(April 25, 2012 at 12:51 am)Drich Wrote: how about this: Man made in the image of God is not created with eternal life, but finds it after eating from the tree of life and after eating from the tree of knowledge his eternal life is taken from him.The text does not exclude this interpretation. I don’t see it as very compelling, though. Most likely because I’m an adoptionist and the original sin/penal substitution dynamic is not a part of my theology. So it’s not important to me whether its literal or not.
It seems to me that your approach supports the doctrine or penal substitution, but I am curious how a literal interpretation informs your life. I understand the Reformed position that because of sin, people die, and need to appease the wrath of the Father. That means the message of the Adam and Eve story is not to disobey God, which seems pretty basic and not very helpful.
In an allegorical interpretation I see that when we look to our own sense perceptions for spiritual knowledge (symbolized by the tree) and confirm (eating to make part of self) the resulting thoughts into our behavior (the fruit) then we are led astray. That seems to be a much richer and useful message.
