What was the forbidden fruit

[exchemist]

I would think the statement of "tree of the knowledge" would eliminate a few of those.
Unless it wasn't a tree and if it wasn't a tree, it eliminates many of those.

It wasn't the tree of knowledge. It was the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The point of the allegory is it signifies Man becoming morally aware and thereby losing his innocence, just as a child becomes aware of good and bad and is then treated accordingly, instead of being indulged as too young to know the difference. It's a story of loss of innocence.

None of which sheds any light on what the fruit of this mythical tree was supposed to resemble. As it is allegorical, there seems little point in debating whether it was an apple, a tangerine or a banana.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Some claim it was an apple, some claim a fig but from what I understand the bible doesn't mention what it was, its just called the forbidden fruit

Is this an example of not knowing so the blank is filled in by what we think or what it might be.

I wonder how much of the bible is/has been interpreted that way.

The forbidden fruit was, seems clear to me, a myth. And myths are quite inedible.

 

[InvestigateTruth]

Some claim it was an apple, some claim a fig but from what I understand the bible doesn't mention what it was, its just called the forbidden fruit

Is this an example of not knowing so the blank is filled in by what we think or what it might be.

I wonder how much of the bible is/has been interpreted that way.

It is a symbol. It means the laws and ordinances of previous Faith. When a new revelation comes, people are supposed to follow the new Faith. It is the same as when Jesus cursed a tree. That tree was the previous Faith revealed by Moses. It was not giving good fruits anymore, because that tree was old. When Jesus came He planted a new Tree, that is a new Faith. The story of Adam is an allusion to the same idea. By their fruits yea shall know them. This fruit is not a literal fruit. It is an allusion to false teachings versus true teachings.

 

[Valjean]

Or .. Blueberries
Some of the antioxidants in blueberries have been found to accumulate in the brain and help improve communication between brain cells

Perhaps she plucked a psilocybe mushroom -- growing on a pomegranate tree...

 

[Valjean]

Oh, you made a lucky guess!

No, I saw it in a vision!

 

[exchemist]

It is a symbol. It means the laws and ordinances of previous Faith. When a new revelation comes, people are supposed to follow the new Faith. It is the same as when Jesus cursed a tree. That tree was the previous Faith revealed by Moses. It was not giving good fruits anymore, because that tree was old. When Jesus came He planted a new Tree, that is a new Faith. The story of Adam is an allusion to the same idea. By their fruits yea shall know them. This fruit is not a literal fruit. It is an allusion to false teachings versus true teachings.

That makes no sense at all.

But I can see why it might suit a Baha'i agenda to say so.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Some claim it was an apple, some claim a fig but from what I understand the bible doesn't mention what it was, its just called the forbidden fruit
Is this an example of not knowing so the blank is filled in by what we think or what it might be.
I wonder how much of the bible is/has been interpreted that way.

I don't know how the Bible has been interpreted that way, but perhaps how 'man' has come up with ideas.
For example: I've heard that when an apple is cut in half the design is a 5-point star.
Since some who practice witchcraft use a 5-point star then that is the connection to the apple being the forbidden fruit.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

The Bible doesn’t mention what kind of fruit it was. For some reason, it is often portrayed as an apple.

I've heard the reason is because a cut apple makes a 5-point star design.
Some who practice witchcraft use a 5-point star design thus the connection to the forbidden fruit and Satan.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

I believe the tree of life and knowledge are the exalted ones spoken about in the Torah and Gospels......................................

How many trees on Earth ____________ I find out of all the trees on Earth only one tree belonged to God.
Not the Tree of Life that was given to mankind and will be returned to mankind - Revelation 22:2
God told Adam Not to touch His tree ( the Tree of Knowledge of good and bad )
In other words, it was as if God put up a No trespassing sign on His one-and-only tree.
Eve chose to take (steal) a fruit from God's tree.
Adam chose to deliberately eat from that forbidden (Banned) fruit.
The bad (the evil) experienced from that forbidden fruit is sickness and death.

 

[PureX]

The "fruit" from the tree of "the knowledge of good and evil" would likely be the right and ability to pass judgment on all that is. And that is clearly how the characters in the story reacted even though they only falsely presumed this knowledge unto themselves (one cannot really steal from God that which God has forbidden). And we are still drunk on this phony presumption to this day.

 

[blü 2]

Some claim it was an apple, some claim a fig but from what I understand the bible doesn't mention what it was, its just called the forbidden fruit

Is this an example of not knowing so the blank is filled in by what we think or what it might be.

I wonder how much of the bible is/has been interpreted that way.

The Garden story in Genesis, contrary to Christian teaching, makes no mention of sin, original sin, the Fall of Man, death entering the world, spiritual death or anything like. Nor is the snake identified with Satan, nor does the snake tell any lies or practice any deceits. You only have to read it free of Christian encrustations to see that this is the case.

It seems to me that the story makes most sense if read as a linking story about the infancy of mankind between the creation story at the start of Genesis and the beginning of Hebrew folk history. Thus infancy is represented by the ignorance of Adam and Eve about good and evil.

And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (with its fruit) is not to be found in any book of botany, because instead it's a metaphor for adolescence, the dawning of sexual awareness. Thus on eating the fruit they become aware for the first time that they're naked.

(The expulsion from the Garden then represents having to leave the protection of one's parents and earn one's own way. Note Genesis 3:22-3 where God states [his] reasons for the expulsion. Note in particular that those reasons have nothing to do with disobedience, sin, death or anything similar.)

It may instead have some folkloric meaning that's obscure now; but that's the best I can make of it. What is certain is that it's not about the fall of man or anything like that.

 

[DNB]

Some claim it was an apple, some claim a fig but from what I understand the bible doesn't mention what it was, its just called the forbidden fruit

Is this an example of not knowing so the blank is filled in by what we think or what it might be.

I wonder how much of the bible is/has been interpreted that way.

It is not specified, therefore it is not to be speculated on. The type of fruit that was borne from the Tree of Good and Evil has absolutely no bearing on the principle of the story, and can only lead to foolishness and embarrassment in attempting to deduce both the type of fruit that it was, and the significance of it being of a particular classification or type..

 

[Kooky]

I believe it was Kierkegaard who argued that the point where Adam and Eve truly lost their innocence was not when they ate the Forbidden Fruit, or when they allowed themselves to be tempted by the snake; but rather, they lost their innocence at the exact point when they had been commanded by God to not eat the fruit.

By giving them an order which they could either obey or disobey, they had been introduced to the idea of choice and consequence - in short, the idea of freedom and free will. Before that point, they had simply obeyed without thinking; but once they were given a choice, they had the option to choose whether to obey or not.

Eating the fruit, then, was not the point when they lost their innocence or when they sinned; the choice to eat the fruit or not had already introduced the capacity to sin, and the capacity to express their individual freedom in that sin.

Following this argument, the true "original sin" was not disobedience - it was the freedom of choice.

 

[sun rise]

Two great posts that I'll echo:

The point of the allegory is it signifies Man becoming morally aware and thereby losing his innocence, just as a child becomes aware of good and bad and is then treated accordingly, instead of being indulged as too young to know the difference. It's a story of loss of innocence.

Thus infancy is represented by the ignorance of Adam and Eve about good and evil.

 

[Sheldon]

While the smell is bad, it supposedly taste good.

You have to wonder who was first to take a chance on it?

**mod edit**

Almost as baffling as a deity with omniscience putting a fruit tree right in harms way. Then losing the plot when things go...well exactly as it knew they would???

 

[Psalm23]

Alright already! Why does it always fall to me to clear up these abstruse questions of philosophy?
It was a pomegranate.

Thank you for clearing it up.

 

[exchemist]

Pomegranate is my guess: partly edible, partly not. If you touch it stains your fingers. Its also one of the decorations used for the tabernacle (tent of meeting). Bells and pomegranates, not bells and apples.

That fruit certainly has a fateful resonance, if you think of poor Persephone.

I once visited the spot, near Enna in Sicily, where she is supposed to have gone down to the underworld. There is a small lake there.

 

[We Never Know]

Some claim it was an apple, some claim a fig but from what I understand the bible doesn't mention what it was, its just called the forbidden fruit

Is this an example of not knowing so the blank is filled in by what we think or what it might be.

I wonder how much of the bible is/has been interpreted that way.

Well so far we have several fruits named, vines and trees, and not a fruit at all. Yet we still are at we don't know or are not sure what it was.

All the different answers are interesting. Thanks folks.

 

[The Hammer]

I've heard the reason is because a cut apple makes a 5-point star design.
Some who practice witchcraft use a 5-point star design thus the connection to the forbidden fruit and Satan.

Using the 5 point star in association with witchcraft is a modern invention.

"Christians once commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Jesus. "

Pentagram - Wikipedia

 

[rational experiences]

Earth O planet existed
Heavens existed

Man and woman existed living on earth in life support of real food in nature.

Back then first we did not eat animals.

In science science said the heavens owned signals. Men had to think about it. Proving no God created man Thesis.

You have to live to think to theory what existed.

I live by holy tree of life extra input oxygen. Oxygenation....gods nation the holy gardens tree. Science of man said.

Nothing to do with science. Natural human first.

Sine signals existed. Fruit shaped. So you look at what designs men of science drew. Apple shaped signals. Other fruit signals in the sine. Science of man thought by living men.

Then he says man theoried science involving nothing. As man already owned everything.

He had dominion on earth.

He theoried universal Dominion instead. Life's destroyer.

Earths sines got destroyed he burnt earths gases by machine used reactions of god earth dusts.

He made sin holes.

So as man described his evils men said.
SINE first.
SIN fallout I caused in science.
SINK. ...K old constant symbol formed masses of holes in gods body

I did it myself said men of science.

So nature's tree life bush burnt also.

Food became scarce life starved in many nations. Tree garden forest obliterated.

We mutated became like animals in behaviours.

We healed re evolved. Humans with life status natural.

Life however still starved. Not much food where man burnt earths ground.

Man knew. Then said I own the food as control. So they copied the results. Said starve you poor men women I own food you must pay me as rich man greed.

Yet no man was ever a poor man or a slave. As God gave life freely to everyone and we shared nature's bountiful food

So see the rich greedy man who still to this day forces greed and human starvation and slavery upon equal life participants with God

Human being family. As yet the Rich man has not given up to his succession to force us into his slavery and to starve us just because he says he is the God.

Why church believers of the free life with god give food to the starving poor. As man is not God.

As the church was first founded on rock of God remaining solid. Fed the poor healed the sick with healing oil balms

Is not the same church founding fathers today.

The founding father was a spiritual man who loved all children as his own brothers family. But dedicated served the family by organised need.

Dedication and service.

Is not the father today who takes those childrens innocence away as proof man has left his service to spirituality.