Christians have only vaguely understood from the Bible that the first human ancestors' eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was the root of sin. However, is the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil a literal fruit of a tree, or as in many other instances in the Bible, is it a metaphor or symbol? Divine Principle clearly shows that it is a symbol. Why would a God of love make such an attractive fruit that could entice His own beloved children to fall? (Gen. 3:6). By what Jesus said in Matt. 15:11, we might ask if something edible could cause a man to fall? Or is it possible that God would test man so mercilessly by a means that could cause his death merely to see whether or not he would obey Him? Neither possibility is likely. The fruit must symbolize something so extraordinarily stimulating and so ardently desired that even fear of death, of which God warned, could not deter Adam and Eve from eating.