Understanding Eden - The Fall

Volume Two—Chapter One UNDERSTANDING THE EDEN EXPERIENCE—THE FALL

#Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

For several years, I avoided a serious study of Adam and Eve in the garden, which study I came to call “edenology.” I was afraid it wouldn’t be productive. There are so many difficult questions left unanswered by the biblical account. I despaired over ever arriving at exact answers. For example, how did Adam and Eve come to be in the garden in the first place? Why all the fuss about the garden, the conflicting commandments, the Serpent, the trees, and the fall? Couldn’t it all have been done more simply? Why didn’t the Father simply insert Adam and Eve directly into mortality from the premortal sphere? After all, wouldn’t it have been for their spiritual betterment? Isn’t that what he did for all the rest of us? Once Adam and Eve were in the garden, couldn’t the Lord have simply explained the situation to them? Couldn’t he have let them choose whether or not to leave the garden? Why was it necessary for them to transgress the law as part of the process of being expelled from the garden? Was it fair for the Father to give conflicting commandments to Adam and Eve? What is the meaning of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and the fruit of the tree of life? While I may have made some modest progress in coming to understand Adam and Eve’s experience, some of these questions remain, for me, incompletely answered.

There are many things about our gospel doctrine I do not understand. While these unanswered questions do smolder in the back of my mind, I’m not excessively upset or discouraged by them. I have come to know that unanswered questions are simply a vital early step to learning. When I encounter concepts that don’t fit well into what I already understand, I simply tuck them away on a figurative shelf. There they remain. Their very existence renders me a hungrier, more curious, and more receptive student. When I do encounter new light on a subject, I dust off the unanswered question, add the new knowledge, and see if the concept now fits into my extant body of knowledge. If it still doesn’t fit, I place it back on the shelf to await further light.

Let’s begin our consideration of Eden with Adam and Eve already living in the garden.

#Four Edenic (Pre-Fall) Characteristics of Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve were both premortal spirit children of our Father in heaven. They are therefore the brother and sister of us all. In the garden their circumstances were unique. Let us examine four conditions that characterized them in that setting:

1. They were immortal and not subject to pain, disease, or death. The word immortal means that Adam and Eve would live indefinitely in their edenic condition. Their bodies were not identical to the bodies of immortal resurrected beings. In speaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God said, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17), implying that in the interim, until such an eating should occur, Adam and Eve would enjoy a state of immortality. They would not die.

We may summarize all of the types of bodies familiar to us from the scriptures. They include bodies of spirit matter—spirit bodies, mortal bodies, resurrected bodies (including celestial, terrestrial, telestial, and perdition bodies), and translated bodies. The edenic bodies of Adam and Eve would seem to be unique and not of any of these exact types.

2. They lived in the presence of God the Father. They walked and talked with him. The prophet Joseph Smith spoke of those glorious days when “God conversed with him [Adam] face to face. In his presence, he was permitted to stand, and from his own mouth he was permitted to receive instruction. He heard his [God’s] voice, walked before him, and gazed upon his glory, while intelligence burst upon his understanding” (Lectures on Faith, 13).

3. They were in a state of innocence. We are often tempted to interpret scriptural words or phrases intuitively, based on our secular experience with the word. Sometimes the scriptural meaning of a word or phrase is quite different from its secular meaning. When we say Adam and Eve lived in a state of innocence, what does that mean? Does it mean they were not guilty of sin?

There is a richer meaning implied. Innocence, in Adam and Eve’s situation, means they had an incomplete knowledge of good and evil (see 2 Nephi 2:22-23). This was an obstacle to their individual spiritual development and progression. Without a complete knowledge of good and evil, they could not fully exercise their agency. They could not grow spiritually. They could not progress toward godhood.1

Aside from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, there were no challenges, no temptations, and no obstacles in that quasi-heavenly setting. Accordingly, there could be no progression. They were unable to experience a fulness of joy because they knew no sorrow. They were temporarily stuck in a world of spiritual and emotional sterility (see also 2 Nephi 2:12).

4. They could not procreate. Though they were married by divine authority while still in the Garden, they were unable to bear children (2 Nephi 2:23). Thus, they could experience no “joy and rejoicing” in a posterity. They were unable to obey the command to multiply and replenish the earth which was the foremost design and object of their married life. A continuation of this edenic condition would literally defeat the plan of salvation for all those in the premortal state awaiting a mortal experience.

In spite of their innocence, it does seem they were aware of the reason they had been placed on earth. They knew they were to become parents of all mankind—to populate the earth with the family of man—but they were temporarily bereft of a way to accomplish that.

#What is the Origin of Their Bodies?

Obviously the bodies that tabernacled the spirits of Adam and Eve while they were in the garden were unusual ones. They were immortal and not subject to the usual vicissitudes of mortality. They were unable to procreate. Just how did they come by these peculiar bodies? Were they created like a sculptor molds clay? Or, was the “creation” of their bodies a birth process involving a male parent and a female parent?

Brigham Young wrote:

God has made His children like Himself to stand erect, and has endowed them with intelligence and power and dominion over all His works, and given them the same attributes which He himself possesses. He created man, as we create our children; for there is no other process of creation in heaven, on the earth, in the earth, or under the earth, or in all the eternities, that is, that were, or that ever will be (JD, 11:129).

When you tell me that father Adam was made as we make adobies [sic] from the earth, you tell me what I deem an idle tale. When you tell me that the beasts of the field were produced in that manner, you are speaking idle words devoid of meaning. There is no such thing in all the eternities where the Gods dwell. Mankind are here because they are the offspring of parents who were first brought here from another planet, and power was given them to propagate their species, and they were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth (JD, 7:286).

Things were first created spiritually; the Father [and Mother] actually begat the spirits, and they were brought forth and lived with him. Then he commenced the work of creating earthly tabernacles . . . by partaking of the coarse material that was organized and composed this earth, until his system was charged with it. Consequently the tabernacles of his children were organized from the coarse materials of this earth (JD, 4:218).

He [Adam] is the first of the human family; and when he took a tabernacle, it was begotten by his Father in heaven, after the same manner as the tabernacles of Cain, Abel, and the rest of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve; from the fruits of the earth, the first earthly tabernacles were originated by the Father, and so on in succession (JD, 1:51).

In 1912, the First Presidency (Joseph F. Smith, Anthon H. Lund, and Charles W. Penrose) sent a letter to Samuel O. Bennion, the mission president in Independence, Missouri, clarifying what Brigham Young meant:

But President Young went on to show that our father Adam, that is, our earthly father, the progenitor of the race of man, stands at our head, being “Michael the Archangel, the Ancient of Days,” and that he was not fashioned from earth like an adobe, but “begotten by his Father in Heaven.” Adam is called in the Bible “the son of God” (Luke 3:38) (Messages of the First Presidency, 4:266).

Finally, a statement from Joseph Smith:

Where was there ever a son without a father? And where was there ever a father without first being a son? Wherever did a tree or anything spring into existence without a progenitor? And everything comes in this way (HC, 6:476).

Apparently God the Father and his eternal celestial companion somehow gave birth to the bodies of Adam and Eve. It seems logical to suppose that both Adam and Eve were born as infants on the earth and reared to adulthood in the Garden of Eden. However, it is possible they were born in another place and later transported to earth and to the garden. It is interesting to note that celestial eternal bodies, possessed by our Father and Mother in heaven, are able to give birth to the type of bodies that embodied Adam and Eve. We know they are also able to give birth to bodies of spirit matter.2

#Conflicting Commandments

Why were Adam and Eve given conflicting commandments? Let us review these two commandments. The first was to bear children: “And I, God, blessed them, and said unto them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Moses 2:28). And the second: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Moses 3:17).

So there they are: the two conflicting commandments given to Adam and Eve. If they had chosen to keep the second (refrain from eating the fruit), they couldn’t have kept the first (bear offspring). If they wanted to obey the first (bear progeny), they had to break the second (eat the fruit). In other words, no matter which way Adam and Eve decided, they would transgress the law. They had no choice. They were obliged to break a commandment.

Let me pose a question. As they wrestled with these conflicting commandments, were Adam and Eve deciding between good and evil? Was it evil to partake of the fruit? Certainly it was not evil to bear offspring. Could it be that ultimately they were pondering two good alternatives? We do know that in partaking of the fruit, they broke a commandment. They had been commanded not to partake of it. Though strictly speaking it was a sin (1 John 3:4), was it actually an evil act? Or, was it ultimately a noble one?

There is evidence to suggest it was a good and noble decision. Consider the Lord’s statement as he commanded Adam and Eve not to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. After he commanded them, he added: “Nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee.” What is the implication of this statement? Was he simply reminding them of their agency? It is certainly obvious to us, and it was probably obvious to them, that whenever the Lord gives us a command, we maintain our agency. We may choose to obey or disobey. But why would he pointedly say, “Thou mayest choose for thyself”? It’s as though he were saying, “You can disobey if you want to.” Can you imagine the Lord commanding us, “Thou shalt not commit adultery, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself—you can commit adultery if you want to”?

Consider also a statement by President Joseph Fielding Smith, as he addressed the issue of these two conflicting commandments:

Now this is the way I interpret that. The Lord said to Adam, here is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you want to stay here then you cannot eat of that fruit. If you want to stay here then I forbid you to eat it. But you may act for yourself and you may eat of it if you want to. And if you eat it you will die (Address to LDS Institute of Religion, Salt Lake City, 14 January 1961).

Was the Lord pleased or was he displeased with Adam and Eve’s decision to partake of the fruit? There is no question that the purposes of God were enabled and advanced by their partaking. He had to be pleased with their action. Would he have been pleased with them if they had done evil?

Finally, consider Mother Eve’s retrospective impression regarding her and her husband’s decision to partake of the fruit: “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient” (Moses 5:11). She had come to understand the underlying purpose of the contradictory set of commandments. She also implies here that she and Adam continued to be obedient to the Lord even though they had partaken of the fruit.

It is important to understand that Adam and Eve were noble and proven leaders who, in the premortal state, fought valiantly on the side of righteousness. Adam, or Michael the Archangel, in the first estate, was captain of the heavenly hosts who cast Satan and his fallen angels out of heaven (JST Revelation 12:7). Adam and Eve were hand-picked and foreordained to lead the human family. They were the best qualified among all of the spirit offspring of God. They did not, indeed they would not, do anything to destroy the plan of God. They were foreordained to fall, and their disobedience in the garden was deliberate and necessary.

Adam and Eve were placed in the garden as immortal beings. Christ inherited an immortal nature from the Father of his earthly body. Adam, Eve, and Christ were the only beings who possessed immortality by their very natures. They alone had the option to live on indefinitely or to die. They each realized the necessity of choosing to die. “Adam fell that men might be” (2 Nephi 2:25). Adam’s choosing to become mortal enabled us, his offspring, to be born into mortality. Jesus explained, “I lay down my life, that I take it up again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again” (John 10:17-18). Christ died that all men might one day live in a kingdom of glory.

Have You Ever Received Conflicting Commandments from the Lord? Adam and Eve were given conflicting, good commandments and had to choose between them. Has this ever happened to you? When you have had to make decisions that impact your eternal progression, have you been forced to choose between good and evil? Obviously, yes. But also, have you ever been forced to choose between competing good commandments? Has the Lord ever commanded you to do two good things that conflict with one another? Have you ever perceived conflicting commandments in your life? Can you think of anyone who has?

How about the young mother who is also a Relief Society president? She is encouraged to be a faithful, diligent, and attentive mother in Zion and also to magnify her calling in the Relief Society. Do these two responsibilities ever conflict? How about the father with several children who is struggling to make a living and yet be a good father by spending sufficient time with his children? How about the bishop of a ward who is also a busy professional, working twelve hours a day in his profession? Certainly the Lord understands intimately the true nature of this mortal experience, both in and out of the Church. He understands that in trying to live all the commandments, we will often encounter conflicting demands for good. This is the nature of the highest tests of mortality. The Lord knows full well we must often deliberately prioritize and compromise in the attentions and efforts we give to major areas in our lives. He watches to see how we will decide.

In the case of Adam and Eve, do you believe God was fully aware of the conflicting nature of the two commandments? Of course. Do you think he was satisfied with the performance of Adam and Eve in the garden? Of course he was, even though they had broken a commandment in choosing to partake of the fruit. We are reminded that temptation may not always be facing the simple choice between what is fully good and what is fully evil. Rather, we may be “tempted” as we try to prioritize our lives in order to fit in all of the good things that tend to overfill our lives.

Let us consider a thought experiment. What if we were to make a list of all of the behaviors (actions, thoughts, and words) of a man that are pertinent to one particular commandment. There would be many of these. They would include behaviors ranging from the very righteous to the egregiously evil. Let us sort these along a spectral line from the most despicable evil on the left to the highest good on the right. Do you have the picture?

Now, we may ask some questions about this behavior spectrum. For example, what does the Lord’s specific commandment have to do with this spectral array? Does his commandment pertain only to the behaviors on the left side or only to those on the right side? Does it always urge an individual to avoid those behaviors on the far left side of the line and choose instead those actions, thoughts, and words on the far right side?

Certainly some commandments do just that, particularly for those individuals who seek after a celestial salvation. For example, the Lord commands us to be chaste. He does not intend that we strive only to be a little more chaste. He desires us to deny our natural selves and forsake completely all thoughts and behaviors that would render us unchaste. The Savior taught: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). He commands us to confine our behaviors to only those on the far right side.

For other commandments, however there may exist no black or white. For example, he commands us to magnify our callings in his earthly kingdom (see JST 1 Corinthians 7:32; D&C 88:80). In striving to obey this particular command, there may be some aspects of a man’s natural self that should not be completely denied. For example, every male is expected, in righteousness, to support and secure his family—to provide them food, clothing, and shelter. At times this expectation may conflict with the commandment to magnify his callings in the Church. The Lord expects the man to do the best he can when dedication to the welfare of family conflicts with dedication to his church calling.

Parenthetically, we may comment that the commandments are intended for all people, and different people may choose to live at different positions along the behavioral spectral line from left (evil) to right (righteous). For example, some may find themselves dwelling more on the right side of the line. More of their time may be spent in rejecting the lesser good and trying to do the higher good. These are the celestial souls. Others may dwell largely on the left side of the line, they may spend their lives struggling to avoid obviously evil behaviors and instead engaging in lesser evils. These may be more suited to inherit terrestrial or telestial glory. The commandments are intended for and apply to all of God’s children, regardless of any spiritual predispositions they may have.

#Did Adam and Eve “Transgress” or Commit Sin?

This brings us to the distinction between transgression and sin. Sometimes the attempt is made to characterize Adam and Eve’s partaking of the forbidden fruit as a “transgression” rather than a “sin.” I must admit in times past I have been somewhat critical of this distinction and have thought it was artificial and arbitrary. It seemed to me a matter of semantics that was of little import. I thought that Adam and Eve broke a commandments when they partook of the fruit of the tree of good and evil—they transgressed the law. The scripture teaches: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). So they committed sin. I now believe, however, in light of our present discussion, we may well distinguish between transgression and sin.

The distinction is not generally found in the scriptures. We have just noted that in the apostle John’s view, sin is not distinct from transgression. Rather, sin is the transgression of the law. The essential point with Adam and Eve in the garden, however, is that they recognized the need to become mortal. They knowingly and deliberately disobeyed a commandment of God. In so doing, they actually made a correct and noble decision. They were not forced to choose between good and evil. They were not guilty of doing evil as they made their decision. Rather, they were choosing between conflicting “goods.” It was good to not partake of the fruit, and it was good to multiply and replenish the earth. We might compare their decision, though admittedly it is a poor comparison, to a highly committed stake president having, at the last minute, to miss stake conference because he found his wife struggling desperately with an emotional problem and needing his attentions at home. Adam and Eve transgressed. They did not do evil. For purposes of this discussion, we may define sin as struggling between keeping a commandment and committing evil, and succumbing to the temptation.

Similarly, the individual of celestial quality struggling between the highest and lesser goods may be said to be guilty of “transgression” rather than sin when his behaviors are less than perfect.

#The “Fall” of Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve had disobeyed a commandment, and they had to suffer the consequences of that disobedience. According to justice they had to “fall” from the paradisiacal garden and the celestial presence into mortality with all that implied. Their fall was a descent from their immortal state, wherein they lived in the presence of God, to a state of mortality with all its attendant spiritual risks. We say that Adam and Eve fell from the one condition to the other, implying that the mortal state is a lower or less exalted state. Mortality is surely less spiritually safe, less secure, and less comfortable.

Here is an important nuance of the phenomenon we call the fall. Why did Adam and Eve fall? Because they chose to. They elected to descend to a state of mortality. They perceived the obligation they had to “multiply and replenish the earth.” They knew they must fall.

Why, then, were they “driven out” of the Garden of Eden (2 Nephi 2:19)? This verbiage implies they were not lovingly requested to leave. Rather they were summarily “kicked out” because of their actions. It is true they were compelled to leave. They had chosen that option. And they were probably made to leave immediately—on the Lord’s time table—and not at their own convenience.

The common misimpression is that they sinned and were driven out by an angry Lord. The Lord was not angry with them for partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Rather, he was pleased. His purposes were being served. It is true they did transgress the law the Lord had set down. But there was no vindictiveness on his part as he “escorted them to the door.” We can even imagine the Lord giving them a figurative hug of encouragement as they departed.

There exists another wrong impression about the fall of Adam and Eve. Some have maintained that by falling they brought sin and wickedness into the world. This is not wholly correct. First, Satan and his minions already dwelt as spirits on the earth. They would continue to do so after Adam and Eve became mortal. Secondly, Adam and Eve brought only their noble selves to the world. It is true that they also brought their “natural” selves, as would all their offspring in the future. The natural self has always existed and has always been a potential source of evil. It is also true that the physical mortal body (the “fallen” body) they came to possess introduced new avenues for sin and disobedience. Also, the mortal environment outside of the garden, where Adam and Eve were forced to take their abode did offer—and continues to offer— abundant opportunities for sin. But we should not picture Adam and Eve shrouded in a cloud of evil as they emerged from the garden.

I have argued previously that the major source of evil among the children of God is the natural self. While Satan encourages and reaffirms those who give in to their natural inclinations, he did not create this unseemly side of all men. It has always existed, just as the essence of man has always existed.

The terminology of the fall has caused some confusion. A legitimate usage of the term “Adam” is to refer to the united partnership of Adam and Eve. Thus “the fall of Adam” is the fall of both Adam and Eve.

#Dual Nature of the Fall

Fundamental to a full appreciation of the “fall of man” is an understanding of its two-fold nature. There are two aspects of the fall, each quite distinct.

The fall of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve transgressed, and their transgression resulted in a reversal of all four of the edenic, pre-fall conditions that characterized them in the garden (see above). Consequently:

1. They were no longer immortal. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, the seeds of death were planted in their veins. They became subject to physical death, pain, disease, and all the ailments of mortal life.

2. They were cast out from God’s presence. This separation from God is called spiritual death. They did not lose all communication with him. That loss would have thwarted the plan of salvation. Yet, they were cast out from his physical presence. Other forms of communication were left open.

This spiritual death, or separation from God due to Adam’s transgression, is referred to in scripture as the “first death” (2 Nephi 9:15; Alma 11:45; Helaman 14:16).

3. Adam and Eve were blessed to “[become] as Gods, [fully] knowing good from evil” (Alma 12:31).

4. Adam and Eve’s mortal bodies could now procreate and fulfill the divine command to multiply and replenish the earth (2 Nephi 2:25; Moses 6:48; Moses 5:11). As offspring of the mortal Adam and Eve, we have inherited all four of these mortal characteristics. Two are spiritually beneficial, and two are not. Knowledge of good and evil and the ability to procreate are two spiritually productive characteristics. Physical and spiritual death are two adverse consequences of the fall. We will learn, however, that these latter two are necessary and only temporary. Man is not subjected to them in any kind of punitive spirit. They are due to Adam’s transgression. The second Article of Faith reads, “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.” We may be temporarily inconvenienced because of Adam’s transgression, but we will not be punished permanently. Because of the Savior’s atonement, all men will eventually be resurrected, and no man will suffer a permanent spiritual death because of Adam’s sin.

The fall of you and me. The second aspect of the fall’s dual nature is the fall of you and me as individuals. Each man falls on his own when he commits sin. This is quite a separate phenomenon from the fall of Adam. No one lives without sin (Romans 3:23). Our sin results in our spiritual death. This spiritual death is known as the second death (Helaman 14:18-19; D&C 76:37). The consequence of this spiritual death is different than the spiritual death we experience because of Adam’s transgression. Adam’s transgression brought upon us only a temporary separation from God. The spiritual death wrought by our own sins is permanent, at least until it is overcome. This latter spiritual death, the second death, continues to be permanent if the law of justice cannot be satisfied.

#Why Did Not the Lord Simply “Assign” Adam and Eve to Mortality?

Now, let’s consider another vital question. Why was it necessary to provide Adam and Eve the opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not they wished to enter mortality? Why did not the Lord simply approach Adam and Eve as premortal spirits, explain the situation to them in detail, then place them into the mortal setting? After all, in so doing wouldn’t he be doing the very thing that was most necessary for their spiritual growth? Wouldn’t he have been helping them in their quest to return to their celestial home and live with him forever?

The reason they had to be allowed to choose for themselves has to do with the risks of entering mortality. How many of those who enter mortality will actually successfully negotiate their way back to their celestial home? We don’t know for certain, but the scriptures suggest the number may be relatively small. “Strait [narrow] is the gate” and “few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14; 3 Nephi 27:33). Whatever the number that return, it obvious that some will not. Mortality is inherently risky. The Lord cannot force any person to place himself at risk. If he were to do that, he would be interfering with their agency. So what was necessary, in dealing with Adam and Eve, to enable him to avoid interfering with their agency? What did he have to do in order that they would come to earth and become the parents of all mankind? He had to give them their choice.

But what about the rest of us? Did we have an opportunity to choose whether or not to come to earth? Did we maintain our agency in this whole process? It seems obvious that none of us was forced to enter mortality. Each of us doubtless had the opportunity to understand all of the implications of coming here. Then we had to choose whether or not to come. Figuratively, if not literally, the Lord sat each of us down, and explained the alternatives. He gave us the opportunity to choose. He would have explained the eternal plan for the salvation and exaltation of God’s children. He would have taught us that the plan requires a mortal existence in a situation where there was opposition (2 Nephi 2:11). We all obviously chose to come into mortality. Adam and Eve lived in a paradisiacal state in the Garden of Eden. We lived in a relatively “paradisiacal” state in the premortal world. Whether or not we left the premortal world for a difficult experience in mortality was entirely up to each of us.

#Those Who Chose Not to Enter Mortality

One group of premortal sons and daughters of God chose not to enter mortality. These were Satan and a “third part” of the hosts of heaven.3 What was their motive for rebelling against God? It seems likely they were frightened by the risks of coming to earth. The Father’s plan of salvation requires that each individual who desires to return to God’s celestial presence must enter mortality. Because of their fears, Satan’s hosts were easily persuaded by Satan to rebel against the plan of the Father and the Son.4

This brings us to a somewhat difficult question. What about the rest of us? Was each of us, in the premortal world, compelled to choose between entering mortality and going with Satan and his minions? Were we forced to choose between taking the significant spiritual risks of mortality (including the necessity of suffering a physical death) and eventually ending up on outer darkness? Isn’t this akin to being forced into mortality? Is this a denial of our agency? Certainly there must have been some fear and uncertainty at the prospect of plunging into mortality and perhaps never returning home again. At least Adam and Eve had the alternative to live an idyllic, if not spiritually fulfilling, existence forever in the garden. They apparently would not have been forced to live with Satan in outer darkness. There is no mention in scripture that the rest of us could have lived forever in the premortal state.

From time to time, I find myself worrying about the possibility that some premortal spirits were simply too frightened to accept the risk of coming to earth. Could it be that some individuals who loved the Lord and eschewed all that Satan stood for were simply too frightened to make the decision? Let us hypothesize a specific example. Imagine a sweet and humble individual, let us say a quiet, thoughtful, and contemplative man who fully accepted the Lord’s plan of salvation and knew it was necessary to come to earth. He loved the Lord sincerely and wanted nothing more than to be with him forever. Suppose this individual, in his meekness and timidity simply could not muster the character or courage to accept the potential risk of never returning to his celestial home. We know that all of us mortals did accept the risk and come to earth. Doubtless, we swallowed hard. But might it be that our imaginary brother was so frightened by the prospect of risking it all, that he simply could not make the decision to leave the security of the premortal world and come to earth? Perhaps so.

We simply do not know, for certain, how the Lord deals with such an individual. Given our present level of understanding, it seems most appropriate to conclude that, practically, we were indeed “forced” to make this very decision. It is notable that the Lord’s eternal plan contains another similar unavoidable “deadline.” Near the end of our “second estate,” for example, all spirits in the spirit prison must either accept and confess Christ and his gospel and receive a kingdom of glory or remain “filthy still” and go with Satan to outer darkness. These two vital points of decision (deciding to come to earth and accepting Christ and his gospel) are part of the “hard” or “wintry” doctrines of God’s eternal plan.

#Why the Whole Garden of Eden Experience?

Let us now consider one final question. Each individual who has come or will yet come here to earth needed to make an informed decision to do so. Each person was apprised of the risks and benefits. Each needed to be allowed to freely choose whether or not to come. Why did the Lord not do this in a more simple way for the primal couple, Adam and Eve? Why did he not simply sit them down, explain the pros and cons, and allow them to choose? Wouldn’t it have saved a lot of hassle? Wouldn’t it have been easier? Why did the Lord orchestrate the whole Garden of Eden experience including the garden, the paradisiacal state, the trees, the serpent, and the temptations? Why did the Lord not do it more simply?

This is another question for which we have not been given an answer. But perhaps this critical point was so pivotal and vital to God’s plan, he chose to emblazon it in the minds of his children by providing the scriptural story of the Garden of Eden. After all, when the story of Eden is truly understood, does it not serve as a wonderful metaphorical foretelling of our own mortal experience? All of us will face analogous difficult situations in mortality, including “conflicting” commandments. The story of the Garden of Eden may have been given almost as a symbolic ordinance to remind us how to comport ourselves in mortality. It teaches us how Adam and Eve made the correct decisions, even in the face of great adversity and risk.

#What Was the Physiologic Explanation of Adam and Eve’s Fall?

Apparently the immortal state of their bodies was preserved as long as they avoided one specific food, the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Brigham Young wrote: “When our father Adam came into the Garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial [?] body, and brought Eve. . . . When Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, their bodies became mortal from its effects, and therefore their offspring were mortal” (JD, 1:50). That fruit produced, in effect, a disease of their bodies called mortality. This disease is characterized by relentless aging and deterioration of all the substances and processes of the body over time. It also renders the body subject to all manner of other illnesses and injuries. Once they had contracted the disease of mortality, they passed it on to all of their offspring. And their offspring, in turn, passed it on to theirs. Apparently, there was another food in the garden with therapeutic pharmacological properties. It could reverse the pathologic processes of the disease of mortality. This was the fruit of the tree of life.

Given our present limited understanding, we are not yet able to make complete and logical sense out of all the events that took place in Eden. It is clear, however, that Adam and Eve are to be commended, not condemned. They are not egregious sinners who nearly scuttled the Lord’s plan through their sinful behavior, though historical, “orthodox” Christianity believes they were. Rather, Adam and Eve are among the noblest individuals who ever lived on earth. They were willing to make the difficult decisions of life under the most trying of circumstances. Someday we will know the full stature of their nobility. We will honor them for their behavior and decisions in Eden. In some future “post-mortal fireside,” we will have the opportunity to sit with someone who has a full understanding of all of the details of Adam, Eve, the Garden of Eden, and the fall of Adam. Then we can receive answers to all our questions. It is abundantly clear that the fall was part of God’s master plan. It was clearly not an afterthought to address some unexpected action on the part of our first parents. Adam and Eve are worthy in every way of our respect, love, and admiration. They are true exemplars in this trying mortal experience.

1 See “Vital Pre-conditions for Spiritual Growth” in volume 1, chapter 13, Agency and Freedom.

See “Spirit Creation” in volume 1, chapter 3, The Creation.

3 See footnote 2, volume 1, chapter 16, The Role of Satan for a discussion of the scriptural term, “third part.”

See volume 1 chapter 16, The Role of Satan.