n the wonders of the visible universe, but
comprehend moral responsibilities and obligations.
“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 [21]
for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden.” Genesis
2:8, 9. Here, amidst the beautiful scenes of nature untouched by sin,
our first parents were to receive their education.
In His interest for His children, our heavenly Father personally
directed their education. Often they were visited by His messengers,
the holy angels, and from them received counsel and instruction.
Often as they walked in the garden in the cool of the day they heard
the voice of God, and face to face held communion with the Eternal.
His thoughts toward them were “thoughts of peace, and not of evil.”
Jeremiah 29:11. His every purpose was their highest good.
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14 Education
To Adam and Eve was committed the care of the garden, “to
dress it and to keep it.” Genesis 2:15. Though rich in all that the
Owner of the universe could supply, they were not to be idle. Useful
occupation was appointed them as a blessing, to strengthen the body,
to expand the mind, and to develop the character.
The book of nature, which spread its living lessons before them,
afforded an exhaustless source of instruction and delight. On every
leaf of the forest and stone of the mountains, in every shining star,
in earth and sea and sky, God’s name was written. With both the
animate and the inanimate creation—with leaf and flower and tree,
and with every living creature, from the leviathan of the waters to the
mote in the sunbeam—the dwellers in Eden held converse, gathering
from each the secrets of its life. God’s glory in the heavens, the
innumerable worlds in their orderly revolutions, “the balancings of
the clouds” (Job 37:16), the mysteries of light and sound, of day and
[22] night—all were objects of study by the pupils of earth’s first school.
The laws and operations of nature, and the great principles of
truth that govern the spiritual universe, were opened to their minds
by the infinite Author of all. In “the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:6), their mental and spiritual
powers developed, and they realized the highest pleasures of their
holy existence.
As it came from the Creator’s hand, not only the Garden of Eden
but the whole earth was exceedingly beautiful. No taint of sin, or
shadow of death, marred the fair creation. God’s glory “covered the
heavens, and the earth was full of His praise.” “The morning stars
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Habakkuk
3:3; Job 38:7. Thus was the earth a fit emblem of Him who is
“abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6); a fit study for
those who were made in His image. The Garden of Eden was a
representation of what God desired the whole earth to become, and
it was His purpose that, as the human family increased in numbers,
they should establish other homes and schools like the one He had
given. Thus in course of time the whole earth might be occupied
with homes and schools where the words and the works of God
should be studied, and where the students should thus be fitted more
and more fully to reflect, throughout endless ages, the light of the
[23] knowledge of His glory.
Chapter 3—The Knowledge of Good and Evil
“As they refused to have God in their knowledge,” “their senseless
heart was darkened. ”
Though created innocent and holy, our first parents were not
placed beyond the possibility of wrong-doing. God might have
created them without the power to transgress His requirements, but
in that case there could have been no development of character; their
service would not have been voluntary, but forced. Therefore He
gave them the power of choice—the power to yield or to withhold
obedience. And before they could receive in fullness the blessings
He desired to impart, their love and loyalty must be tested.
In the Garden of Eden was the “tree of knowledge of good and
evil.... And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree
of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat.” Genesis 2:9-17. It was the will
of God that Adam and Eve should not know evil. The knowledge of
good had been freely given them; but the knowledge of evil,—of sin
and its results, of wearing toil, of anxious care, of disappointment
and grief, of pain and death,—this was in love withheld.
While God was seeking man’s good, Satan was seeking his [24]
ruin. When Eve, disregarding the Lord’s admonition concerning
the forbidden tree, ventured to approach it, she came in contact
with her foe. Her interest and curiosity having been awakened,
Satan proceeded to deny God’s word, and to insinuate distrust of
His wisdom and goodness. To the woman’s statement concerning
the tree of knowledge, “God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither
shall ye touch it, lest ye die,” the tempter made answer, “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.” Genesis 3:3-5.
Satan desired to make it appear that this knowledge of good
mingled with evil would be a blessing, and that in forbidding them
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16 Education
to take of the fruit of the tree, God was withholding great good. He
urged that it was because of its wonderful properties for imparting
wisdom and power that God had forbidden them to taste it, that He
was thus seeking to prevent them from reaching a nobler development
and finding greater happiness. He declared that he himself had
eaten of the forbidden fruit, and as a result had acquired the power
of speech; and that if they also would eat of it, they would attain
to a more exalted sphere of existence and enter a broader field of
knowledge.
While Satan claimed to have received great good by eating of the
forbidden tree, he did not let it appear that by transgression he had
become an outcast from heaven. Here was falsehood, so concealed
under a covering of apparent truth that Eve, infatuated, flattered,
beguiled, did not discern the deception. She coveted what God had
forbidden; she distrusted His wisdom. She cast away faith, the key
[25] of knowledge.
When Eve saw “that the tree was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.” It was grateful to the taste,
and, as she ate, she seemed to feel a vivifying power, and imagined
herself entering upon a higher state of existence. Having herself
transgressed, she became a tempter to her husband, “and he did eat.”
Genesis 3:6.
“Your eyes shall be opened,” the enemy had said; “ye shall be
as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5. Their eyes were
indeed opened; but how sad the opening! The knowledge of evil,
the curse of sin, was all that the transgressors gained. There was
nothing poisonous in the fruit itself, and the sin was not merely in
yielding to appetite. It was distrust of God’s goodness, disbelief of
His word, and rejection of His authority, that made our first parents
transgressors, and that brought into the world a knowledge of evil.
It was this that opened the door to every species of falsehood and
error.
Man lost all because he chose to listen to the deceiver rather than
to Him who is Truth, who alone has understanding. By the mingling
of evil with good, his mind had become confused, his mental and
spiritual powers benumbed. No longer could he appreciate the good
that God had so freely bestowed.
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
Chapter 3—The Knowledge of Good and Evil 17
Adam and Eve had chosen the knowledge of evil, and if they
ever regained the position they had lost they must regain it under
the unfavorable conditions they had brought upon themselves. No
longer were they to dwell in Eden, for in its perfection it could
not teach them the lessons which it was now essential for them to
learn. In unutterable sadness they bade farewell to their beautiful [26]
surroundings and went forth to dwell upon the earth, where rested
the curse of sin.
To Adam God had said: “Because thou hast hearkened unto the
voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I c
