Hey, this is like dual ping-pong! You're it on the other table!

MM: So then, do you believe eating the fruit of life in the New Earth is optional? that it isn't necessary in order to maintain the life God gives us? that it doesn't contain elements we need regularly to live eternally?

Tom: I think life comes from God, and how God chooses to give it to us is not really important. We will do whatever God wishes, because our heart's desire will be to do His will. Man does not live by bread alone (or fruit), but by every word which comes from the mouth of God.


MM: Yes, sin is anything we think, say, or do that violates the law of God, the word of God, or the example of the Son of God. It is not one of the elements on the Periodic Table.

Tom: Right. And acting contrary to God's law, which is His character, is death. "All they that hate me love death."

It's death not for some arbitrary reason, like God will kill you if you don't obey Him, but because God alone is the source of life and to cut oneself from Him (which is what acting contrary to His character does) is death.

There is a great danger in acting from a motivation of fear. The following quote brings this out:

quote:

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A sullen submission to the will of the Father will develop the character of a rebel. By such a one service is looked upon as drudgery. It is not rendered cheerfully, and in the love of God. It is a mere mechanical performance. If he dared, such a one would disobey. His rebellion is smothered, ready to break out at any time in bitter murmurings and complaints. Such service brings no peace or quietude to the soul. {ST, July 22, 1897 par. 11}

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It is vital that we have a proper conception of God's character. The Jews who rejected Christ thought they were right in every way in regards to following God's will, but they didn't know Him, and when He came in the flesh they hated Him and killed Him.

One difference is that I believe, without a doubt, that regularly eating the fruit of life is necessary to continue living forever, and that this applies to sinners and saints alike.

Perhaps, but since we view Genesis 3:22-24 differently it may be more than trivial in this study.

I'm not sure that we view it differently, other than the relative importance we place on it. You seem to be using it as the center-piece to your theology. You start with that one verse, and build your understanding of sin and death upon that. That seems to me to be a very odd hermaneutic to use.

The Bible has very little to say regarding the Tree of Life, but a great deal to say about sin and death. The normal procedure in Bible Study is to start with the well-defined and allow the more obscure things be clarified by the well-defined, rather than the other way around.

Although I wonder, where does the power of the tree of life come from?

It's just that a simple reading of Genesis 3:22-24, taking it at face value, it is clear that if sinners were allowed regular access to the fruit of the tree of life they would live indefinitely.

PP 47
In the midst of the garden stood the tree of life, surpassing in glory all other trees. Its fruit appeared like apples of gold and silver, and had the power to perpetuate life. {PP 46.4}

7BC 988
The tree of life possessed the power to perpetuate life, and as long as they ate of it, they could not die. The lives of the antediluvians were protracted because of the life-giving power of this tree, which was transmitted to them from Adam and Eve (RH Jan. 26, 1897). {7BC 988.9}

The fruit of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden possessed supernatural virtue. To eat of it was to live forever. Its fruit was the antidote of death. Its leaves were for the sustaining of life and immortality. {7BC 988.10}

GC 533, 534
Had man after his fall been allowed free access to the tree of life, he would have lived forever, and thus sin would have been immortalized. But cherubim and a flaming sword kept "the way of the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24), and not one of the family of Adam has been permitted to pass that barrier and partake of the life-giving fruit. Therefore there is not an immortal sinner. {GC 533.3}

[ July 07, 2005, 06:20 PM: Message edited by: Mountain Man ]

And where does the tree gain it's power? I would not think that the power belonged to the tree.

The breath of life comes from God, but it would appear that the tree of life contains certain properties necessary to perpetuate life. "Had man after his fall been allowed free access to the tree of life, he would have lived forever, and thus sin would have been immortalized." It would also appear that other foods and water are required, too.