The Deadly Knowledge

"Be Like God!"

The warning was genuine; its prediction accurate.  What they didn't know would hurt them if they came to know it.  History is the truth of this statement told again and again; first one way, and then another.

Our ancestors took hold of a Knowledge meant for someone greater than themselves, and it produced a fatal change in them.  That Knowledge is embedded in our very being now, written into our genetic code and passed irrevocably from one generation to the next.  Anyone with the capacity to reason can't avoid the drive to wield it.  And all humans who use it are subject to its deadly effects.

The essence of that deadly Knowledge is judgment.  To distinguish between good and evil (bad) is to judge.  And we can't seem to help judging everything we see:  "That's a good book!", "This is a bad egg", "What an evil look she gave me!".  

Think about how many times a day you use this ability.  On your way to work, the traffic is particularly heavy.  How do you feel?  Someone else gets the promotion you deserved and needed.  Is it all the same to you as if you'd gotten it?  A whole bunch of someones beat you to that particularly coveted sale item and cleaned out the rack.  What do you say?  Your child comes home from school in tears because of the harsh words of a teacher.  What string of judgments led to and stem from this event?  Can you possibly make it through a day without making an assessment of good or bad?  Try it!

The thing about us humans is that we keep believing we'll ultimately save ourselves through this power.  We think the final answer is just around the next philosophical corner, just under the next religious bush, just over the next governmental hill.  The quest for the final scientific discovery that will put an end to all our suffering is irresistible.  And yet it's all the very same dead horse in different guises, and no matter how hard we beat it, we will never overcome the fact that the Knowledge of Good and Evil can only end in death. 

However, it's not surprising that we believe as we do, considering the origin of this Knowledge's entry into our race.  The Spirit that presented it to humanity in the beginning corrupted himself by his insubordinate determination, "I will be like God!"; and he baited the trap for our innocent forebears with the very same morsel: "You will be like God, knowing good and evil."

But it's a step off a precipice.  Judgment immediately separates you from me, pits us against them, puts God out there and Adam somewhere out of his sight, in hiding.  Judgment brings awareness of our short-comings and fear of punishment.  Fear brings self-consciousness, defensiveness and accusing misdirection: "The woman you gave me..."  It doesn't matter whether this awareness of good and evil comes from our parents, our conscience, Congress, or the Ten Commandments (God Himself).  

History's Lesson

We've just about exhausted all the possibilities.

Nearly every imaginable form of religion has been tried.  Does any one of them lead beyond the predicted end?

Practically  every brand of government has had its time in the sun.  Each time the same rottenness infects, spreads, overwhelms, and destroys.

Just about every philosophy has tested its strength against the prevailing problem.  They all succumb in the end, fading from fashion with a receding whimper.  Let someone else come and try.  And come they do, endlessly and in vain.

Only a little time remains.  We await the final, greatest challengers.  

First will come the might of humanity united in violent opposition against the Ultimate Judge, ruling ourselves in violent licentiousness, refusing to let anyone be God besides ourselves.  This comer will be cut short in mercy, lest it completely self-destruct the race beyond recovery.

Afterward, we'll see the strongest evidence of all that the initial warning was true.  Even when the government is perfect in wisdom, judgment, and strength; even when the philosophy is both true and crystal clear; even when the physical and social environment is rich and nourishing; even when the goodness of God incarnate rules and invigorates the earth, death is at the core of humanity, bound to the dislocated knowledge of good and evil indwelling us.

Christ will ease his grip to allow the enemy to reveal himself one last time.  Then comes the last end and the final judgment before the new beginning and endless glory.

In every age, and in every way, it always ends the same.  The Knowledge of Good and Evil cannot bring life.  It always and only brings death.  For humanity, that's as far as this particular road can take us.