[OBW]

John,

A very good analysis of Lee and his trees.

Almost a year ago, someone spoke concerning the fall in Genesis, and the conclusion, while sounding somewhat different, concluded similarly to yours. The real issue that they pointed to was that it was not that man got something added to him, or that he gained knowledge. Instead, it is more meaningful to state that we changed our allegiance from God to self. We changed our source of right and wrong from what God said to what we reasoned was right or wrong.

The fall was the result of disobedience, not fruit or snakes.

Knowledge is not the problem. Knowledge from our own counsel is.

Right and wrong is not a problem. In fact, right and wrong remain an important thing from the very beginning to the very end. But right and wrong decided by our flawed minds without the counsel of God is very much a problem.

Teaching things like "don’t care about right and wrong; just care for life" is the kind of teaching that Jesus warned against in Matthew 5. It causes many of the least to stumble and it sets aside the command of God in favor of the counsel of a fool.