We are so influenced by those big, blue, illustrated Bible Story books that are in doctors’ and dentists’ offices all over the Southeast. The most obvious example is how everyone thinks Adam and Eve ate an apple when they disobeyed God. The scriptures only that say it was the fruit of a tree.

Most also assume that Eden WAS the garden. No, Eden was an area and in that area was a garden. When God kicked them out of the garden it wasn’t like He was kicking them out of the neighborhood and into some foreign land, but more along the lines of being kicked out of the neighborhood Publix. They were still in Eden, just not allowed back into the produce department.

So assuming you believe the account of Genesis to be literally true, and from a systematic theological point of view, what were the two forbidden trees originally for and why were they forbidden?