Two Trees

We sometimes forget the following: “In the middle of the garden stood the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” There were two trees! You can easily find them in this painting, although I won’t tell you which is which. One tree stands for the knowledge of good and evil, the other for eternal life. In my conversations with children and young people, one comment comes up again and again: “If it wasn’t allowed to eat from the tree, why did God plant it there in the first place?” This is often the starting point for great debates, and there are many good answers to this riddle—for example, that God intended to give Adam and Eve the fruit later (!), once they were more mature, just as good parents own kitchen knives but only hand them to their children when they are old enough.