oh well if that is the case I had a friend that knew one phrase in Swedish! it was Want some Snuff? so now I have this Chef with a basket of chicken walking the shore line saying in swedish Want some snuff YA? and sense I am a massage therapist who is trained in Swedish massage..... you get the idea!

LMAO

As a non-Christian, I can say I view it as a story, created to explain the woes of man (and woman.) But then, I take very little from the bible literally.

I do think that most humans are driven to try to understand and make sense of the world. A tough task, even with today's science, and much tougher thousands of years ago.

If viewed another way, knowledge builds upon itself (with occasional tear-downs, as we realize -- oh, that was wrong!), growing and branching -- like a tree from the roots up and down, and out. But I somehow doubt that was what the person who believes a literal interpretation means....

Okay -- just read more of the thread (sorry about doing things backwards!) -- and too funny about the Swedish chef! My dh gave me the first two seasons of The Muppet Show for Christmas (yes, we celebrate it -- in a secular way), and we've been having fun watching them with our son, who also loves them. The problem is, the darned music gets stuck in our heads -- and the phrase, "Bork, bork, bork!" AHHHHH!

Hey, I'm only about a year late with the discussion. Did you read Ishmael? it deals with these issues. I am an artist doing research for a painting of such. In most readings, the Tree of Life is good, and the Tree of Good and Evil is what has corrupted mankind. I'm not sure I agree with that totally. The Unification Church sees the Tree of Knowledge as symbolized by Eve. Whereas, the Tree of Life symbolized perfected Adam....that's messed up too. I want to share, however, the most interesting theory I have come across...

Adam and Eve are one reality, Adam representing the physical self and Eve his soul. (Now that I can believe!) The Tree of Good and Evil is the very world we exist in, a world full of dualitites....The serpent represents attachment to the material world (maybe things like our looks, our cars, our status, our things...) - the true source of evil. The Tree of Life represents the manifestation of God - source of all spiritual good and the true nature of man is to be spiritual. Though, he is both body and soul, the body is the vehicle for the soul to progress through life acquiring the spiritual attributes he will need in the spiritual worlds of God. So, when we forget our true reality, we become so cought up in the affairs of the flesh that we neglect our souls, and not only succumb to evil, we bind ourselves to it. Were the trees real or just metaphors, who could know??????