whatever is actually good, that is God. I call that "Christ", as that is how i believe Jesus understood divinity.
Therefore, the "knowledge of good and evil" really means to know Christ, and also to know of something other than Christ. Is there another god besides God? Is there another good besides Good? Is there another reality other than Christ? (Christ is reality).
These kinds of questions precede the genesis of man. If you do a history of my posts, my very last post talks about the nature of these questions, and what they lead to.
I start with the premise that Christ has self-knowledge...that Christ is "all in all" (everything)...therefore self-knowledge is the knowledge of everything.
Given the knowledge of everything,
there are no questions!
This is before the manifestation of man.
A question arises, leading to the manifestation of man.
The question was "who am I?"
The answer is already known. Entertaining the question invites speculation. Speculation invites curiosity. Curiosity invites attention. Attention becomes more and more demanding. Before long, all the mental power of Christ is exploring alternatives to the self that is known.
Perhaps there is a greater self to be known? Perhaps there is more to know than Christ?
But for the mind of Christ to explore these considerations, it has to go beyond the known, into the unknown.
Exploration into the unknown is led by a mental trick i call "faith".
It's this faith that makes manifest man's world(s), and man upon it.
As such, man, and man's world, represents an unknown Christ, and unknown good, an unknown "God" so-to-speak.
As an unknown, man is a faith-based phenomenon. Man is something that is believed, not known.
Who believes in man? Man's maker. And while man is made in the image of man's maker, man also believes in man.
The difference between good and evil, between Christ and not-Christ (anti-Christ), is the difference between knowing and believing.
Good is a quality that can be known, and "evil" is a quality that can only be believed.
It is evil
because it is believed.
Anything that can be believed is evil.
As such, evil depends on faith for it's very existence.
So, it's a
lie to suggest that both good and evil can be known.
This is what the tree of "the knowledge of good and evil" suggests.
The serpent suggests that it's possible to know both good and evil.
Technically speaking, it is
faith which suggests that it is possible to know both good and evil.
Faith, after all, is a mental trick which
substitutes for knowledge.
Faith presumes to know what it does not know.
Faith is not at all concerned with the truth.
Faith is only concerned about fulfilling wishes, and about declaring those wishes, once "manifested", to be "true", "reality", and/or "good".
As such, faith is the genesis of force.
Faith makes demands.
The genesis of mankind is a demand (an order) upon the truth, the reality, and the good of Christ.
It's this faith which exchanges a spiritual world for a material world.
It's the exchange of a spiritual world for a material world which brings about death.
Death is simply this:
rapid, radical change.
Death comes to Christ when knowledge is exchanged for faith.
Once faith takes over, it makes it's own version of "Christ" (reality) according to it's own wishes.
Faith is the father of all the material world(s).
The material worlds are what i call a "dead Christ".
The material worlds are characterized by constant change, having been initiated by a change (from the original Christ).
As the material worlds are constantly changing, they are constantly dying.
As such, they are death itself, or at least a manifestation of the original change from knowledge to faith.
To the extent that man changes, man dies.
Notice also animals die for the same reason.
Even the stars (man's "light") will die, as they change.
So faith and death are nearly synonymous as faith is always changing it's scenarios.
Birthed as change, faith continues to change, and "live" by change.
Alas, faith will itself die by change, and that will be the end of it's world.
Faith is destined to die.
The only alternative to faith is knowledge.
Faith will be replaced with knowledge.
That will be "the end of the world", so to speak, but only the end of a world built by faith.
Again, faith is fake knowledge (worse than fake news).
Faith believes. Whatever faith believes in is "evil".
A problem arises when the "evil" presumes to be the "good".
Faith, masquerading as knowledge, is man's biggest problem.
Man presumes to stand on the same footing as Christ.
Man presumes to exist.
Man presumes to know.
Man presumes to be real.
Man presumes to have life.
These are all usurpations which sit man squarely upon Christ's "throne", so-to-speak.
These qualities belong to Christ, and only to Christ.
These qualities are stolen from Christ,
by faith, and given to man.
In the process of faith, Christ is
changed.
As Christ is changed, Christ is killed (change = death).
In this way, by the forces of faith, Christ is killed for the benefit of mankind.
With Christ dead, man steps up to Christ's throne, sits upon it, and puts upon his shoulders the mantel of Christ representing all the qualities of Christ.
Every time a man says, "I am...", he usurps the prime quality of Christ: existence.
But when man adds to the statement "I am...", he changes the essence of Christ's existence.
When a man says "I am a carpenter", he takes what belongs to Christ, existence, and changes it into something else.
In this way, man perpetuates the wishes of man's father:
faith.
By perpetuating change, man perpetuates death.
2. Is it our faith which saves?
So no, it's not your faith which saves.
Faith is part of the problem, not the solution.
Or is it our trust in God that he is faithful to his word which saves.
Christ does not have faith, given total/all knowledge to begin with.
Christ can only "stay true" to knowledge, should faith come and tempt Christ to exchange knowledge for faith.
Christ has not made man any promises except to say that man, and man's world, will come to an end.
So, salvation is not for man, or for man's world.
Salvation is for Christ, from a faith-filled mind.
Its acting in faith which saves. We are not talking about faith as a noun but more like a verb. faithing.
Acting in faith saves man.
So if you are interested in saving yourself, continue to act in faith.
Christ is not saved by acting in faith.
Knowledge threatens man, but saves Christ.
Faith saves man from the threat of knowledge, specifically the knowledge of Christ.
Knowing God is true to his word we act in accordance. That is the faith that saves.
Any faith will save man. Any faith at all.
So long as man's maker, faith, continues to believe in what it wishes, man will be saved.
If ever faith was withdrawn from man's maker, man would vanish back to the void from which man was conjured up in the first place.
So it all depends on what you are trying to save.
If you are trying to save yourself, continue to believe in man's maker.
If you are trying to save Christ, believe in Christ until your faith is replaced with knowledge.
The day your faith is replaced with knowledge, that is the day of salvation...depending on who you believe you are.
Not one man will be saved.
Knowing God is true to his word we act in accordance. That is the faith that saves.
Faith, masquerading as knowledge, is man's biggest problem (sin).
It's important to never confuse what we think we know about good (God), with what we believe about good (Christ).
If what we believe does not truly reflect Christ, it reflects and idol.
Believing in idols, we will die (continue to change).