Why I Am A Futurist

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Sean

.



If I may...


It does not say specifically that they were forced to eat of the Tree of Life before the fall, but that it was fine to eat of ANY tree(including the Tree of Life), except 1 tree(knowledge of good and evil).

Now after the fall, the ONLY tree that was forbidden to eat became the Tree of Life(the reverse)....Why?....

22 And the Lord God 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 for ever:.......

So man could not have access to immortality!

So, if man eats of the bad tree and "dies" on day 1, then it only stands to reason that man would desperately try to get to the good tree that was "legal" to eat before he fell into sin. Man was already FAMILIAR with the properties of the good tree, and that is why God surrounded it with armed angels.

To think that man did not partake of, or was not allowed to partake of the Tree of Life before the fall, is to assume that God had an inaccessible, "useless teaser tree" in the garden just to tease mankind when he finally fell.(that's mental torture to His creation).



Thats like dangling a cancer cure in front of a dying cancer patient and saying....."too bad, you never had access to it anyway"

The reality is Adam and Eve voluntarily gave back the cure to God, then lost access to what they already had.

They traded a good tree for a bad tree when they chose to eat the bad tree. God simply forbid them to eat the good tree anymore because they now had "THE KNOWLEDGE GOOD AND EVIL"

Simply stated, they could not serve God and sin, and neither can we!!!

...

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by mizpeh

Isn't this enough?

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

If they die if they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil then doesn't it follow that if they never eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they will never die regardless if they eat or don't eat of the tree of life.?

Right. Good one!

[Sean]

Quote:
It was necessary to be in the garden of Eden for Adam and Eve to have for immortality and it will be necessary for the saved of earth in the New Earth. Quote Sean...




No, they had immortality without eating anything from the tree. Sin brought death, not refraining from the tree. Quote MF Blume.



Gen. 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.


I wonder, why the Cherubims with the swords?



Good question Esaias!

[Sean]

You wish it wasnt suggested as a "symbolic" replacement. It was found on a preterist site.


Verse 27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west— It is worthy of remark that our Lord, in the most particular manner, points out the very march of the Roman army: they entered into Judea on the EAST, and carried on their conquest WESTWARD, as if not only the extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army would take, were intended in the comparison of the lightning issuing from the east, and shining to the west.....

http://www.preteristarchive.com/index.html

[shazeep]

um, what? that is exactly what i am saying--it is suggested, not demanded. "Replacement" in this context is just semantics. "As if...were intended" leaves it open for the reader; meaning one does not have to take it as Gospel or anything. I for one fond it pretty cogent.

[Sean]

Gen 2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.....

No, they had immortality without eating anything from the tree. Sin brought death, not refraining from the tree. Quote MF Blume.

Gen 3:22 And the Lord God 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 for ever:

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.




Looks to me, without the tree of life, they lost their immortality.

[Sean]

Here it is again, for the saints to munch on....


Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God....

22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations....

14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.



I just betcha it is there for a reason....



"and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:"

[Sean]

Literal tree?

You betcha!

[Sean]

Was the tree of life forbidden before they sinned?...

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

[Sean]

Hmmmm...