It is Given unto Thee

 

 

But 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)

 

I am intrigued by that phrase “It is given unto thee,” specifically because of that IT. What does “it” refer to?

 

The meaning that I originally ascribed to that “it” was that it referred to agency, as though it were saying, “thou mayest choose for thyself, for choice is given unto thee.” This reading reinforces the principle that the Lord gives us our agency to choose, even to choose things that He forbids.

 

Another different meaning has come to me in the last year, one that says, “thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for the tree [of knowledge of good and evil] is given unto thee.”  This reading shows us that Heavenly Father provides us with circumstances where both good and evil are present, and He warns us where the evil is so that we can make informed choices that have real consequences. Our God is a God of good gifts, powerful gifts, sometimes dangerous gifts. There is righteousness not just in choosing good, but refraining from the bad.

 

Do you see any additional ways to read it that you can share?

The Father of Lies

17 And I, Lehi, according to the things which I have read, must needs suppose that an angel of God, according to that which is written, had fallen from heaven; wherefore, he became a devil, having sought that which was evil before God.

18 And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind. Wherefore, he said unto Eve, yea, even that old serpent, who is the devil, who is the father of all lies, wherefore he said: Partake of the forbidden fruit, and ye shall not die, but ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. (2 Nephi 2:17-18)

I noticed as I was reading these verses that Lehi has just given us a little about premortal life, and even more interesting, he says some of this is according to what he has read. So the brass plates had some info on them about premortal life, particularly the origin of the devil as 1) once being an angel of light, 2) had fallen from heaven, and 3) his fall made him miserable forever, and 4) his goal became to make mankind miserable as well.

Lehi emphasizes the devil is the father of all lies, and reiterates the arguments used to get Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. It’s sort of an interesting challenge to think about where the lies are.

“ye shall not die” – It is true Adam and Eve did not physically die immediately. Their lives were prolonged so they could repent. But they did die spiritually at once. Did Adam and Eve know that? They may not have, in which case Satan was exploiting terminology and lying in a way they would not have understood yet.

“ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil” – What did Satan mean by “know” here? Know intellectually? If so, Adam and Eve already knew they should not eat the fruit, and Satan was trying to convince them they didn’t really know. Did Satan mean “know by experience”? But you don’t have to do evil to experience it. Sooner or later it will be done to you. Know by doing evil? Does God get to be God by doing both good and evil? By doing good, yes.  By doing evil, no.  Jesus hasn’t done evil, and He is part of the Godhead. So that’s a lie about what it takes to become like God.

In Genesis there is an additional wrinkle thrown in, an implication that God knew eating the fruit would open their eyes, implying He forbade it to keep them out of godhood. The lie there is a malicious slander against God’s motives for forbidding the fruit.

I can see Satan was already attacking what must have been a very visible desire in Adam and Eve to become like God. He was trying to turn them out of the right way.

Another thought I had is about that title “father of lies.”  I wondered who first thought of it, and how they came up with it. In what way was Satan a father of lies? I realized they were comparing how Satan works to the conception process. Satan injects little thoughts/lies in our minds. If we believe those lies, sin conceives in our hearts.  

So now I’ll ask you: how does knowing this help us?

Adam coming to Adam-ondi-Ahman

Spring Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said he, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet. (D&C 116)

This is an interesting section. Not only do we have this prophesied future event of Adam coming to visit his people spoken of, but the place it is to occur is given a special name by the Lord.

How curious that Adam comes to visit his people. We understand that Christ must come, but Adam? We wouldn’t know this without revelation to the prophet. Since we think of Adam as the father of humanity, it might be easy to say, “Oh, he is visiting everyone.” But we don’t think that at all.  We immediately associate “his people” as meaning the covenant people of the Lord.

Why does the Lord give this revelation to Joseph Smith? And why point to a particular place and say, “This is where this event will happen”?  Why does it matter for Adam to come to that place?

I think this is yet another way that the Lord works to build and test the faith of His people. When a future event is tied to a very specific place, it gives us something to watch closely. When the Lord says an event will happen at a particular place, He also implicitly asserts lordship and power over it. It’s a shorthand way of declaring sovereignty over its destiny, over the flow of events toward it, over the who and when and where and how.  In another place, the Lord asks rhetorically, “Do I not hold the destinies of all the armies of the nations of the earth?” (D&C 117:6).  The prophecy of New Jerusalem’s Zion to build in Jackson County, Missouri is similar.

I imagine future Saints will look back on the fulfillment of this prophecy and say, “But of course it had to happen there because [list of reasons],” and it will be obvious to them why and how it came about. Sunday school lessons will be taught about it, and the Saints will rejoice over it and point to how the Lord’s power and foreknowledge was demonstrated, and whole books will be written exploring all the little factors that worked together to bring it about.

Until then, we just don’t know.

The Battle after the Millennium

These verses describe some interesting conditions and happenings about the end of the Millennium, which I find fascinating to think about:

110 And so on, until the seventh angel shall sound his trump; and he shall stand forth upon the land and upon the sea, and swear in the name of him who sitteth upon the throne, that there shall be time no longer; and Satan shall be bound, that old serpent, who is called the devil, and shall not be loosed for the space of a thousand years.

111 And then he shall be loosed for a little season, that he may gather together his armies.

112 And Michael, the seventh angel, even the archangel, shall gather together his armies, even the hosts of heaven.

113 And the devil shall gather together his armies; even the hosts of hell, and shall come up to battle against Michael and his armies.

114 And then cometh the battle of the great God; and the devil and his armies shall be cast away into their own place, that they shall not have power over the saints any more at all.

115 For Michael shall fight their battles, and shall overcome him who seeketh the throne of him who sitteth upon the throne, even the Lamb. (D&C 88:110-115)

Verse 110 tells us Satan will be bound and not loosed again for 1000 years. One of the things that binds Satan is when he and his temptations are completely ignored. If no one listens, he has no power.

Verse 111 tells us that Satan will be loosed for a little season and allowed to gather together his armies. That means that people start giving into temptation again, which is sad. So there will be some apostasy similar to that described in 4 Nephi.

However, Satan will not be unopposed.

Verse 112 tells us that Michael the seventh angel (or archangel) will gather his armies, the hosts of heaven. We know that Michael is also Adam. So we’ll have the resurrected Adam and all the first-fruits of the resurrection still living on the earth since they were resurrected at the beginning. 

It seems absolutely incredible to me that people would apostatize even with resurrected beings—prophets, Saints, and once-martyrs—still living among them!  It’s insanity!  But it seems to be the case.

Verse 113 tells us the devil will gather the hosts of hell and come up to battle against Michael and his armies. I notice it is the wicked who initiate the attack, not the righteous.

Verse 114 says there will be “the battle of the great God” and the devil and his armies will be cast away to their own place and have no more power over the Saints.  

Now, I have to wonder what idiot will have decided it is a good idea to fight against godly, resurrected beings who can’t die any more.  Obviously mortal apostates can’t win against that!  But maybe they would be deceived into thinking that the resurrected are defenseless because of the profound concern for life they exhibit. Maybe the apostates will think the resurrected will choose to suffer anything rather than defend themselves by taking any life. (Because after all, if you take life, you’ve just ended someone’s probationary period and they might have repented.)  Still, the battles have to be fought for the sakes of those mortals who are still righteous.

Verse 115 says Michael will fight the Saints’ battles. This is an interesting modification on the usual assurance that the Lord would fight our battles.  From the perspective of righteous immortals, it would make sense to have a policy of choosing just one resurrected person to do all the fighting (since one immortal is more than a match for any number of mortals).  No overwhelming show of numbers is necessary. 

I found myself asking why this was all made known so far in the future if we wouldn’t have the change to see it happen in our lifetime. I think it is part of the way that God proves He knows the end from the beginning and prepares the way for various generations to build and exercise their faith in Him. We look at prophecies made far in the past about the gathering of Israel and we see them being fulfilled, so we exercise faith that God will continue to fulfill what He has said will happen in the near future and in the far future.  It will also give future Saints just as much reason to read our modern scriptures to see what has been said of them.

Lessons from the Lord’s curse upon Satan in the Garden of Eden

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: (Genesis 3:14)

I was thinking about this recently and I started to wonder, “If Satan was already cursed because of being cast out of heaven, why curse him again?” and “How does it help us to know this curse?”

If we think this is just about a serpent, it seems like the curse is obvious. It’s implied that the serpent used to have legs and here has them taken away. It’s also implied that it used to eat something better, but is now relegated to only eating dust.  Our view of snakes today is perfectly in line with the seemingly physical conditions God describes.  Serpents have to slither everywhere. And they’re always sticking their tongues out, so it looks like they are licking the ground. (Of course, today we know that the tongue action is the way snakes sense things.)

As I thought about it, I wondered if maybe the Lord was making a statement about the curses that come to those who tempt like Satan does.  Satan is already cursed, but it is us who must be warned from becoming his servants and tempting others.  Eve briefly became Satan’s servant when tempting Adam to eat the fruit, so the warning is appropriate.

“upon thy belly shalt thou go” – This curse is about how faster travel has been somehow taken away. I think the larger theme is about progression.  It teaches that those who tempt others will have their own spiritual progress substantially slowed to the point that everyone goes much faster.  Not a pleasant prospect.  Not only that, but any movement would happen on the belly instead of on legs.  That may refer to how a tempter’s core motivation for acting would become satisfying their appetites.  One might even say that a tempter would be enslaved by their appetites.

“dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life” –  This curse seems to be about what a tempter finds nourishing.  A tempter feeds not on something sweet, but on gross stuff. If they want to eat dirt all their life instead of something that tastes better, their taste has become corrupted.  They call evil good, and good evil (Isaiah 5:20). Who wants to eat dirt?  Not me.  I’d rather eat tasty fruit from the tree of life than dirt.

So, I think this bit of knowledge can help us when we are being tempted. It helps us discern the consequences.  We don’t want our progression slowed, we don’t want our appetites to be our motivation, and we don’t want to be have our moral and aesthetic tastes corrupted.  

It can also help us think about what we have to offer others when we are trying to persuade them to try something.  Will it stop their progression, enslave them to an appetite or corrupt them in some way?  If so, then we shouldn’t try to pull them in, and we shouldn’t be in it either!

Michael (Adam) as a prince

15 That you may come up unto the crown prepared for you, and be made rulers over many kingdoms, saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Zion, who hath established the foundations of Adam-ondi-Ahman;

16 Who hath appointed Michael your prince, and established his feet, and set him upon high, and given unto him the keys of salvation under the counsel and direction of the Holy One, who is without beginning of days or end of life. (D&C 78:15-16)

When I read this, I wondered why it was important to include that information about Michael, or Adam.

But coming as it does so early in church history, it actually implies a lot of neat things. To Saints who previously only knew of the fall of Adam and his exit from the Garden of Eden, it tells us that though outside Eden, eventually Adam became righteous, that he attained the priesthood, and that he is given authority over his posterity.   When it is says Christ established his feet, that tells me Christ taught Adam his foundational knowledge of the gospel and set him on the path of faithfulness.  Even though Adam fell, he was eventually raised up and exalted, which I think is what “set up on high” is meant to communicate.

With that in mind, the promise that we may come up to the crown prepared for us and be made rulers over many kingdoms tells us that we, like Adam, can overcome the fall through Christ.  If the Lord established Adam’s feet, He will do the same for us.  If Adam was given keys, so can we be. If Adam was appointed a prince, so can we be. 

That is so thrilling. The crown is there waiting; it has already been prepared and we just need to keep stepping up!

God shows men that they were lost so they need repentance

And the days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of God, that they might repent while in the flesh; wherefore, their state became a state of probation, and their time was lengthened, according to the commandments which the Lord God gave unto the children of men. For he gave commandment that all men must repent; for he showed unto all men that they were lost, because of the transgression of their parents. (2 Nephi 2:21)

Here Lehi is explaining the probationary period of life to his son Jacob. I was reading that last bit and it kind of rubbed me wrong: “for he showed unto all men that they were lost, because of the transgression of their parents.” 

It sounds like what he says is all parents’ transgressions cause their children to be lost spiritually. But I don’t think that’s what he means.

Actually, what I think Lehi was trying to say is that all men are lost, and the account of our first parents’ Fall (Adam and Eve) is the tool God uses to show us this. 

The account of the Fall shows a commandment being given, the commandment being broken through the enticing of Satan, the shame of guilt, the confrontation over the commandment, and the consequences of spiritual death.  (Of course, in the temple we also get the providence of a Savior, additional commandments to keep, and the promise of being reclaimed from the Fall.)

Without an account of God directly confronting people over their sin and giving consequences, how would we know sin is offensive to God and that He punishes? The thing that gives the story such power is that it makes a direct confrontation by God over sin a real possibility. It is a type and shadow of judgment and also a type of the experience we have when we yield to Satan’s temptations. We know what yielding feels like. We see the guilt is real, whether one yields by one’s self or yields because of other people’s enticing.

When we read Adam and Eve are confronted over eating the fruit, we know God would also confront us over our sins and there is no hiding them. When we read of Adam and Eve cast out of the Garden of Eden as consequence of their sin, we know we face real consequences for our sins that have a real impact on us and make things hard.

And the rest of the Bible gives us plenty of types of God’s efforts to reclaim people from their sin, types to teach us to believe in Christ as the Savior of the world who would intercede for us.

So, because of the story of the Fall we know to expect to be confronted by God over our sins, whether in this life or in the afterlife. And in the time we have before then, we can repent through faith in Christ to save us.

Who do we listen to?

Moses 5 has a lot of verses that mention that people were listening to Satan more than God.

And Satan came among them, saying: I am also a son of God; and he commanded them, saying: Believe it not; and they believed it not, and they loved Satan more than God… (Moses 5:13)

…Cain hearkened not, saying: Who is the Lord that I should know him? (Moses 5:16)

And Cain loved Satan more than God. And Satan commanded him, saying: Make an offering unto the Lord. (Moses 5:18)

Satan desireth to have thee; and except thou shalt hearken unto my commandments, I will deliver thee up… (Moses 5:23)

…these abominations were had from Cain; for he rejected the greater counsel which was had from God (Moses 5:25)

And Cain was wroth, and listened not any more to the voice of the Lord, neither to Abel, his brother, who walked in holiness before the Lord. (Moses 5:26)

Cain took one of his brothers’ daughters to wife, and they loved Satan more than God. (Moses 5:28)

Wherefore the Lord cursed Lamech, and his house, and all them that had covenanted with Satan; for they kept not the commandments of God, and it displeased God, and he ministered not unto them.. (Moses 5:52)

56 And God cursed the earth with a sore curse, and was angry with the wicked, with all the sons of men whom he had made;

57 For they would not hearken unto his voice, nor believe on his Only Begotten Son, even him whom he declared should come in the meridian of time, who was prepared from before the foundation of the world. (Moses 5:56-57)

Notice the range of little choices that these Cain and his family made.  They made choices about

·      what they believed,

·      what they valued and wanted to learn more about,

·      who they listened to,

·      who they ignored,

·      who they loved most,

·      who they made promises to,

·      and who they trusted. 

Sadly, it was all in the wrong directions.

Among all this tragic spiritual deafness, there are a few bright spots of people who do listen to the Lord:

4 And Adam and Eve, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not; for they were shut out from his presence.

5 And he gave unto them commandments….And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord. (Moses 5:4-5)

And Abel hearkened unto the voice of the Lord. (Moses 5:17)

This got me thinking about who I listen to and I started thinking about all the little impulses I have throughout the day to do certain things.  I asked myself, “What impulses do I tend to obey?”  I can usually tell a difference between then.  Some are to do good things and require me to put forth a little extra effort.  And some are.. self-indulgent.  To an outside observer they may look harmless, but I know when they are self-indulgent.  I’ve realized that I need more spiritual power in my life and that making better choices in which impulses I follow will help me.

Eve, the Mother of All Living

And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living; for thus have I, the Lord God, called the first of all women, which are many. (Moses 4:26)

This phrase about Eve being “the mother of all living” is one that puzzles me.  Yes, I know she was the woman we all came from, but it seems like it has depths to it that need exploring.

It was given to Eve even before she ever had children.  I wonder if “mother” also communicates Eve’s ability to nurture.  Perhaps this ability was evident to Adam before she bore children.

What do we learn from the fact that Adam gave Eve this name?  It tells us he had this huge appreciation for her future role.  How did he get this appreciation or knowledge?  Or how did he even know what a “mother” was?   How did he know how she would become a mother?

If I may be permitted to speculate, I suspect that when the Lord married Adam and Eve and commanded them to multiply and replenish the earth, He also explained to them how that was to be done.  And since the Lord teaches so well, He must have explained it in such a way as to emphasize the sacredness and the miracle of it and how it fit into the plan of salvation.

Seen this way, Adam’s naming of Eve is his gasp of wonder.  I think Adam was in awe of the powers of creation that were part of Eve’s body and he wanted to remember that, and so he made it part of her name.  It is likely that Eve wouldn’t have allowed that name to stand if she hadn’t been similarly thrilled with what her body would allow her to do.

So, it seems to me that in Adam’s name for Eve we see a consciousness of and respect for the woman’s part in bringing about the creation of new human life.

Why tell us that Eve was made out of Adam's rib?

18 And I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten, that it was not good that the man should be alone; wherefore, I will make an help meet for him….

 21 And I, the Lord God, caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and he slept, and I took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in the stead thereof;

 22 And the rib which I, the Lord God, had taken from man, made I a woman, and brought her unto the man.

 23 And Adam said: This I know now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.

 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.

 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Moses 3:18, 21-25)

I’ve always thought the rib story was odd; in particular, the words Adam says puzzled me.  Because God made Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs, Adam says, “This I know now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.”  It’s like Adam woke up, saw Eve and says, “Hey!  That’s my rib!  We’re ‘sposed to get married and stay together; I can’t have my rib wandering around without me!”  Why would Adam think Eve had one of his ribs?  And why would he decide the whole of her was his bone and his flesh because of this?

President Spencer W. Kimball taught that Eve was not literally created from Adam’s rib. He said: “The story of the rib, of course, is figurative” ( “The Blessings and Responsibilities of Womanhood,” Ensign, Mar. 1976, 71).   But if the rib story is figurative, then why is it in there?  Harold B. Lee said:

Marriage is a partnership. Someone has observed that in the Bible account of the creation woman was not formed from a part of man’s head, suggesting that she might rule over him, nor from a part of a man’s foot that she was to be trampled under his feet. Woman was taken from man’s side as though to emphasize the fact that she was always to be by his side as a partner and companion. At the marriage altar you are pledged to each other from that day to pull the load together in double harness. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee [2000], p. 109)

This might describe why the rib is used and not some other part of the body, but why say that Eve was created from part of Adam at all? 

One idea that occurred to me was that maybe Adam didn’t have any way to communicate the abstract principles of soul synchrony and personality compatibility.  Maybe the rib story was meant to communicate that.  If I couldn’t use those abstract words, I might resort to saying an equivalent of Adam’s words, something like, “My husband’s got a piece of me in him.  God must have taken a part of me out while I was asleep and made him out of it.” 

Biblical culture considered the reins (the kidneys) to be the center of feeling and the heart to be the center of thought.  (Seems kinda odd, but once you realize that, a lot of things start to make more sense, like phrases like, “his bowels were moved with compassion.”)  So saying that Eve had one of Adam’s ribs would be like saying, “She and I think a lot alike.”  (Adam couldn’t say, “She’s got my heart,” because that would be like saying, “She does all the thinking for me.”)

If we see the rib story teaches about Adam and Eve’s compatibility as partners, then the statement about how a man should cleave to his wife and be one flesh with her teaches about taking compatibility and creating a relationship of unity.  (We know from D&C 121:41 that it is to happen with persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, love unfeigned, kindness, and pure knowledge.) 

Although it is Adam who says, “This is bone of my bones,” I think Eve had to realize Adam was bone of her bones too, otherwise she wouldn’t have gone along with it.  She probably felt like the Lord took a piece of her and made Adam with it, and Adam just gets the glory of giving the account from his perspective.  

Verse 22 has another neat thing in it.  “And the rib which I, the Lord God, had taken from man, made I a woman, and brought her unto the man” (emphasis added).  That says to me that it is the Lord that brings a couple together so they can meet and marry. 

When you think about it, this teaching about taking compatibility and making a united marriage is a pretty amazing message to put at the beginning of the scriptures. 

If you are married, how did you meet your spouse?  At what point did you discover your compatibility?  What kind of compatibilities did you discover?  

I met my husband at BYU's Electronic Engineering Technology Department where we both worked as student employees. The first point of compatibility I discovered with him was that our senses of humor were very similar and he seemed to make me laugh really easily. I liked that he seemed to have similar media viewing standards to me and he was committed to the gospel.

How about you?

Lehi’s insights into Adam’s Fall

18 …he [Satan] said unto Eve, yea, even that old serpent, who is the devil, who is the father of all lies, wherefore he said: Partake of the forbidden fruit, and ye shall not die, but ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.

19 And after Adam and Eve had partaken of the forbidden fruit they were driven out of the garden of Eden, to till the earth.

20 And they have brought forth children; yea, even the family of all the earth.

21 And the days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of God….

22 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.

23 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.

24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy. (2 Nephi 2:18-25)

One of the great things about Lehi’s discourse on the Fall is that he gives us something that no other place in scripture gives us—Adam’s reasons for partaking the fruit. All other places say that “[Eve] took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” making it sound like Adam ate mindlessly what Eve gave him.

But here we get the first inkling (though it is not explained fully) that Adam fell (ate the fruit) so that he could have children. This suggests something we are familiar with—that Adam and Eve knew they would have to separate if one ate the fruit and the other did not, that Eve would have to leave the Garden of Eden and Adam would not need to.

Think of what would have happened if Adam had decided not to partake of the fruit too. He and Eve would have been separated and would not have been able to have children. Not only that, Eve would have been endlessly lost, having fallen forever, and being separated from Adam, so she would have been unable to have children, especially the distant descendant Jesus Christ who would atone for her sins as well as all others.

The apostle Paul realized this too, since he wrote to Timothy:

14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. (1 Timothy 2:14-15)

Paul’s words about Adam not being deceived seem totally incomprehensible unless we take it as a hint that Adam was tempted to eat the fruit once before and resisted the temptation, and it was only the prospect of losing Eve and the means to have children that persuaded him to eat the fruit.

Paul’s words also highlight that Eve’s salvation (and everyone else’s too) depended on her having children. She had to have children, her children had to have children, and so on, to ultimately bring Christ into the world so He could atone for us.

LDS scholar Hugh Nibley pointed out that Eve, though fallen, still exhibited great love of the truth by working to keep her marriage together so that she could keep the commandment to have children. (Having broken one commandment, she didn’t want to break any others.)

After Eve had eaten the fruit and Satan had won his round, the two [Adam and Eve] were now drastically separated, for they were of different natures. But Eve, who in ancient lore is the one who outwits the serpent and trips him up with his own smartness, defeated this trick by a clever argument. First she asked Adam if he intended to keep all of God's commandments. Of course he did! All of them? Naturally! And what, pray, was the first and foremost of those commandments? Was it not to multiply and replenish the earth, the universal commandment given to all God's creatures? And how could they keep that commandment if they were separated? It had undeniable priority over the commandment not to eat the fruit. So Adam could only admit that she was right and go along: “I see that it must be so,” he said, but it was she who made him see it. This is much more than a smart way of winning her point, however. It is the clear declaration that man and woman were put on the earth to stay together and have a family—that is their first obligation and must supersede everything else.(Hugh Nibly, “Patriarchy and Matriarchy”, http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/transcripts/?id=151)

So it seems that both Adam and Eve must be remembered for their strong commitment to marriage and family and having children.

Adam’s temporary fall

And this is the genealogy of the sons of Adam, who was the son of God, with whom God himself, conversed.” (Moses 6:22)

I previously took it for granted that when it says God conversed with Adam it meant in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. But now I’m not so sure it just means that. Plus, if the bit about Adam as “the son of God” just means Adam was created by God or that Adam’s spirit was begotten by God, we wouldn’t be learning anything new.

BUT!! If it means that Adam was born again of God and that he eventually attained such righteousness that he was brought back into the presence of God and conversed with God face to face, then we would really learn something truly precious, something worthy of the Pearl of Great Price. That would mean that Adam had obeyed the gospel, depended upon Christ’s atonement, and put off the natural man and became a saint. It would mean that through his faith in Christ, he had overcome his own fall. It would mean that Adam didn’t remain in his fallen state and that neither should we.

In the beginning, there was taxonomy…

In the book Glut: Mastering Information Through The Ages there is the story told of anthropologist Brent Berlin walking through the Peruvian rainforest with a guide from the local Aguaruna tribe. Berlin listened as his guide pointed out the names of all the plants and animals they encountered. The tribe had developed an elaborate taxonomy of their own to classify and categorize the living things around them.

Berlin also discovered later that folk taxonomies are startlingly complex in order to organize their understanding of plants and animals. History credits Linnaeus and Aristotle with starting to catagorize living things, but it is suspected that the practice goes further back. It would be highly useful to learn very quickly what plants and animals were poisonous and harmful and which weren't.

When I read about this, I instantly thought of some verses I had recently read in the Pearl of Great Price:

19 And out of the ground I, the Lord God, formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and commanded that they should come unto Adam, to see what he would call them; and they were also living souls; for I, God, breathed into them the breath of life, and commanded that whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that should be the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but as for Adam, there was not found an help meet for him. (Moses 3:19-20)

Here’s a really cute poem I found more than a year ago that seems to bring this event to life:

Adam’s Task, by John Hollander

And Adam gave names to all cattle, and
to the fowl of the air, and to every
beast of the field...GEN 2:20

Thou, paw-paw-paw; thou, glurd; thou, spotted
Glurd; thou, whitestap, lurching through
The high-grown brush; thou pliant-footed,
Implex; thou awagabu.

Every burrower, each flier
Came for the name he had to give:
Gay, first work, ever to be prior,
Not yet sunk to primitive.

Thou, verdle; thou, McFleery’s pomma;
Thou; thou; thou--three types of grawl;
Thou flishket; thou. kabasch; thou, comma-
Eared mashawk; thou, all; thou, all.

Were, in a fire of becoming,
Laboring to be burned away,
Then work, half-measuring, half-humming,
Would be as serious as play.

Thou, pambler; thou, rivarn; thou, greater
Wherret, and thou, lesser one;
Thou, sproal, thou zant; thou, lily-eater.
Naming’s over. Day is done.

(from Selected Poetry (New York: Knopf, 1993)

I think it says something about God's love for us and desire for us to learn that He allows us to make our own names for things. He wants us to discover for ourselves. I think it is also neat that He uses our names for things when He communicates. In a certain sense, it is another example of the condescension of God.

Image: SchoolWorkHelper—St. Rosemary Educational Institution, http://schoolworkhelper.net/2010/07/scientific-taxonomy/

Enoch tells of Adam’s baptism and how God taught Adam the gospel

Previous to now I had read Enoch’s discourse in Moses 6:41-68 and I don’t know what I thought it was, but I wasn’t very impressed with it. But this time, I happened to notice something extraordinary that I had never noticed before—Enoch’s discourse has nested inside of it a fairly hefty conversation that God had with Adam on the first principles of the gospel (possibly excluding verse 54, which seems to be Enoch explaining how the doctrine of little children’s innocence was extrapolated). Here it is:

51 And he [God] called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh.
52 And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you.
53 And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water? And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden.

54 Hence came the saying abroad among the people, that the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the foundation of the world. [I think these are Enoch's thoughts]

55 And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good.
56 And it is given unto them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and commandment.
57 Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.
58 Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children, saying:
59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;
60 For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified;
61 Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment.
62 And now, behold, I say unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time.
63 And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me.
64 And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.
65 And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man.
66 And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever;
67 And thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity.
68 Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen. (Moses 6:50-58)

It is described:
-how the voice of the Lord commanded Adam to do all those basic principles of the gospel,
-how Adam questioned the need to repent and be baptized,
-and how the Lord answered this question and taught about:

• the fallen nature of man,
• the agency of man,
• the need for repentance,
• the purity of the kingdom of God,
• the coming judgment,
• the way baptism is a rebirth,
• and the role of the Holy Ghost.
• And at the end, God identifies these teachings as the plan of salvation.
  

And when God had taught these things, Adam understood he needed to repent and be baptized, and he wanted to obey, and we can tell because it says “when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried to the Lord.” Adam undoubtedly prayed expressing his repentance and desire to be baptized, since the Lord does not force repentance or baptism upon anyone. “And he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.” (v64) After that, he experienced a spiritual rebirth as the Spirit of God descended upon him, and to make sure Adam knew what was happening to him, God’s voice out of heaven told him what he was feeling:

66 And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever;
67 And thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity.
68 Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen. (Moses 6:66-68)

I don’t know why I didn’t see all this before. Somehow in my previous readings I kept losing the sight of which words were Enoch’s and which were Enoch’s quotations of God’s instructions to Adam.

So why is this important? It shows Adam was instructed by the voice of the Lord on all the first principles of the gospel—faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. These principles are the same as what we are taught today. Enoch taught these same principles of the gospel by referring to the precedent set by Adam and using the same discourse the Lord gave to Adam. Enoch was using the story of Adam’s baptism to teach the people the first principles of the gospel, much like missionaries today use the discourse of Nephi in 2 Nephi 31. To me, this makes Enoch's discourse much more powerful.