# J-2024.10.30 - Critical Thinking ## Background - In my Daily Post, [[241029_Gen_3.2-3|Today is Tuesday, 2024.10.29]], I posed the question, "With what "half-truths" did the woman answer the serpent?" - This Journal note is my answer to that question and is referenced in the Daily Post, [[241030_Gen_3.2-3|Today is Wednesday, 2024.10.30]] - All three of my observations are related to mankind, NOT GOD putting restrictions on themselves. - The passage in the post was: > The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” {Genesis 3.2-3 (BSB)} ## TL;DR - God gave mankind (us) an amazing creation to take care of and enjoy - He placed very few restrictions on mankind - On the other-hand, mankind (us) have place numerous restrictions on ourselves. As a result, we have: - failed to enjoy God and His creation as it was designed - failed to eat from the tree of life ## Notes ### Eat Freely - God told Adam in **Genesis 2.16** that he may "eat freely" from every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. - However, the woman responded to the serpent with just "we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden". - In her response, she left out the broad freedom mankind had to enjoy God's creation. ### Two Trees - There were two notable trees in the middle of the garden; "tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" {Genesis 2.8} - The woman's answer implied only one tree. - Furthermore, her answer also implied Adam and Eve had put a man-made "fence" around the middle of the garden - It would seem this "fence" was meant to keep mankind from eating from the forbidden tree. However, based on Genesis 3.6, this man-made rule was ineffective! - Additionally, this man-made rule kept Adam and Eve from eating from the the tree of life. - This observation / conclusion is consistent with Paul's statement in **Colossians 2.20-23** ### Don't Touch - God commanded Adam to not "eat" from the tree of knowledge of good and evil - Although not explicitly stated, based on **Genesis 3.13**, it would seem the restriction to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil applied to all of mankind - No where in Scripture, does God command Adam or any of us to not "touch" the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil - By adding this man-made restriction, it is possible mankind is missing out on something good that God designed. --- #### Outbound Links - Scripture - [[Genesis_02]] - [[Genesis_03]] - [[Colossians_02]] - Studies - Other Notes - Topics - Hebrew Words - Greek Words