1: Is the Garden of Eden on Earth, as depicted in Episodes 1-3, or is it a heavenly paradise from which Adam and Eve are sent to Earth? According to Surah 2:36: ‘Then Satan caused them both to slip from there, and go out from where they were. And We said, “Go down, some of you an enemy to others! The earth is a dwelling place for you, and enjoyment (of life) for a time.’
While the Qu’ran describes the Garden of Eden as a heavenly paradise from which Adam and Eve are sent down to earth, in the original Biblical story Eden and it’s garden are both places on the earth.
The Qu’ran depicts ‘the Earth’ as the place to which Adam and Eve and Satan ‘go down’ after Satan ‘caused’ Adam and Eve ‘to slip’ (Surah 2:36). Moreover, theologian Matthew Bennett observes that: ‘In the Qur’an, the earth is a temporary place of testing. Once the test is completed, humanity will reside in the fires of hell or in the pleasures of the heavenly garden [Surah 29:57-59].’ Hence: ‘In Islam . . . humans first inhabited a heavenly garden from which they are their adversary were cast down.’ In the Bible, it is clear that the garden of Eden is on the Earth (Genesis 2:8).
2. What is ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?’
In Genesis, the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ represents the sinful choice to live as if the creature can flourish without abiding by the wisdom of the Creator. Like the ‘tree of life’, this ‘tree’ may be a real tree in the garden of Eden that imbued with a symbolic significance by God’s commands to Adam, or it may be a figurative symbol.
In the original story told in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve are exiled from the garden of Eden after they eat from ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ (Genesis 2:9, 16-17), so that they cannot eat from the ‘tree of life’ (Genesis 3:22-23). The tree of life is also mentioned three times in the New Testament book of Revelation (in chapter 22:2, 14 & 19), where it represents the culmination of the eternal life that flows from God to forgiven humans. In Genesis 2-3, these two ‘trees’ may be real trees imbued with a symbolic significance by God’s commands, or they may be figurative symbols. Either way: ‘The tree of life represents being a part of the kingdom of God – choosing to live in his presence and living a life that reflected the image of God. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the opposite – following the wisdom of men and living for oneself.’ Although it goes un-named in the Qur’an, it would seem that ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ is the assumed reference of the warning said to be issued by God to Adam in Surah 7:19: ‘Adam, inhabit the Garden, you and your wife, and eat freely of whatever you please, but do not go near this tree, or you will both be among the evildoers.’ In which case, the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ is the assumed subject of Surah 7:20: ‘Then Satan whispered to them both . . . “Your Lord has only forbidden you both from this tree to keep you both from becoming two angels, or from becoming two of the immortals.”’ Thus the Qur’an portrays Adam and his wife as tasting ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ after being deceived by Satan into mistakenly thinking it is the tree of life and that eating it will turn them into immortals. In Genesis, Adam and Eve eat of ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ precisely because they recognize it as ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’.
3: When episode 3 says that ‘Little by little, the Creator will reveal his plan from the prophets, God’s great messengers here on the Earth’, is it suggesting Adam was not one of the prophets?
While the Bible doesn’t call Adam a prophet, it describes him as a prophet, in the sense that he received and passed along God’s revelation.
Not necessarily. The Bible certainly describes Adam as someone who both received revelation from God and passed it along (to Eve). Indeed, although Adam isn’t referred to as ‘a prophet’ in the Bible, he is clearly described there as filling roles associated with the titles of prophet, priest and king.
4: Why does God ask Adam and Eve to sacrifice animals to him as ‘an offering of innocence to the Creator to make up for the mistake of the guilty’?
This is another instance of artistic interpretation in the Legacy of Adam series. Christians see the focal point of this biblical theme in Jesus’ (historical) death by crucifixion as a sacrifice for sin. There is no agreed understanding of offering a sacrifice for sin in Christian theology. However, Christians accept forgiveness for sin as a divine gift, rather than something that can be earned by human effort or merit.
Islam views human sin as a failure to live in accordance with God’s commands that is caused by natural human forgetfulness, or liability to deception. Hence the appropriate response to human sin, according to Islam, is for God to make his will known (via prophetic revelation) so that humans might submit to it. Christianity sees human sin as the relationship-disrupting result of an inner tendency to pursue what they desire even when they recognize the desire and/or its pursuit as wrong (a tendency Christians call ‘original sin’). Hence the appropriate response to human sin, according to the Bible, is not merely the revelation of God’s will, but God’s love that forgives repentant humans by self-sacrificially bearing the burden of their sins, an expression of divine love that then motivates humans to follow God’s will out of reciprocal love rather than mere duty or self-interest. In the words of the apostle John: ‘love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.’ (1 John 4:10-11) As theologian Matthew Bennett explains:
Within Islam . . . the relationship between God and humanity is not so intimate that it would require God to provide anything beyond knowledge of his law. The human-divine relationship is one of master and servant, lord and slave . . . Salvation or redemption, then, is not an issue of being restored into relationship, but rather functioning properly in light of one’s status as servant.
However: Christian theology views humans as creatures designed for an intimate, personal relationship with God. Human sins make this relationship untenable apart from God’s provision of a means of atonement. In other words, the solution to this estrangement must be a divine act in which God redeems humanity, taking away their sin and impurity, and restoring them to a state of righteousness.
While Christians understand the biblical concepts of sacrifice and atonement in a number of different ways, they agree that forgiveness for sin is a divine gift to be gratefully received rather than something that can be earned by sufficient human effort or merit; and they agree in seeing the focal point of this biblical theme in Jesus’ (historically established) death by crucifixion.
While the Qu’ran describes the Garden of Eden as a heavenly paradise from which Adam and Eve are sent down to earth, in the original Biblical story Eden and it’s garden are both places on the earth.
The Qu’ran depicts ‘the Earth’ as the place to which Adam and Eve and Satan ‘go down’ after Satan ‘caused’ Adam and Eve ‘to slip’ (Surah 2:36). Moreover, theologian Matthew Bennett observes that: ‘In the Qur’an, the earth is a temporary place of testing. Once the test is completed, humanity will reside in the fires of hell or in the pleasures of the heavenly garden [Surah 29:57-59].’ Hence: ‘In Islam . . . humans first inhabited a heavenly garden from which they are their adversary were cast down.’ In the Bible, it is clear that the garden of Eden is on the Earth (Genesis 2:8).
2. What is ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?’
In Genesis, the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ represents the sinful choice to live as if the creature can flourish without abiding by the wisdom of the Creator. Like the ‘tree of life’, this ‘tree’ may be a real tree in the garden of Eden that imbued with a symbolic significance by God’s commands to Adam, or it may be a figurative symbol.
In the original story told in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve are exiled from the garden of Eden after they eat from ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ (Genesis 2:9, 16-17), so that they cannot eat from the ‘tree of life’ (Genesis 3:22-23). The tree of life is also mentioned three times in the New Testament book of Revelation (in chapter 22:2, 14 & 19), where it represents the culmination of the eternal life that flows from God to forgiven humans. In Genesis 2-3, these two ‘trees’ may be real trees imbued with a symbolic significance by God’s commands, or they may be figurative symbols. Either way: ‘The tree of life represents being a part of the kingdom of God – choosing to live in his presence and living a life that reflected the image of God. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the opposite – following the wisdom of men and living for oneself.’ Although it goes un-named in the Qur’an, it would seem that ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ is the assumed reference of the warning said to be issued by God to Adam in Surah 7:19: ‘Adam, inhabit the Garden, you and your wife, and eat freely of whatever you please, but do not go near this tree, or you will both be among the evildoers.’ In which case, the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ is the assumed subject of Surah 7:20: ‘Then Satan whispered to them both . . . “Your Lord has only forbidden you both from this tree to keep you both from becoming two angels, or from becoming two of the immortals.”’ Thus the Qur’an portrays Adam and his wife as tasting ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ after being deceived by Satan into mistakenly thinking it is the tree of life and that eating it will turn them into immortals. In Genesis, Adam and Eve eat of ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ precisely because they recognize it as ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’.
3: When episode 3 says that ‘Little by little, the Creator will reveal his plan from the prophets, God’s great messengers here on the Earth’, is it suggesting Adam was not one of the prophets?
While the Bible doesn’t call Adam a prophet, it describes him as a prophet, in the sense that he received and passed along God’s revelation.
Not necessarily. The Bible certainly describes Adam as someone who both received revelation from God and passed it along (to Eve). Indeed, although Adam isn’t referred to as ‘a prophet’ in the Bible, he is clearly described there as filling roles associated with the titles of prophet, priest and king.
4: Why does God ask Adam and Eve to sacrifice animals to him as ‘an offering of innocence to the Creator to make up for the mistake of the guilty’?
This is another instance of artistic interpretation in the Legacy of Adam series. Christians see the focal point of this biblical theme in Jesus’ (historical) death by crucifixion as a sacrifice for sin. There is no agreed understanding of offering a sacrifice for sin in Christian theology. However, Christians accept forgiveness for sin as a divine gift, rather than something that can be earned by human effort or merit.
Islam views human sin as a failure to live in accordance with God’s commands that is caused by natural human forgetfulness, or liability to deception. Hence the appropriate response to human sin, according to Islam, is for God to make his will known (via prophetic revelation) so that humans might submit to it. Christianity sees human sin as the relationship-disrupting result of an inner tendency to pursue what they desire even when they recognize the desire and/or its pursuit as wrong (a tendency Christians call ‘original sin’). Hence the appropriate response to human sin, according to the Bible, is not merely the revelation of God’s will, but God’s love that forgives repentant humans by self-sacrificially bearing the burden of their sins, an expression of divine love that then motivates humans to follow God’s will out of reciprocal love rather than mere duty or self-interest. In the words of the apostle John: ‘love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.’ (1 John 4:10-11) As theologian Matthew Bennett explains:
Within Islam . . . the relationship between God and humanity is not so intimate that it would require God to provide anything beyond knowledge of his law. The human-divine relationship is one of master and servant, lord and slave . . . Salvation or redemption, then, is not an issue of being restored into relationship, but rather functioning properly in light of one’s status as servant.
However: Christian theology views humans as creatures designed for an intimate, personal relationship with God. Human sins make this relationship untenable apart from God’s provision of a means of atonement. In other words, the solution to this estrangement must be a divine act in which God redeems humanity, taking away their sin and impurity, and restoring them to a state of righteousness.
While Christians understand the biblical concepts of sacrifice and atonement in a number of different ways, they agree that forgiveness for sin is a divine gift to be gratefully received rather than something that can be earned by sufficient human effort or merit; and they agree in seeing the focal point of this biblical theme in Jesus’ (historically established) death by crucifixion.
