Curiosity Killing More Than Just Cats

For some people, a list of 'do not do' is unnecessary.
For some others, it is sadly very necessary.
Either way, Law establishes the fact that man is called to responsible.
The Law clarifies man's dismal state.
A state not to be ignored, but also not to be one's main focus.

Curiosity can be a good thing.

Finding out how things work helps.

Discovering the lifecycle of plants and animals is something worth learning.

Learning what makes people happy another good thing.

Such knowledge can be very helpful.

Finding out what your spouse likes and dislikes, also very helpful.

Learning how best to talk to different people, according to how they understand the world, can make the difference between peace or war, love or hate.

Curiosity can also be problematic.

There are things that I've learned that, after coming to 'know' them, caused me trouble.

I wish I never came to 'know' certain things.

Consider the difference between knowledge that invites light and knowledge inviting darkness.

The drama that unfolded in the Garden of Eden shows how curiosity brought about trouble.

A curiosity to know good and evil.

A curiosity to 'be like God'.

Such desires seem to have overwhelmed the first man and woman.

Notice these desires still overwhelm people today.

Not 'knowing' certain things meant there was no shame, no anxiety, no worry, no trouble.

Trouble did come along with certain 'knowledge'.

It was in 'knowing' something that motivated Adam and Eve to 'hide' from God.

Consider how people still hide from God... but such is an impossibility.

It seems the warning of sure death was not enough to deter their curiosity.

Does death deter our curiosity?

How about the promise of life?

Later, after the first man and woman disobeyed that single 'do not do' regarding the eating of a certain fruit from a particular tree, they were restricted from eating the fruit of the tree of life.

Other consequences came along.

They were evicted from a place providing them food and enjoyment.

The man was previously tasked with some work and taking care of the garden.

But the eviction brought greater burdens.

Suffering before eventual death.

Perhaps it was meant for man to learn a few things prior to learning about good and evil.

Perhaps man was meant to experience other things prior to the plunge into evil's dissonance.

Perhaps learning evil not something to be desired, or a knowledge that was meant to come after eating from the tree of life.

Notice how, today, mankind has a seemingly default position in desiring to know evil.

To be able to identify it, to point it out, to perceive it.

I see lots of people focused on evil, on what is 'bad', and the negative side of things.

Religious and secular minds alike, all seem fixated on 'bad news' and atrocities; how evil man can be.

As if knowing evil assists in living life to the fullest.

I'm sure people can appreciate what is good when contrasting what is good with what is bad.

Does knowing every single dark thing come to know the light?

Maybe to a certain extent... maybe not at all.

Notice how more trouble comes when one learns the variety of ways evil is.

Temptation to 'do' evil comes after knowing it.

The more darkness one 'knows', the more troubling that knowledge becomes.

At least this has been my experience.

Think of a point in time where you had no idea what ____________ (fill in the blank) was.

Think of the time beforehand, when you were clueless... and then afterwards.

Some things I could put in that blank field are: 'masturbation', 'rape', 'molestation', 'drugs', 'divorce', 'murder', 'weapons', 'foul language', etc..

I have not committed all from that shortlist.

Some I have committed... after being taught it.

I learned from some other person, or from media, or on a school ground.

Some evil I've learned from people supposedly trustworthy.

The list that can fill the blank space is long and burdensome, shameful, a downward spiral of grand proportions.

Sure, evil and sins need to be identified when our conscience cannot tell the difference.

It is in learning what is 'wrong' that such knowledge can become a temptation.

The more storm clouds form when persistently looking for and identifying darkness.

This is why this is written:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things Above, where Christ is, seated at the Right Hand of God. 

Set your minds on things Above, not on earthly things. 

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 

When Christ, who is your Life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: 

sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 

- Colossians 3: 1-5

It is comforting to know that a certain death has occurred in the lives of the children of God.

Thus there is no fear when it comes to the death of the flesh, since the Spirit lives on forevermore.

The souls of the faithful do not experience a 'death' as do those who fear a fleshly death.

The following passage can be confusing for some minds.

It explains how, due to the knowledge of good and evil coming into the world and onto the conscience of mankind, reality can be challenging to deal with.

Thus, to learn one from the other becomes a task, a work.

Work that is a burden.

It expresses a way back to innocence, to a child-like heart.

This is why it is better to learn about and focus on the light than chasing after knowing many things... even what and how darkness works.

What shall we say, then? 

Is the Law sinful? 

Certainly not! 

Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the Law. 

For I would not have known what coveting really was if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 

But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. 

For apart from the Law, sin was dead. 

Once I was alive apart from the Law; 

but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 

I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 

For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 

So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. 

-  Romans 7: 7-12

The 'work' now is all spiritual.

An internal journey where the field of battle is found.

This is why the person truly at peace, who has submitted to God in all things, never considers physical violence as part of the 'Way'.

The violence is spiritual, and found within:

So I find this law at work: 

Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 

For in my inner being I delight in God’s Law; 

but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 

What a wretched man I am! 

Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Yeshua Christ our Lord! 

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s Law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. 

- Romans 7: 21-25

The victory has already been promised.

The work fulfilled in Yeshua the Lord our God.

Praised be His Holy Name!