> But when it comes to thought, to discovery, and to knowledge, then who makes the rules? Most civilizations have a god who makes these decrees - witness God's demand upon Adam in the garden of Eden; Adam is not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for, as God himself says, "In the day that you eat of it, you shall die" (Gen 2:17). But we learn this to be false - for Adam and Eve do eat of the tree, and the LORD does not destroy them. To quote again, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil" (Gen 3:22).
>
> To take this a bit out of context, we see God putting restrictions on man's advancement, but man ignores them and eats of the tree. Then man suffers the corresponding setback that always comes with advancement - but he does not die, as was feared.


Actually, since you bring it up, they do. It's
just not the physical type of death we are
accustomed to associating with the word. The
Bible continually refers to the moment Adam & Eve eat the
forbidden fruit as "death." Death here is a spiritual death,
a separation from God. There's two meanings to
the word "birth," too -- a physical birth that
we generally associate with the word, and a
spiritual birth (or being "born again") that comes
with returning to God by a decision of faith.

I'm branching out on a tangent again, but since
you brought it up, I figured I'd say something.