{"id":2618,"date":"2016-04-13T08:56:51","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T14:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?p=2618"},"modified":"2016-04-13T08:56:51","modified_gmt":"2016-04-13T14:56:51","slug":"this-generations-forbidden-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/this-generations-forbidden-fruit\/","title":{"rendered":"This generation&#8217;s forbidden fruit"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><em><big>\u201cThroughout history there has always been a tree in the middle of the garden. It\u2019s there in the garden of our world. In the garden of our society. In the garden of our nation. In the garden of our community. In the garden of our families. In the garden of our hearts.\u00a0<\/big><\/em><big><em>There\u2019s always a tree.<\/em>\u201c<\/big><\/p>\n<p><strong>Paul Wilkinson<\/strong> wrote an amazing blog post at <em><a href=\"https:\/\/paulwilkinson.wordpress.com\/2016\/04\/07\/every-generation-has-its-tree-in-the-garden\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Thinking Out Loud<\/a><\/em> about this current generation \u2013 and the one prior \u2013 and every generation since the dawn of time.<\/p>\n<p>Adam and Eve had their tree, the one thing they weren\u2019t supposed to touch. And Wilkinson contends that every generation since has had its forbidden fruit.<\/p>\n<p>Read this and let me know what you think our tree in the garden is?<\/p>\n<p>***************<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"cBvruNHId2\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/paulwilkinson.wordpress.com\/2016\/04\/07\/every-generation-has-its-tree-in-the-garden\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Every Generation Has its Tree in the\u00a0Garden<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cEvery Generation Has its Tree in the\u00a0Garden\u201d \u2014 Thinking Out Loud\" src=\"https:\/\/paulwilkinson.wordpress.com\/2016\/04\/07\/every-generation-has-its-tree-in-the-garden\/embed\/#?secret=GCSg5caoQz#?secret=cBvruNHId2\" data-secret=\"cBvruNHId2\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>by Paul Wilkinson<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It was a simple test. Other than this, you can do anything you want to, just don\u2019t touch that tree over there. Yeah, that one.<\/p>\n<p>Adam and Eve lived in less complex times. It was a good time to be alive if you were bad at remembering peoples\u2019 names. Or not so good at history. And the only moral law they had was \u201cThe One Commandments.\u201d <em>Thou shalt not<\/em> touch the fruit of the tree in the middle.<\/p>\n<p>You know the tree. The one that looks so inviting. The one thing you can\u2019t have. The big fluffy tree that\u2019s like a giant \u201cWet Paint\u201d sign that\u2019s just begging you to touch your finger to it. Except they didn\u2019t have paint back then.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, you know how that story ended.<\/p>\n<p>I believe that throughout history <strong>there has always been a tree in the middle of the garden<\/strong>. It\u2019s there in the garden of our world. In the garden of our society. In the garden of our nation. In the garden of our community. In the garden of our families. In the garden of our hearts.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s always a tree.<\/p>\n<p>The warning not to touch its fruit is given to some by direct command, though others believe that the idea of not tasting of its bounty is written on the hearts of people; they simply <em>know.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Some people say that <em>everyone <\/em>knows this, some people think people do need to be commanded, to have it spelled out for them; while others spend long hours drinking hot beverages wondering what then of the people who haven\u2019t heard of the command.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases, there is always one large tree to confront. In other cases there are several trees which must be avoided. Some reach a point where they simply lose interest in the forbidden fruit, it no longer tempts them, only to find themselves looking squarely at another tree, which holds a similar prohibition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy, when I have lived my whole life never having been tempted to touch the tree in the middle of the garden, do I find myself now, at this stage of life, looking squarely at another tree in another part of the garden which is so very captivating, but apparently so equally off limits?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many, therefore, succumb.<\/p>\n<h3>\u201cStay away from all trees\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>Meanwhile others say there are no trees that are verboten. The time of such restrictions has passed, and one is free to enjoy all the fruit of all the trees. They entice others to eat, and the penalty for such as trespass doesn\u2019t seem to befall these, though the eating of the fruit <em>does <\/em>leave a kind of stomach ache that lasts for a long, long, long, time.<\/p>\n<p>At the other extreme are those who manage to transcend all of the temptations and all of the trees. These people enjoy a kind of regret-free, stomach-ache free existence. They are above such weaknesses. They don\u2019t eat the fruit. They don\u2019t touch the tree. They stay away from all the trees in all the gardens that might be simply wrong to taste, touch or even look back on.<\/p>\n<p>They are however, rather quick to condemn those who who do succumb. \u201cWe warned them;\u201d they say. \u201cWe put up signs that pointed people to the other trees; the safe, practical trees; the open spaces free of vegetation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They do this, not realizing, that <em>their response <\/em>is their tree.<\/p>\n<p>Their careful analysis of the condition of gardens inhabited by weak people who do in fact stumble, who do in fact fail; their commentary on the nature of human weakness; their lack of compassion for those who have been unable to resist the appeal of the tree and its fruit\u2026 somehow\u2026 in some way\u2026 that became <em>their tree.<a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/580\/2016\/04\/IMG_9994.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2619\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-2619 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/580\/2016\/04\/IMG_9994-282x300.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_9994\" width=\"282\" height=\"300\"><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>They have gazed at it. They have touched its trunk, its branches and its leaves. They have tasted its fruit.<\/p>\n<p>They are really no different.<\/p>\n<p>For all have missed it; coming up short in understanding of the true nature of the creator and his expectations.<\/p>\n<p><em>They forgot to look at the tree they were standing next to all along.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Xp3Dld0Fxz\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/paulwilkinson.wordpress.com\/2016\/04\/07\/every-generation-has-its-tree-in-the-garden\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Every Generation Has its Tree in the\u00a0Garden<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cEvery Generation Has its Tree in the\u00a0Garden\u201d \u2014 Thinking Out Loud\" src=\"https:\/\/paulwilkinson.wordpress.com\/2016\/04\/07\/every-generation-has-its-tree-in-the-garden\/embed\/#?secret=E0QRspbQYq#?secret=Xp3Dld0Fxz\" data-secret=\"Xp3Dld0Fxz\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThroughout history there has always been a tree in the middle of the garden. It\u2019s there in the garden of our world. In the garden of our society. In the garden of our nation. In the garden of our community. In the garden of our families. In the garden of our hearts.\u00a0There\u2019s always a tree.\u201c [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2375,"featured_media":2619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This generation&#039;s forbidden fruit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;Throughout history there has always been a tree in the middle of the garden. It\u2019s there in the garden of our world. In the garden of our society. 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