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The Three Trees

The Three Trees

Last updated on: July 21, 2026 at 2:55 pm by Dorian Scott Cole

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The Three Trees 2026-07-21T14:55:13-06:00 Dorian Scott Cole

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Open and Relational Theology & Social Psychology

The 60-Second Read
From Paralysis to Cultivation: The Architecture of Forgiveness

The Burden of Knowing: In our narrative, “knowing” isn’t intellectual; it’s experiential. When we step out of innocence into the world of choice, we inevitably face the weight of our own mistakes. This realization often leads to paralysis—a state where guilt and shame make us feel too exposed to act or create.

The Insight: Being paralyzed by shame is a form of spiritual and creative death. We hide behind “fig leaves” of our own making—blame, denial, or withdrawal—hoping to mask our vulnerability. However, the story of the “Trees” suggests that we aren’t meant to remain in hiding. We were designed to be curious co-creators who learn through the “school of hard knocks.”

The Action: Forgiveness is the “divine covering” that replaces our flimsy defenses. It isn’t just a legal pardon; it is the release valve that ends paralysis. By accepting grace, we are freed to stop hiding and start cultivating. Meaning is found when we take our experiential knowledge of good and evil and use it to plant new life in the “bitter ground” of the world.

Themes: Experiential Knowing, Creative Agency, and the Psychology of Grace.

The Series:

The Three Trees in the Bible: The Tree of Life, The Tree of Good and Evil, The “tree” of Christ: the Cross
The song, Three Trees, that I created to accompany this series, on YouTube and soon to be in distribution on music channels.

Chapter 1 – The Tree Bites Back

Adam and Eve had many discussions about their role with God. It always began with, “Why was such a lowly creature as humanity chosen to be with God?”

“I don’t understand any of this,” Adam said to Eve. “The garden was very beautiful and our walks with God were beyond any possible love. But why can’t we go out into the world? And why is this one tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, forbidden to us?”

Eve sighed because they had talked about this so often. “How can we know? What does it even mean that we will die if we eat from it?”

“Perhaps we should eat from it so we will know,” Adam replied. “Maybe we can be more help to God if we know the knowledge of good and evil.”

The serpent moved among them, listening, and when Eve was by herself they began to talk. Eve listened to the serpent because it was known as the wisest of all the animals, and it was shrewd, even crafty. “You surely will not die!” the serpent hissed. “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Wasn’t this a desirable thing, to be like God? Eve wondered. God must be overly-protective of them. God should let them explore. Eating the fruit must be the answer so that they could help God. And besides, she and Adam were very curious about the land and the nature of things. Would they not be able to tend the garden better if they were like God? Couldn’t they make the garden even bigger in the world? Surely the serpent must be right! She took a bite of the fruit and gave Adam a bite.

Their spines trembled in fear from knowing they had disobeyed God. Guilt and shame flooded over them. They understood immediately the weight of their decision and how it made them feel exposed. They hid. They were paralyzed by their realization of the wrong they had done, and they didn’t just feel guilty, they felt ashamed. Before they had nothing to hide. Now they were vulnerable and wanted to cover themselves to hide from their guilt. They were paralyzed into inaction.

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings… They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Adam was paralyzed in fear of God’s accusing glare. He couldn’t take it. He pointed to Eve as the guilty party. In turn, Eve blamed the serpent. God recognized this as enmity that would remain between them and divide them. God let it be. It was part of the burden of knowing good from evil.

So God punished the serpent for its half-truth, which God knew all along would happen. People were meant to be the wisest, not serpents. And this was the first lesson in telling the truth, not half-truths.

Then, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” So they were covered not by their own shame-driven devices—flimsy fig leaves—but by the grace of God, the ultimate covering that removes guilt and shame.

God smiled and winked at his archangels. “I knew they would bite. I made them to be very curious about everything, and very creative. Now they will be not just my beautiful creation like a painting, not just my friends, but now they will learn everything about good and evil and be more creatively useful to me and each other.”

After talking to Adam and Eve about what they had done, he turned to the heavenly hosts, “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’— therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.”

As Adam and Eve left the garden their hearts were heavy, burdened by the idea they could offend God by hurting others and even each other. And worst of all, they were separated from God. The wind was cold. The ground was hard and difficult to till. Weeds destroyed their harvest. And there was enmity between them.

“But,” the archangels objected, “They are beautiful innocent creatures. Why would you push them into the difficult and bitter world?”

God admired his archangels for they were full of love and couldn’t bear to see suffering. “They have been in the nursery long enough. I will put them in the school of hard knocks. Only through the experience of good and evil will they come to see that my ways are best and also come to fully know my love.”

“But they won’t have the Tree of Life!”

“They will rediscover the Tree of Life,” God said, “branch by branch.”

“And if they go in the desert, they won’t have the water that flows into the entire world!”

“They will have it everywhere they go,” God said, gesturing toward the shimmering line where the river met the edge of the world. “Except in the desert, which is the desert of their souls. My Prophet, Ezekiel, who is to come, will talk about how the river grows wider as it leaves the new Temple, which is the people. The people will be my Temple. They will be like a river that flows wider and wider until everyone knows my love for all of them. I will be in their heart and they will know my law of love. Then Jesus, my Son, will talk about giving people living water, which is my Word of Love that nourishes their spirit. Water is life and they will always find it if they seek it.”

“Then we will watch over them.”

God smiled in approval. “You are, indeed, my angels. Yet they will bring calamities on themselves and each other in their quest to know good from evil, which we cannot stop.”

With this statement God laid out the course for humanity: People will learn the knowledge of good and evil, but that path will also return them to the Tree of Life.

Then God said, “They are my people. They will always be my people. No matter what they do I will forgive them. They will be mine, they will love all creation as I do as their domain to control, and be co-creators.”

This story is a bit of fiction to help explain my theological approach to the Garden of Eden story. It’s typically interpreted as “the fall.” The phrase “Fall of Man” does not appear anywhere in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). The Jewish interpretation is that they wanted to help God. My interpretation is that experiential learning is endemic to spiritual growth and that we are curious about everything and experiment. This is not a fall, but a lift toward experience, understanding, and perfection. The words I “put in God’s mouth” are not in the Bible, but are simply an interpretation for understanding.

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Our answer is God. God’s answer is us. Together we make the world better.

Author’s Website with life and spiritual resources: Dorian Scott Cole .com