But of the tree of the Ye shall not surely die. knowledge of good and evil, For God doth know that in thou shalt not eat of it: for the day ye eat thereof, then in the day that thou eatest your eyes shall be opened, and thereof thou shalt surely ye shall be as gods, knowing die.* good and evil. ** * This was spoken to Adam alone, for as yet Eve was not created. See Genesis ii, 16, 17. ** Ibid. iii, 5. Which of the two speakers told the truth? Adam and Eve did not die on the day they ate of the tree, as God had said they would--Adam lived to be nine hundred years old--and their eyes were opened to know good and evil, just as the devil had predicted. We have already anticipated and answered the argument that when God said they would die on the day they ate of the forbidden tree, he meant they would become mortal. They were not immortal before they had tasted of the fruit, since God expelled them from Eden to prevent them from eating also of the tree of life and becoming immortal. To few of the readers of the bible has it ever occurred that the first commandment God ever gave to man practically made the acquisition of knowledge a crime. The truth is that the first commandment of every revealed religion is a "Thou shalt not know." According to Genesis, the Lord offered a Paradise to man on condition that he steer clear of knowledge. There has been considerable discussion as to the precise location of the Garden of Eden. But if we do not know where the Garden of Eden was, we know very well what it was. The Garden of Eden was--Ignorance. This is the Paradise which the revealed religions offer to man. To know is to be expelled from Paradise. After God had placed Adam in Paradise, that is to say, in a state of ignorance, he said to him: "Thou shalt not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge," threatening him at the same time with death on the day that he ate of the fruit of that tree. Everything else was permitted save the acquisition of knowledge. On the day that man opened his eyes he lost the paradise of the gods--Ignorance!