Why you should eat from the Tree and have knowledge of Good and Evil as a Christian.

There are aspects in this world that we prefer to ignore or have emotional distance from, r*pe, famine, genocide, torture. God said "thou shalt not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil so you shall surely die" this is correct, but people view it as a misunderstanding of the concept of death. The tarot card of death just represents change, a change in circumstances. We are constantly dying, each time we have a new insight, a new understanding which changes our perspective the Old self dies and a new self takes it's place. Death can be physical such as shedding off an old garment, but death is something we shalt not fear.

People have a cognitive detachment from "evil", there is evil in this world. Evil causes suffering, it causes despair.

It is important for me as a Christian to be able to understand evil, because there is suffering in this world caused by God (natural forces beyond our own control) and by man. We are called upon to help people, place ourselves in others shoes, treat people how you want to be treated, and you do that by understanding and empathizing with people who have both been victims of evil and who have been led astray.

I don't believe in evil, I believe in balance. I think evil is based on ignorance. You can't have light without darkness, order without chaos, hope without despair, good without evil, and knowledge without ignorance.

People have a cognitive distance from the realities of the world, homelessness leads to intense suffering, but when was the last time someone took the time to someone experiencing homelessness, talk to them, treat then like a person? It is ignorance that causes poverty, we prefer to live in ignorance and detach ourselves from people who suffer, cognitively, emotionally or psychologically because the reality of evil makes us uncomfortable.

Genocide, leads to immense suffering, we can all acknowledge that, but even efforts to personalize people experiencing genocide such as the book Maus where the characters were animalized served as a protective mechanism to create distance from evil.

In order to call upon the will of God, to be healers whether it's psychological, emotional, spiritual. You need to not just acknowledge evil, but to take steps to understand it. In order to forgive sinners, you need to understand the fact that there is sin within us all and to look beyond the sin and view them as an individual.

One thing I have understood about the concept of evil, is that deep down although people do evil things, people whom are deemed as evil are often victims of evil cast upon them themselves. The point of confession and being forgiven isn't just to state what you did, but to explore the deepest level of the psyche and acknowledge why you did the action you did. Was it a trauma response from neglect that caused you to react in a way that harms others? Taking responsibility for your actions and being forgiven means delving deep into the underworld of the psyche and working through, shedding light on the reasons why you did what you did, and deep down you will understandma truth about evil.

Deep down none of us are evil, we are pure. We forget our selves and build up a psychological shell of emotions, insecurity, pain, suffering. Evil comes from seperation from the divine, we build up an identity, are given a name, forget that we are all of God and view ourselves as man individual and separate from other man.

Let me share with you a secret about the law of karma and do onto others as you will have done onto you. If you hurt someone, you hurt God, if you help someone, you help God, if you love someone, you love God, if you hate someone, you hate God.

This is why we have a duty as Christians to eat from the tree and gain knowledge of both Good and Evil and by doing so, you will realize the evil within yourself and be able to deny and shed it, and the good within everyone else.