Questions: Members of the Restored Church say
that the fall of man from God was the best path for humanity to grow and
learn. Was the fall of man an accident
or intended? What does “the fall” really mean?
“Adam fell that
men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” 2 Nephi 2:25, The
Book of Mormon
“[A]nd they
taste the bitter, that they might know to prize the good.” Moses 6:55 The
Pearl of Great Price
“And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and
began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be
the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in
this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God. And Eve,
his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: 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 5:10-11 The
Pearl of Great Price
Members of the Restored Church believe
that humanity fell so that it could gain understating of good and evil, and
learn to prize the good.
The Earth has been
given to you and God’s other children to have dominion over. Earth has become your home. It is diverse and beautiful. It is also wild and dangerous. This makes you very aware that you are mortal
and imperfect. You can easily die. Your choices often affect when that happens.
You also can find yourself under the power of others. Your choices can affect that as well. Choice rules most of your mortal life.
“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art
mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made
him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the
works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.” Psalms 8:3-6
How did you come to
this mortal state? Your current reality was decided long ago, as you know, in
the heavens. Then it was sealed in a
garden. It happened just as parents
today can greatly affect the lives of their children by their own choices. A choice was made in that garden. But before
the garden and that choice, there was creation.
As Jesus Christ is
the fullest expression of the Father’s will, He has been called the Word,
because for every word that comes from the Father, Christ will make it so.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him
was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1-3
Jesus Christ is the
creator of this world and others, by the will and direction of the Father.
“God, who
created all things by Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 3:9
“Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by
whom also he made the worlds.” Hebrews 1:2
The Holy Spirit
assisted Christ in creation.
“And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep. And
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:2
“By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens.
…” Job 26:13
“Thou sendest
forth thy spirit, they are created….” Psalms 104:30
Before every living
thing on Earth was born in the physical realm, it was created as a spirit. Before life could grow on Earth, the
conditions needed to foster and sustain life needed to be created first. The
seven days where creation takes place in the Bible is a series of seven time
periods, generations, where animal and plant life spirits were created and the
conditions needed for the advent of life on Earth were set, the final
conditions for man being set at the end of creation.
“These are the
generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the
day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of
the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon
the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.” Genesis 2:4-5
The conditions
needed for humanity were created. Man was made, male and female, in the images
of they who were in heaven.
“And God said, Let
us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion … So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them.” Genesis 1:26-27
After everything
was ready, God created a man, Adam, out of the dust of the Earth.
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7
Then God planted a
garden with many trees, including the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of
good and evil, and He placed the man within the garden.
“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden;
and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the
LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the
garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:8-9
God purposely
placed the tree of knowledge in the garden with man, but commanded man to not
partake of the fruit of it, telling him if he were to eat from the tree, that
day he will die.
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every
tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17
God gave man a
choice by placing the tree of knowledge of good and evil inside the garden with
Adam. It was righteous of God to give humanity the agency to choose. It was
also righteous of God to let Adam know that he would die if he were to eat of
it, and to command him not to do so.
God then created a
woman from a rib he took from Adam.
“And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon
Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh
instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto
the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:
she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2: 21-23
Thus were Adam and
the woman created and placed within a garden designed by a divine being. All their needs were taken care of, they were
immortal, and Genesis does not say how long they existed within that garden
while they were being obedient to God’s commandment to not eat the fruit from
the tree of knowledge.
If God had been
intent on Adam and the woman remaining in this state forever, He might not have
placed the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden, which gave them a
choice. He might have not have allowed them the agency that would allow them to
sin and break His command to not eat the fruit. Without the tree of knowledge,
Adam and the woman could only have ignorance, and without knowledge and agency
to choose there would be only captivity.
God commanded them
to not eat of the tree because to know good and evil is to know righteousness
and sin. To understand righteousness,
you must understand sin. God would not
command them to eat and thus become capable of sin and evil. His command had to be for them to not eat in
order to remain without blemish so that they might remain worthy to be in His
presence. Sin would cause separation
from God. God could not command them to
eat and be separated from Him forever. In
sin, God would become hidden from them.
“But your iniquities have separated between you and
your God, and your sins have hid his face
from you. …” Isaiah 59:2
They had to choose
separation for themselves.
“And now, behold, if
Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have
remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have
remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they
must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no
children; wherefore they would have
remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing
no good, for they knew no sin. But behold, all things have been done in the
wisdom of him who knoweth all things.” 2 Nephi 2:22-24 The Book of Mormon
Satan came into the
garden disguised as a serpent. When the woman told him that if she and Adam ate
of the fruit of the tree of knowledge they would die, he responded with a lie.
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know
that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be
as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5
Adam was determined
to be obedient. The woman was willing to
be disobedient so that she could gain knowledge. The woman ate the fruit and
had Adam eat it as well. Adam may have
gone on forever within the garden had it not been for the woman.
“And Adam was not deceived. …” 1 Timothy 2:14
Why would he eat if
he knew better? The woman made an argument to him to eat.
“Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife,
and hast eaten of the tree. …” Genesis 3:17
Once they had
disobeyed God and eaten the fruit, they and Satan the serpent were punished.
First Satan was punished. He was cursed that the seed of the woman would have
power to smash his head, while he would only have the power to bruise
humanity’s heal. He would crawl on his belly and only be able to consume dust.
“And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou
hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the
field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and
dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Genesis
3:14-15
God told the woman
that she would begin to have children, that the process would not be easy, and
that her husband would have rule over her.
“I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy
conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring
forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall have
rule over thee.” Genesis 3:16
God told Adam that
by the sweat of his brow he would obtain food, and that one day he would die
and return to the ground.
“[C]ursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life; …
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the
ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Genesis 3:17, 19
Then the woman
received her name.
“And Adam called
his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.” Genesis
3:20
The fall of man is
the path humanity must take in order to gain an understanding of God, to know
God.
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is
become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his
hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the
LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence
he was taken. So he drove out the man;
and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Genesis 3:22-24
God barred Adam and
Eve from immortality and cast them out of the garden. Why would God bar them at that point from
immortality? Why should Adam and Eve be
able to die? God did not want them to
live forever in sin. God through Jesus
Christ will provide immortality to all humanity, but He doesn’t want them to
just be immortal. He wants them
glorious, having eternal life. Gaining these gifts because of what their
spirits have become, godly. This mortal experience is so that His children can
gain understanding and choose righteousness.
At the end of all things, if the wicked persist in wickedness they will
be raised to just immortality.
“And have hope toward God, which they themselves also
allow, that there shall be a resurrection
of the dead, both the just and unjust.” Acts 24:15
But the faithful in
God and Jesus Christ will be raised to a different state, a glorious one.
“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. …” Philippians
3:21
“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and
virtue.” 2 Peter 1:3
“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt. And they that be wise shall
shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:2-3
Adam and Eve could
not be allowed immortality, for at the moment Adam and Eve partook of the fruit,
just as God the Father had told them, they died.
Next Chapter
Watch- The Creation
Watch- Happiness, Your Heritage
Watch- Our Earthly Stewardship