Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 72
? and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. ” (Genesis 3:5) 99 65 There was nothing false about it. The tree had both the properties; it was the tree of life as well as of knowledge. That is, partaking of it gave life and also it gave the power to discriminate between good and evil. Thus Satan did not mislead Adam. It was God, as Bible would have us believe, who deceived him. Do we, on going further into this question, see that after eating, of the fruit of that tree, Adam and Eve died? They did not die. On the contrary they lived and the word of Satan "you will not die” came true and the word of God that “the day thou ate of it thou wouldst die" did not come true. Again, as the Bible says, after eating of the tree they began to know good and evil. According to the Bible, therefore, no fault lay with Adam, nor any blame attached to the Satan; God Himself was responsible for misleading them. Adam (peace be upon him) tried to discriminate between good and evil and to become a man. No one under the heavens would call it a sin. Adam tried to cultivate virtue and Satan warned him that God was misleading him when He had said that by partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge he would die, while he (Satan) pleaded Adam would not die but live and have the power to know good from evil on partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The Bible confirms that after eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree they grew wise and began to know evil from good.