The Biblical Forbidden Fruit

The title of my first eBook: “Extinguishing the Fires of Hell” might have seemed rather lame to many folks. Some others might have inferred that there’s a religious connotation to it. Well, I’m not particularly religious.  So, no, the origin of that title was just rooted in reality. Back then, with my near body wide adult eczema condition I had descended into absolute HELL on earth.  

If you’ve not experienced a severe episode of the eczema condition it will be difficult to appreciate just how nasty it can be.  It’s not at all like what I’ll call kid eczema. For a lot of kids (but not all) they’ll get a small, say coin sized, patch of dry skin here and there.  Although quite annoying, and not to minimize that, it’s still very livable.  Most importantly, it’s intermittent and most kids will “grow out” of it. So, they and their parents can just wait it out and confidently know they’ll get over it.

Whereas adult eczema is often in a whole other league of its own. In adults it can affect a much wider area of the body, and sometimes say even 50% – 80% of the body’s surface area at one time. Moreover, it can be much, much more severe than just a dry itchy patch of skin. No, the skin often disintegrates and breaks open. It’s much more like having an extreme body wide poison ivy rash, except one that may never go away.

For myself, I’d say I had it on about 40% of my upper body at one time. But it did “move around” and over time and it did affect pretty much every square inch of my skin. Only the soles of my feet and the palms of my hands were spared. The most severely affected areas were my face, backs of the hands, chest, upper back, and underarms. In most of these areas the skin was broken open, oozing lymph fluid, highly inflamed, itching and of course rather painful.  Most mornings my sheets were heavily spotted with dried blood. Something that many adults with severe eczema will relate to.

But the very worst of it was in my underarms, and upper back where the skin had turned into what I can only describe as a human-hamburger. Of course, under those conditions’ infections are just inevitable. I had some smelly yellow infection take over the skin on my hands, and doubly so in my underarms too. It was all made even worse by the chronic fatigue accompanied by this very weird insomnia. I say weird because on one hand you are incredibly tired, like unbelievably so, yet on the other hand you can’t sleep. Then, what little sleep you might get (say 1-2 hours a night) it is not at all restful.

All that sounds pretty bad, and yes it was. However, I knew I was dying so I didn’t even bother to go see my doctor regarding the infections. I also knew that with the skin in that condition any antibiotics would just be a temporary fix at best; but ultimately useless too.

Except here’s the thing, unlike kid eczema, most adults don’t grow out of it. I was told by my GP that I was going to have it for the rest of my life, and that it was only going to get worse. And, with my prior diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (with its own terminal prognosis) he had obviously written me off. Fair enough, that’s life.

At that time, I had contacted a manufacturer of phototherapy lamps for treating eczema and psoriasis. We had a nice long conversation, wherein he told me that when attending trade shows around the world he’d often hear case reports of adults and even young adults with eczema committing suicide over the condition.  

That was no surprise to me, like none at all.  Here you have people with their skin perpetually burning off and in continuous pain 24 hrs/day, week after week, month after month and they are being told by their doctors that it’s only going to get worse, and you’ll probably have it for the rest of your life too. Of course, with no end in sight, and no hope, some people decide to end it. 

I think the condition is a bit more tolerable for men because we are probably less concerned about our appearance. However, for a younger woman with the condition, often suffering in this relentless burning pain, and also having their face marred by a near-permanent blistering rash, that could just be too much.

So, yes, this is indeed a HELL on earth. Thus, the title of that eBook. 

What sent me into that HELL?  So-called vitamin A did!

Now, what was the Biblical Forbidden Fruit?

I think most people are aware of the Biblical Story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve are told by God not to eat the forbidden fruit of a particular tree.

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ 

Genesis 3 :2 (NKJV)

From my recollection of the story, there’s a further warning that if they do eat from the forbidden tree they’ll be banished from the garden and live for the rest of time in a burning hell, or something like that. That seems like a rather dire warning, and given the source, should not have been ignored.

As far as I know, biblical historians have not identified that particular fruit tree. However, given our background knowledge here, I think we can identify it rather quickly.  Firstly, in ancient times in the middle east there were probably not many species of viable fruit trees.  There would have been dates, figs, apples, pears, grapes, mangoes and maybe a few others.

Okay, based on what we now know: dates, figs, apples, pears, and grapes are all very low in vA. I think they are all really quite healthy too, albeit with a small concern regarding the pears. So, IMO these fruits are among the ones that are in the category of:

We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden”

God

Whereas, mangoes are very high in vA, at about 3,500 IU per fruit.  So, yes, regularly consuming mangoes for several years would definitely do the job. Especially so if it becomes a staple food in the diet. It’s just a matter of time, and people doing so will probably go on and develop adult eczema and a bunch of other horrible conditions. Without knowing where the condition came from, and assuming they kept on eating mangoes, they will indeed be cast into a burning HELL for the rest of time.

Next, there’s an even bigger clue here in that instruction from God. That’s this second part: nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Not only are Adam and Eve forbidden from eating the fruit they are told to not even touch it. Now, how can just touching a fruit be harmful? Well, usually it’s not, unless it is covered in urushiol (the poison ivy molecule).  And that’s exactly what’s on the peel of mangoes.

Mango Allergy: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment

Most people tend to be allergic to the urushiol oil in the peel of the mango. Because of this, it’s best to avoid the mango peel and the mango plant if you suspect you have this allergy. You may still be able to eat mango, as long as the peel is removed for you.

Verywell Health

https://www.verywellhealth.com › … › Symptoms

In addition to the high vA content, there’s also the contamination problem. Unlike the modern day harvesting of mangoes where the peel is washed and carefully separated from the fruit, people in ancient times would have had no knowledge about it. In eating the fruit, they would have no doubt contaminated the inner fruit with the urushiol oil from the peel. Thus, not only would they have it on their hands, face, and lips they’d be consuming some of the urushiol oil too. So, basically, they would have been directly consuming poison ivy and additionally slowly poisoning themselves with the high vA content of the fruit.  Yep, doing that is definitely going to quickly cast you down into a pit of pure burning HELL for all of eternity. 

Take-aways:

1. Don’t ignore the word of God.
2. The forbidden fruit: Mango

If you liked this post, you might find this one on the Roman dodecahedron  interesting.