by Perry Hall<\/p>\n
There’s always been two choices, two paths, two decisions.<\/p>\n
It started in the Garden of Eden. The enigmatic tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil can be understood simply: obeying God by not eating led to life and functioning as God intended-good, or eating led to death and dysfunction-evil.<\/p>\n
Moses taught the same:<\/p>\n
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 30:19 CSB).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
David comes along and writes a poetic version which begins the books of songs called Psalms:<\/p>\n
“How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night<\/em>” (Psalm 1:1-2 CSB).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
His son learned this lesson and wrote in a different fashion called proverbs:<\/p>\n
“There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death<\/em>” (Proverbs 14:12 CSB).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Much of Proverbs is devoted to the concepts of two paths.<\/p>\n
Jesus taught in parables this lesson in the Sermon on the Mount:<\/p>\n
“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it<\/em>” (Matthew 7:13-14 CSB).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Life can bring many difficult choices. To help make good decisions, bring it down to the bare minimum: Is it right or wrong?<\/p>\n
Remember these two sayings:<\/p>\n
\n
- It is never wrong to do the right thing.<\/li>\n
- When you don’t know what to do, do what you know is right to do.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
There’s two decisions. Always has been. Don’t let the world warp you thinking. There’s right and wrong, wisdom and chaos, life and death, Jesus and Satan.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Perry Hall There’s always been two choices, two paths, two decisions. It started in the Garden of Eden. The enigmatic tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil can be understood simply: obeying God by not eating led to life and functioning as God intended-good, or eating led to death and dysfunction-evil. Moses taught…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1644,199,38],"class_list":["post-70006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-choice","tag-ethics","tag-morality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7861,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-tree-of-life-different-from-the-tree-of-the-knowledge-of-good-and-evil\/","url_meta":{"origin":70006,"position":0},"title":"Was the tree of life different from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please bear with me. I am just recently in the last year come back to studying the Bible, and there is so much I don't understand. I am what many refer to as 'backslider', but am attempting to rectify that. However, there is no one around me to talk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15479,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-adam-and-eve-not-know-of-good-and-evil-until-they-ate-a-fruit\/","url_meta":{"origin":70006,"position":1},"title":"How could Adam and Eve not know of good and evil until they ate a fruit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, How does one respond to someone who mocks the Christian faith by saying, \"The first human did not have knowledge of right or wrong and only got such ability after eating a fruit.\" He says that sounds like a far-fetched fairy tale. Answer: What changes between childhood and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33853,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-have-children-killed\/","url_meta":{"origin":70006,"position":2},"title":"Why Did God Have Children Killed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Samuel 15:1-9 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some questions, by their very nature are difficult topics to take up. The things discussed make us queasy. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet, you will find that those opposed to Christianity will often attack with these same topics for the very reason that they know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87227,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/two-different-trees\/","url_meta":{"origin":70006,"position":3},"title":"Two Different Trees","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The Bible is basically the history of man and his relationship to two different trees. The tree in the midst of the Garden of Eden was death dressed up in appeal to the flesh, but the tree in the garden on which Jesus died was ugly,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28279,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/choices\/","url_meta":{"origin":70006,"position":4},"title":"Choices (Weliever)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ken Weliever The other day Norma Jean and I discovered a quaint little breakfast spot on North Redington Beach, The Sweet Sage Caf\u00e9. It's a combination caf\u00e9, gift shop, and boutique with a beautiful outdoor garden. After a delicious breakfast, we began browsing through the gift shop reading some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Make-Good-Choices.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":88630,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-look-for-a-wife-without-losing-focus-on-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":70006,"position":5},"title":"How do I look for a wife without losing focus on God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, How are you? I've been doing well. It has been a rough journey. It's taken me a while to get to where I'm at and sober from alcohol for the last four months. I'm still working on other areas in addiction, of course. I've always had such a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}