Bible, said to be a 'revealed' literature, contains many myths (eg. Genesis 1-13) and other unscientific and non-historic narratives. May be that it was not the intention of the authors to write such a scientific or historic record of things.
But that doesn't mean that we disregard that great literary treasure. It need to be understood in our context from our own perspectives for the growth and welfare of humanity for which it was written more than anything else.
The tree of knowledge in todays' first reading might have been an attempt to answer the question of evil present in our lives along with good. "Ignorance is bliss", so goes a saying! May be that some people feel knowledge to be a curse. That is why the tree of knowledge which was forbidden to be eaten!
And it is the discerning power which makes us to choose between the good and bad. Some people consider this great gift also as a burden. That is why one of the phiolosophers has said that, 'Man is condemned to choose...'
Knowledge and freedom are indeed two great gifts to mankind, provided we use it for our own growth and that of mankind. Those people who consider them a curse, might have wanted an answer to such questions and hence this kind of narratives in the Bible.
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