Adam
and Eve Part 2:
God
Gives Opposing Commandments?
By
Connie Raddon
The LDS Church believes: “The Fall is an integral part of Heavenly
Father’s plan of salvation… It has a twofold direction – downward yet
forward…If Adam had not transgressed, he would not have fallen, … and Adam and
Eve 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.” (True to the Faith, pg. 57
– published by the LDS Church)
Color Key:
Quotes from the
Mormon Teachings in blue.
Quotes from the
Bible in red.
Before we dive
into the topic, I just have to mention – one of the books I was really looking
forward to using for my research was the new LDS publication, “Teachings of
Thomas S. Monson”. This is a compiled alphabetical listing of his teachings. I hope you are as disappointed as I am that
the so-called prophet of the so-called “Church of Jesus Christ” does not have
section in his book about Adam and Eve, or the Fall. (Instead of finding articles on the Fall at the beginning of the "F" section, I
found sections on Family History Work and Family Home Evening.)
The lack of
theological teaching from the prophet in the Mormon Church is astounding!
Now on to Part 2
of Adam and Eve…
The Bible
teaches that God gave Adam and Eve two commands.
1. Multiply and replenish the earth. (Genesis 1:28)
2. Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. (Genesis 2:17)
First
As a Mormon, I
was taught that in order to keep the first command, Adam and Eve must break the
second command, or vice versa.
“All of this is
built on man-made pre-supposition and a kind of strange notion that God is a
God of tricks and games. It assumes that
Adam and Eve could not have learned to multiply; or, if they had had questions
on how, that they couldn’t have asked God how to go about it.” 1
There is nothing
in the Bible that suggests you must break one commandment in order to keep the
other. It simply says to do both
“According to
Mormon doctrine, they wouldn’t know how
to procreate until they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil! So in ORDER to get God’s true plan going,
they had to eat the fruit – the fruit that God Himself commanded them not to
eat. And then, when they did, He
punished them for their disobedience to His will.”2
How could anyone
worship a God as diabolical and twisted as the one Mormonism has created??
Second
This concept
also puts sex and procreation into the “evil” category. Follow my logic here – if Adam and Eve were
in the Garden of Eden, and everything in the Garden was good… and if it was true that they could not
“multiply and replenish” while in the Garden, then the act of “multiplying and
replenishing” must not be good – it can only come when they gain a knowledge of
good AND EVIL. Therefore, there is an
underlying implication that sex is
evil.
I have
personally known LDS newlyweds and “not so newly”-weds who have had seriously
twisted and deep seeded issues which caused trouble in their marriage because
of this belief.
Third
In Mormonism,
Adam and Eve are looked up to for their brave and noble decision. You see, LDS doctrine teaches than all humans
existed as spirits in a pre-mortal world with our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother.
The next step towards becoming Gods ourselves was to gain a physical
body. In order for that to happen, Adam
and Eve had to break God’s command. Here are
some LDS quotes to explain:
“The Fall is an integral part of Heavenly
Father’s plan of salvation (see 2 Nephi 2:15-16; 9:6). It has a twofold direction – downward yet
forward. In addition to introducing
physical and spiritual death, it gave us the opportunity to be born on the
earth and to learn and progress. Through
our righteous exercise of agency and our sincere repentance when we sin, we can
come unto Christ and, through His Atonement, prepare to receive the gift of
eternal life. The prophet Lehi taught:
‘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
[Adam and Eve] 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.’
‘Adam
fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”3
The LDS
scripture Pearl of Great Price goes on to say:
Moses
5:10-11 “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.”
This doesn’t
even make sense – Eve is saying that by being “disobedient” (transgressing),
they will receive the gifts that God only gives to the “obedient”.
“In
other words, she is saying, ‘I am so glad I sinned so I could then experience
Jesus saving me from sin.’
‘Forget
about the price He paid for the sin.
Forget about the pain HE endured or the crime that sin is against God in
the first place. Instead, Joseph Smith
has Eve rejoicing in her transgression because she could now rejoice in the
solution to it!”4
Mormons claim
they are Christian. However, the LDS
belief about Adam and Eve is NOT Biblical, and therefore, NOT consistent
with Christian beliefs.
On May 18, 1873 (as recorded in the
Journal of Discourses, Vol. 16 p. 46), Brigham Young issued a challenge: “Take up the Bible, compare the religion of
the Latter Day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test.”
I have accepted that challenge from
Brigham Young.
On the subject of Adam and Eve, the
LDS religion FAILS this test.
1“Where Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity Face to
Face: An A to Z Doctrinal Comparative
between Mormonism and Biblical Christianity” by Shawn Aaron McCraney
(2011) pg. 7
2 Ibid pg 8
3 “True to
the Faith: A Gospel Reference” published
by the First Presidency of the LDS Church in 2004 pg. 57-58
4 “Where
Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity Face to Face: An A to Z Doctrinal Comparative between Mormonism
and Biblical Christianity” by Shawn Aaron McCraney (2011) pg. 9
