Day 6: Life is a temporary assignment

I think it was Rosanne Barr (of all people) who I first heard say "we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience". That pretty much sums up the Day 6 chapter.

Perhaps I haven't had enough sleep but I found this chapter, shall we say ... uninspiring. It makes the point that life is all about getting to the after life. That nothing you do in this life will necessarily make your life better (eg John the Baptist ended up beheaded).

So we just have to put up and shut up because we will be happy in the after life? Its a bit "trust me, it will all work out" isn't it?

Thinking about this also reminded me a of question I was concerned with some time ago. In the Garden of Eden there was not one tree, there was two trees: the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. Adam and Eve were told not to eat from the tree of knowledge - which they did. So God gave them a range of punishments, and then kicked them out of the Garden of Eden, not as a punishment but so they could not eat from the tree of life:

Genesis 3: 22 -

God said, "The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never—this cannot happen!"

When did God change his mind about people living forever?