Genesis 3:5-6 says “For God knows that in the day you eat from it [the tree] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
What’s so bad about that?
Well, some of you may be familiar with a panic attack. If my experience with one is anything like yours, during a panic attack, there’s a growing inrush of fears, concerns, and responsibilities that seem quite overwhelming. It makes my head spin, my stomach aches, and I become nauseated, start sweating, and almost pass out (one time, I walked into a wall!). One of the things I need most during a panic attack is peace – I need to get settled down – and I recently found that closing my eyes and shutting off some sensory input helps, as does focusing on steady breathing. I need to reduce the things flying into my mind, and focus on something that is singularly peaceful.
One of my life lessons is that the knowedge of good and evil is a whole lot more “input” than we need. It doesn’t bring peace – many “good” options are not the single solution that we ultimately need. God may have intended that when mankind matured, we might one day be ready for such knowedge – but we certainly were and are not equipped to handle it now. The knowledge of good and evil is a distraction and a lure down roads our lives were not intended to travel. Mankind is in a panic. It’s obvious…we cannot manage ourselves, we have poor self-control, we have limited integrity, we are not trustworthy, our laws are not restraining our society’s madness, and our teachings and example are not pure.
Proverbs 14:12 reads, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
A good example of this confusion about “the knowledge of good and evil” is my dating experiences. Hey, they all looked good to me <grin>! One seemed good to me logically, another seemed right spiritually, and so on. I certainly had no peace in these relationships – they all seemed “good” at the beginning, but which was really RIGHT? The answer is that man doesn’t know what is right all the time – our lives are a perpetual panic attack until we zero in on God’s will – simply asking him and waiting for his answer can be the road to peace. It has been for me.