The Tree Of Knowledge

Farrell Till  discovers a little problem for biblical inerrantists. From the Errancy Discussion list, Nov. 12, 1995.

RH 

It is not correct to say that in order to sin, you have to know the difference between good and evil. To sin requires that one disobey God which itself only requires that one know what God has commanded. Knowledge of good and evil doesn't enter the equation. You cannot say that Adam and Eve did not know what they were doing. They knew. Eve stated what God had commanded to the Serpent. Adam and Eve knew the consequences.

TILL 

When the spies that Moses sent ahead to Canaan returned with a report of giants being in the land, the people were afraid (Num. 14). Yahweh punished the people by decreeing that they would wander in the wilderness until they were dead, but he made an exception for Joshua and Caleb, who had not believed the report of the spies. He also made an exception for the children (v: 31). Deuteronomy 1:39 explains why Yahweh made an exception for the children: "Moreover, your little ones that ye said should be a prey, and your children , *that this day have no knowledge of good or evil,* they will I give it, and they shall possess it." Hence, we can only conclude that the Bible teaches that children are not guilty of sin if they have no knowledge of good or evil. The Genesis story of the "first sin" clearly states that eating of the tree of knowledge would make one know the difference in good or evil (3:5). After Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, Yahweh said, "Behold the man is become as one of us, *to know good and evil*; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever, therefore Yahweh God sent him forth from the garden of Eden" (3:22).

Sorry, Roger, but you have a lot of explaining to do. The Bible teaches that eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was what made Adam and Eve to know the difference in good and evil. Yet Yahweh punished them for something they did before they ate of the fruit that gave them this knowledge.

F. Till

Keep Them Barefooted and Pregnant (2 of 3)

The following is an article by Farrell Till from TSR 1997. Yahweh's rules for women and how they are to be treated are just a few examples of his embarrassing and disgraceful teachings found throughout the "Holy" Bible; and what should be considered an insult to any person's intelligence:

by Farrell Till

A popular claim of Christianity is that the Bible has given women a dignity and status far superior to societies that are dominated by other religions. That the ranks of Christianity include so many women is evidence that there must be some truth to the axiom that says if a lie is told enough times, some will believe it, because only someone who is relatively ignorant of the Bible could believe that it is in any sense complimentary to women. From beginning to end, the Bible insults women and speaks of them with a disdain that one would think women in modern times would no longer tolerate. But tolerate it they do, for the membership rolls of churches probably include many more women than men. 

The men who wrote the Bible wasted no time getting down to one of their favorite themes: all the pain and suffering, sorrow and grief that the human race has to endure is the fault of women. Right in the opening chapters of God's inspired word, the first woman ate a fruit that God had told her not to eat, and that's why men have to earn their living by the sweat of their brows. Never mind that this grievous offense also caused women to have to endure the pain of childbirth (Gen 3:16). What are a few labor pains compared to the men's ordeal of having to till soil that brings forth thorns and thistles (v.18)? 

Ever since the Genesis writer put the blame on Eve, God's emissaries have continued to lay it on thicker. Paul, the chief apostle not just of Christianity but of blatant sexism too, used Eve's sin as an excuse to put women into the basement of Christianity, which they have yet to climb out of. Writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who is presumably another person in the one "godhead," Paul told women that they were welcome in the churches as long as they kept their mouths shut: "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says" (1 Cor 14:34). Well, gee, if women are not permitted to speak in the churches, how can they be expected to learn things they may need to know? Not to worry; Paul had the answer to that: "And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church" (v.35). It's hard to see dignity and respect for women in any of this, but obviously many women have bought it and meekly acquiesce to the sexist rantings of a religious mystic whose denigration of half the world's population has been rivaled only by other religions that have enshrined the same primitive, male-chauvinist nonsense. 

The Garden Of Eden Myth And The "Messiah"

A comment by Farrell Till from the II Errancy discussion list, 11-29-06: TILL What we have here is just another spin that NT writers put on an OT text to make it appear that the Jewish scriptures pointed to the coming of Jesus. Jewish literature itself, however, indicated that the Garden of Eden yarn was intended as nothing more than an explanation of traditional concerns like why is survival such a struggle, why do snakes crawl instead of walking on legs, why are people almost universally afraid of snakes, and why is childbirth so painful? The answers are in the Garden of Eden myth. God pronounced curses on all parties involved in the first "sin." The man was doomed to have to earn his living by the sweat of his brow tilling land that brings forth thorns and thistles, the serpent was condemned to crawl on its belly and eat the dust of the earth, enmity between the seeds of the serpent and the woman was decreed (the one would bruise the heel of the seed of the woman; the other would bruise the head of the seed of the serpent), and women would bring forth offspring in pain. See Josephus's Antiquities 1:1,4 (49-51). When humans encounter snakes, they risk being bitten [on the heel], so their first inclination is to kill the snake, usually by crushing its head. Christians have distorted a myth, intended to explain puzzling aspects of life, into some mystical prophecy of their Messiah. As I have previously asked, is there anything sillier than theological assumptions?