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195 - Adam 19 - The LORD God expelled Adam from the Garden of Eden
Texts -- BIBLE: Genesis 3:22-24 ---- CHANGED in KORAN: Suras al-Baqara 2:36 -- al-A'raf 7:24+27 -- Ta Ha 20:123
Contrast 1 -- BIBLE: Yahweh then said. “Adam has become like one of us, knowing what is good and evil.” -- KORAN: This is OMITTED in the Koran, for Allah cannot be compared to anything or anybody. >> Meaning >> BIBLE: This statement shows that the image of God, according to which Adam and his wife were created, did not disappear from them after their sin. This is why God could become human. By referring to himself in the plural, Yahweh here hints at his tri-une nature as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. -- KORAN: This statement was OMITTED in the Koran. Adam was NOT created in the image of God; therefore, he can NEVER be like Allah in any way. For the Koran teaches: “Nothing is like unto him (i.e. Allah)” (Sura 42:11). This is why according to the Koran Allah can NEVER become human, like Jesus did, when he was born in Bethlehem.
Contrast 2 -- BIBLE: Yahweh was concerned that Adam would stretch out his hand and take from the Tree of Life and eat and live forever. -- KORAN: This was OMITTED in the Koran. There is NO Tree of Life in the Koran. >> Meaning >> BIBLE: Yahweh was not against Adam living forever, otherwise he would not have planted the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden of Eden. He was here only concerned about his holiness, i.e. his spiritual purity. Through the sin of Adam and Eve they became spiritually impure. Their impurity made it impossible for them to remain connected to God. God later on had to develop a new way for the descendants of Adam to be reconnected to him in spite of their sin. This was revealed in the Torah and the Gospel. Christ carried the punishment of our sin and became our atoning sacrifice, like the sin offerings in the Torah. His blood cleanses us from all impurity. Therefore, through him we again can be connected to God and his eternal life, without jeopardizing the holiness of God. Jesus Christ thus is our Tree of Life. -- KORAN: All this is OMITTED in the Koran. Allah NEVER planted a Tree of Life in the Jannah garden. Also, there is hardly ANY mention of Allah's holiness in the Koran. The nature and result of holiness are also MISSING in the Koran. And the Koran OMITTED nearly all references to atonement. Therefore, the Koran is consistent in not talking about the Tree of Life here. But tragically this means that in the Koran there is NO Tree of Life to eat from to secure eternal life. This is only found in Jesus Christ and his Gospel.
Contrast 3 -- BIBLE: Yahweh then had Adam sent out of the Garden of Eden to cultivate the earth, from which he was taken. -- KORAN: Allah referring to himself revealed in the Koran: “We said, ‘Go down! Be enemies to each other. On earth you have your abode and enjoyment.’ ” (2:36 and 7:24) >> Meaning >> BIBLE: The sin of Adam made permanent fellowship with Yahweh no longer possible. Therefore, he had to be expelled from the Garden of Eden. His task was now no longer to cultivate the Garden, which Yahweh had planted, but the barren ground, from which Adam was taken. Here Adam got to taste the fruit of his rebellion against Yahweh. However, Yahweh did NOT command Adam and Eve to be each other's enemies. -- KORAN: Something similar is found in the Koran. However, there are also differences: Allah did NOT have somebody else expel Adam from the Garden, but he himself commanded Adam and his mate to descend. “Descend from it!” is a vague command: Where was the Jannah garden? Was it on a mountain, or between heaven and earth, or in the lowest heaven, so that one could descend from it? Also, Adam and his wife were to be each other's enemies. It is not clear from the text if the enmity also encompassed the Devil. This is a terrible reality in the Koran, for here marriage is ultimately strife by Allah's design. Allah did NOT place Adam on earth to cultivate it, but to live there and enjoy it. And there is NO mention here of Adam being created from earth.
Contrast 4 -- BIBLE: Yahweh then drove out Adam and he lived to the east of the Garden of Eden. Also, Yahweh placed Cherubim (angels) with blank, cutting swords to guard the way to the Tree of Life. -- KORAN: Here Adam's Lord (i.e. Allah) just commanded, “Go down from it!” (20:123) >> Meaning >> BIBLE: The result of all the preceding was that Yahweh drove out Adam. Again, a geographical location is given on earth, as to where Adam lived: to the east of the Garden. From this it is clear that the Garden of Eden was on earth, and not at an unknown place above the earth. The Cherubim are the angels, which administer the holiness, i.e. the spiritual purity of Yahweh. Their job was to make it impossible for the now spiritually impure Adam or his descendants to get to the center of the Garden of Eden, where the Tree of Life was located. This Tree of Life is equally holy, just as God is. -- KORAN: Nearly all of this was OMITTED in the Koran. There we only find the obscure command: “Go down from it!” We find NO geographical details, NO Cherubim and NO way to the Tree of Life. All this for the reasons mentioned in earlier points above.
SUMMARY -- BIBLE: We are like God, therefore we can become children of God. -- KORAN: There is NO way to become children of God. /// BIBLE: There is a Tree of Life, therefore we can have eternal life. -- KORAN: There is NO eternal life for us with Allah. /// BIBLE: Sin implicitly brings separation from God's holiness. -- KORAN: There is NO connection to Allah's holiness here. /// BIBLE: There is no human way to the Tree of Life. Only God can open a way there. He did this in Jesus Christ. Christ is the only way to the Tree of Life. -- KORAN: There is NO Tree of Life or way to it in the Koran. Also, Allah NEVER opens a way to eternal life with him.