GIG 248 - Freedom from the Religion Tree

According to one definition, "religion" means "to bind," as in being bound to a list of obligations. Religion was never meant to be how mankind lived, or how they related to God. Where did religion begin? This week we go back to the Garden of Eden, to the time when Adam and Eve chose "religion" by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Were Adam and Eve pursuing "sin" as we would call it today? Were they pursuing a certain form of "sinful" or "evil" behavior? Actually, the Tree wasn't just an "evil" tree. It was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good AND Evil. Their problem wasn't that they were pursuing "sin," but really that they were pursuing a form of godliness!

In the pursuit of the knowledge of good and evil, they were trying to be like God on their own - through their own sense of morality.  They were exchanging a free relationship with God for religion.  It became bondage for them, rather than providing further freedom.  And people still do the same today!  We have exchanged the life of freedom in Christ for a life of following moral obligations.

Some have referred to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as the "Morality Tree" or the "Religion Tree."  We need to get away from the bondage of this tree - living by our own morality and religion - and get back to the Tree of Life!

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