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What is "the tree of life" ?


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Moderator Note

Guitaoist - this is the religion forum and the OP asked a question about the Tree of Life in Genesis; ie answers should probably concern judeo-christian theology and writings. Please do not go off topic again and please do not respond to this modnote and further derail the thread.

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Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (Revelataion 22:1-2)

havent u read revelation of the holy Word

Edited by guitaoist
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This is a really good question because it brings up a fascinating subject.

 

It is popularly known from the Bible as the tree that Eve picked the fruit from to give Adam. The snake represents the old Mother Goddess. In the Biblical version, an angry father God banishes them from the Mother Goddess of fertility and changes everything. He becomes the supreme God and She is replaced in the major world religious systems.

 

What is most amazing is that the picture of the tree and of the snake can be found in the earliest Chinese script and in among the carvings of the hunting people some 12,000 years ago just North of the Fertile Crescent in Turkey. There is a picture of that carving on page 26 in the Nov.-Dec 2008 issue of Archeology.

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Charles: you are talking about another tree, mentioned in Genesis 2.17; the one that God lied about, as eating from it did not cause the sure death of Adam as promised; but not subject of this thread.

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Charles: you are talking about another tree, mentioned in Genesis 2.17; the one that God lied about, as eating from it did not cause the sure death of Adam as promised; but not subject of this thread.

No, not by the Bible I have here. I refer to Genesis 2:9 and it mentions "the tree of life." It seems logical to me that "the tree of life" in 3:22 is supposed to be the same thing.

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& the tree of life is again in the holy book of revelation as i quote

Yes, but you neglected to show it. It is in Rev. 22:2. Personally, I never read all of Revelations because it hides its intended meaning behind symbolic terms and cannot be taken literally. For example, can you tell me what "the beast" is? Why does it use the term for a wild animal? What can be so important about what one single animal has done or will do that it needs to be in scripture for 2,000 years? Is it supposed to represent Ancient Rome, Emperor Nero, Soddam and Gonnorha, or Satan? How can we take "God's Word" as the literal "Truth" if He doesn't say what He really means?

 

I think we need a better "religion" and should be thinking about what it needs to be like . . .

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Genesis 2:9And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

 

Genesis 3:22Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”

 

Genesis 3:24He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

 

Proverbs 3:18She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.

 

Proverbs 11:30The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.

 

Proverbs 13:12Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

 

Proverbs 15:4A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

 

Revelation 2:7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

 

Revelation 22:2through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

 

Revelation 22:14Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

 

Revelation 22:19and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

 

 

 

Obviously the tree of life refers to the promise of eternal life, the ability to live forever. I don't think we should take it literally as though going and eating the fruit from the tree of life, instead its about having or accessing the knowledge of God and his numnious nature is what gives you immortality and I think that is what god means when he says, "To the one who conquers I will grant to eat the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God".

 

 

 

 

I think we need a better "religion" and should be thinking about what it needs to be like . . .

 

I'm not sure what you mean here. Would you just make up and follow a false religion just because it solves our world problems irrespective of knowing what the truth is, if you assume that all religions were created by humans and that there is no such thing as god's words only then it makes some sense but we don't know that is what the case is. You're thinking as though scriptures were written by people getting together with each other and having a some sort of agenda to fulfill. No, take bible for example, a collection of books written by individuals accross different times, they wrote what was revealed to them. What I have read from scholars is that they say that God stimulated the thoughts in the minds of these men to write the scriptures and is thought that those words are directly from God which means we men are mere puppets in the hands of gods.

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I am confused

Genesis 2.9. "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 the knowledge of good and evil."
(bolded mine)

Aren't there 2 different trees?

Edited by michel123456
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