Answers to Hard Questions About The Fall of Adam

Why does the Fall matter?

I have noticed that many people find the story of Adam and Eve, and their fall from the Garden of Eden, to be a puzzling chapter in the story of our shared Judeo-Christian faith.  Many find it hard to account for because it doesn’t seem to fit with modern notions of the origin of our species.  Others struggle with the difficulties that arise over what seem to be difficult doctrinal issues surrounding the fall.  I have even heard Mormons refer to certain aspects of the fall of Adam and Eve as “deep doctrine” as if it is some incomprehensible mystery which cannot fully be understood or explained.  Even those who accept the importance of the Fall of Adam and Eve sometimes struggle with the full significance and meaning of the fall, because the fall is so complex in its ramifications, and the full meaning of the events and symbols used in the accounts of the fall can be confusing and may even be perceived as contradictory to our limited understanding.

Due to these and other difficulties, some are tempted to dismiss the fall as a mere fable, and one that is no longer relevant to us today.  However, this could not be further from the truth.  As modern day prophets have repeatedly pointed out, it is crucial that each of us gain a good understanding of the events and significance of the fall of Adam and Eve, and to do so is actually fundamental to fully celebrating one’s faith.

“Just as a man does not really desire food until he is hungry, so he does not desire the salvation of Christ until he knows why he needs Christ.

No one adequately and properly knows why he needs Christ until he understands and accepts the doctrine of the Fall and its effect upon all mankind.”  (Ezra Taft Benson, “The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants,” Ensign, May 1987, 85).

“The simple truth is that we cannot fully comprehend the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ and we will not adequately appreciate the unique purpose of His birth or His death—in other words, there is no way to truly celebrate Christmas or Easter—without understanding that there was an actual Adam and Eve who fell from an actual Eden, with all the consequences that fall carried with it.”  (Jeffrey R. Holland, “Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet,” Ensign, May 2015, lds.org).

Death Is Not The End

I wrote this post a few weeks after my mother died of breast cancer.  At the time I was mostly interested in collecting those scriptures that testify of a life that continues beyond the grave, and I wasn't in a place emotionally in which I could write down my own thoughts on the subject.  After a few years I finally feel like I have some perspective from which I can approach this tender issue, and so I decided to revisit this subject in order to add my own thoughts and perspective.

Since the beginning of time, man has been confronted by the awful reality and immutability of death.  Death is our universal heritage, and it will come to all who have lived, are living, and who will ever live upon the Earth.  In its implacable certainty and chilling finality, death has inspired fear and worry in countless generations as long as there have been humans who have survived after losing those closest to them to death.  One of the great mysteries of existence is what happens to us after we die.  Where do we go?  What happens to us when we get there?  Should I be afraid when my time comes?  Do we go anywhere at all, or do we end up as worm food because there is nothing after this life but oblivion?  Is death the end?  These questions have puzzled, tormented, and fascinated us throughout our history; however, on a more personal level, questions like these proceed out of the genuine ache of loss and the deep, painful, and sincere desire to know:  Will I ever see my loved ones again?

In every age, poets, artists, parents, priests, and oracles have struggled in an effort to provide answers to the universal question which confronts all men.  They have produced elaborate mythologies and cosmologies in order to explain a mystery which in truth confounds them as much as it does the rest of us.  Without a true understanding of where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going how can these people, however well-meaning they may be, provide any answers that shed any real light on our fate after mortality?  The fact is that they can't, because they lack the basic truths that are necessary to provide meaningful answers to the deep questions of the soul.  Fortunately there is someone who knows exactly why we are here, and where we are going, because He is the one who put us here in the first place.  God cares about His children, and He mourns when we mourn.  From His earliest recorded dealings with men, through the means of His holy prophets, God has provided answers and comfort to those in every age who seek solace in the knowledge that death is indeed not the end.

In the grand scheme of things, our time in this life is incredibly short, or as Macbeth opines upon hearing that his wife is dead, "Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and is heard no more." (William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5).  How great it is to know that there is hope beyond this short life!  That although our lives are altogether too brief, there is an answer to the question "If a man die, shall he live again?"

Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. (Job 14:1-2; 5;7-12; 14)

Can Men Be Gods? What the Bible says about exaltation.

My friend T. S. sent me this question the other day, and I was somewhat amused to receive it, as I have been waiting for someone to send me just such a question since I started writing this blog.

Q: I have a nonmember friend who read a chapter in a world religion book about Mormons and it said that we believe we will become God and have our own planet someday and now she thinks we are freaks.  How do you respond to this and what scriptures are there in the Bible that support such a claim?

What happens to us when we die? Part IV: Judgement

Follow these links to go to a previous installment:

Part III: Resurrection

Part II: The Spirit World

Part I: Death


IV. JUDGMENT

a. Jesus Christ performed the atonement in order to bring mankind back into the presence of God. All mankind will be brought to stand before Christ so that they might be judged.
Helaman 14:17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.

3 Nephi 27: 14-15 And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works.

b. We will be brought to stand before the Savior to be judged.
John 5:22-23 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

What happens to us when we die? Part III: Resurrection

This is a treatment of resurrection as it fits into the larger plan of salvation, and therefore it is concerned primarily with the nature and characteristics of our resurrected bodies, and the state that we will be in upon receiving them. For a more detailed examination of every aspect of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, click here.

III. RESURRECTION

There is nothing to fear in death. It is a natural part of life, and a part of God’s plan for his children. We could not progress to the next life without it. (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

"Viewed from an eternal perspective, we live to die; and we die to live again....Birth is the gateway to mortal life; death is the gateway to immortality and eternal life."  (Russell M. Nelson, The Gateway We Call Death, pg. 5)

The only fear in death is to die in one’s sins, as Paul says “O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (See 1 Corinthians 15:55-56). This great victory that comes through Christ is the victory of resurrection and immortality over death and corruptible mortality.

What happens to us after we die? Part I: Death

A friend of mine sent me a question concerning life after death, and I gave him more answer than I think he wanted. With his permission, I am publishing my response in installments, as it is quite long.

In order to fully address your question, it becomes necessary to make a distinction between what happens to us when we die, and what happens to us when we are resurrected, which as you’ll see, are actually two separate and distinct aspects of life after death.

He is Risen! The Case For the Resurrection of Christ

“The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.” (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (1976), 121.)

I recently had a conversation with a friend who did not seem entirely convinced of the reliability of the accounts given by the apostles (and/or the writers of the gospels) concerning the literal reality and veracity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. More to the point this person did not seem to have a clear grasp of the function and consequences of the resurrection itself. Unfortunately he is not alone, nor is he unique, among Americans. According to Newsweek magazine: “The number of Americans who say they believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ has dropped 10 points since 2003 to 70 percent, according to the most recent Harris poll; only 26 percent of Americans think that they'll have bodies in heaven, according to a 1997 Time/CNN poll.” (Lisa Miller, “Far from Heaven,” Newsweek, Mar 25, 2010).

My friend is at least nominally a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and so his skepticism puzzles me somewhat since, like Paul, I feel that "if Christ be not raised...we are of all men most miserable."  The resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the hope that it brings, is the central message of the New Testament and it is the principal doctrine of the restored gospel.  The resurrection and its consequences are firmly established  by the Bible, as well as by the scriptures of the restoration, and so there is no reason for a Christian of any stripe to doubt the reality of the living Christ, and it makes no sense that so few people believe that (thanks to Christ) we ourselves will rise in the resurrection with glorified physical bodies.  Given that ignorance and disbelief in a doctrine as fundamental as the resurrection of Jesus Christ seems to run rampant even through the ranks of Christianity, I feel that it is my duty to make a case for the veracity of Christ's resurrection and to explain the effects and mechanics of the resurrection itself.  Such knowledge is crucial for anyone who claims to be a Christian and who wishes to obtain understanding in this life and salvation in the world to come.

2 Nephi 2:8  Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.

It may be that resorting to the Biblical account may do little to convince someone of the fact and reality of the resurrection when they are already somewhat doubtful of the veracity of the Bible record itself. However I hope to establish the doctrinal and historical veracity of the Biblical account of the resurrection through scriptural sources outside of the Bible, and in so doing clarify the exact effects that resurrection has upon an individual (both in the physiological as well as in the redemptive sense) and perhaps explain the reasons behind those effects. I also hope to explore some aspects of the doctrine of resurrection contained in the scriptures that seem to be poorly understood by my peers. It is my hope that in gaining more knowledge about the details of the resurrection we can all gain a stronger testimony of the wondrous (and wondrously simple) fact that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again after three days, and that he lives even to this day and forevermore.