Jeff's article is interesting, indeed, and makes some excellent points. I can't recall a time when I didn't think of the apple and the eating of it as a metaphor that had nothing to do with literal eating, but it certainly makes sense to conclude that "feeding" oneself a spiritual diet that includes violence of any kind would have to include killing for food So such a point is well made. But why an apple was used to represent the forbidden is anybody's guess. In terms of literal diet, prior to partaking of the "apple", there was no such thing as flesh food in Eden, so the very idea of it would have still been inconceivable.
For myself, I'm not sure I would ascribe "logic" (as the human mind may know it) to God... I'm thinking of another Scripture, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways .... As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Which wanders into the peripheral issue of whether all of the thoughts written in the Bible are from God or are humans "translations" of their inspiration from God. Either way, the best we can do is hypothesize about the reason for the use of an apple in the story of Adam and Eve's rejection of Paradise .... here, again, another case of interpretation, as I've always thought of it more as their rejection of than expulsion from.
Thanks for sharing the article, Frank and Mary, and Jeff, for writing it. Good food for thought --- in fact, I'd liken it to an apple, both satisfying and nourishing!
Juli
Go on to comments: By Pamm - 16 May 2008
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