The 2 trees in the Garden of Eden

"who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life." 2 Corinthians 3:6

1. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In the centre of the garden of Eden God planted two trees, two schools of thought, two kinds of fruit bearing like-minded leanings in the partaker. On the left we have the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God told Adam and Even not to eat, "for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" Genesis 2:17.

By eating from that tree we replace God's righteousness with the search for our own righteousness within ourselves by the only way we can, our knowledge of good and evil. This makes one focus on themselves instead of God and results in self-righteousness and pride. We believe we can obtain greater levels of Godly righteousness by following deduced laws, and law becomes our savior and our God. We then start trying to earn our way into heaven and God's good graces by proving to Him that we are quite God-like ourselves, reducing Him in size and increasing ours. We measure ourselves against others and God according to a man made list, trying to prove the good in us and lack of evil. We try to use knowledge of law to get to life, but it only leads to death. Galatians 2:21 says "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." And 3:21 "for if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law."

When self-righteous people read the bible it testifies of the letter of the law to them and they die spiritually. When God-righteous people read the bible it testifies of the spirit of the law written in there hearts by the spirit and they become spiritually alive. 2 Corinthians 3:3

2. The tree of life.

The bible starts out and ends with two trees. Man partakes of the tree on the left, and after thousands of years of putting up with having to learn about evil, is finally able to finish his journey back to the tree of life and is healed. The tree of life is the path to God. It's God's way, His style, the way He does things, and it is the true moral measure by how we understand the truth of good and evil.

The bible clearly tells us not to judge people. It also clearly tells us that we will know people by there fruit. Evils response to it being found out is that "we shouldn't judge", and every left leaning clown who thinks they are a Christian gladly goes along with it and will happily withdraw there "accusations". The fools. How can they "expose the darkness" as Jesus says we should? What sort of pathetic "light on a hill" is this? 99.9% of people professing to be Christians teach that the "light" is how well you can live by rules, and the “darkness” is people's lack of desire to get in line and do as they are told, in this evil free world we live in.

The difference between "judging" which we are not to do, and "knowing by there fruit" which we are, is this: When you judge someone, you are making an outward assessment of a person according to the knowledge of good and evil. When you "know" by there "fruits" you are making an inward assessment according to life. Therefore considering someone changes from "do they swear, do they go to church, do they dress well, are they showing God they are worthy" to "do they carry an atmosphere of life, can I be myself around them, do they support other people's freedom, are they controlling or not, do they look for the good or the bad in others, are they accepting, or do they condemn, do there words free or enslave." Rom 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit."

When Jesus said in Luke 6:37 "judge not, lest you be judged. Condemn not, lest you be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven" he wasn't simply saying, "It’s not nice to judge, what goes around comes around." He was saying that when you judge, it shows that you don't get what salvation actually means, you still think in terms of others being less a sinner then yourself.

The law of liberty.

These are the way things have to be. Naturally the truth runs against all worldly wisdom about spiritual matters, but could you expect anything less from a belief that is supposed to be so different from all the others that it is likened to a light on a hill. If you get it then you "see the light". I apologize if my words make it difficult to understand at first. But the good news is that the truth of the kingdom of heaven is not reserved for the intellectuals only. Quite the opposite, the intellectuals usually would rather pursue knowledge and rules, which is why Jesus suggests we approach him with the simplicity of a child.

Acts 16:31 "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved".

The truth is like a knife, the sharpest point is at the beginning, and if you get that smallest part, you have it all. When you realize the pin prick beginning, the weight of the rest will happen by itself. The "good news" is that it's simple, you don't have to go through years of study, or perfection, and you don't have to "sanctify yourself". The most important part is so poignant Jesus calls it a seed. Receive the seed, and it grows by itself. Your job is not to be the seed, but the ground. Simply believe that God is God.

People who snigger at the truth often say "you’re saying that you can do whatever you want and God forgives.” But if what you’re saying is the truth, that is one of the first things people will naturally think. Three times in the book of Romans the apostle Paul sums up the gospel by suggesting that is what it sounds like he is saying. Rom 3:8, 6:1, 6:14.

Freedom can be difficult to understand when one has spent many years in slavery. How can God do this, how can he be so extravagant. How can God "be kind to the un-thankful". Luke 6:35. Ah bugger it. Next subject.