Adam

Adam: A Latter-day Saint Perspective By Robert Millet, former Dean of Religious Education at BYU, (From the book Man Adam, pages 189 - 193)

"About twenty years ago I read a book by a noted psychoanalyst which discussed at length the episode in Eden. In the opening chapter the writer detailed the Genesis story and particularly focused upon the serpent's temptation of Adam and Eve. "Yea, hath God said," the serpent asked, "Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

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." (Gen. 3:1-5.) The learned writer then spent the remainder of the book discussing Adam and Eve's decision to partake of the forbidden fruit as the beginning stages and symbolic representation of mankind's consuming passion for power and dominion. Imagine-he said, in effect-man seeking to know and be as God is. Why, the very idea is blasphemous and unthinkable!

Some years later I was driving across the country, listening to the car radio as I traveled. I especially enjoy listening to religious channels and networks to better understand the perspective of our Protestant and Catholic friends. On one channel the host of a rather popular program was taking calls from the listening audience, soliciting religious questions.

One caller asked, "Reverend, why did Adam and Eve take the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?" The minister's answer was simple. "I don't know," he said.

"That's the dumbest thing anyone could have done! Why, if Adam and Eve had not been so selfish, so power-hungry, we might all have been in paradise today!" The answer at the time caused me to chuckle.

I have since thought again and again about his answer and looked more soberly and sympathetically upon a Christian world which desperately needs what we as Latter-day Saints have to offer.

And what of Adam? Through the modern seer, Joseph Smith, we learn that Adam was earth's first Christian. To Adam the gospel was first preached. To him and his posterity came the doctrine and proclamation, the commandment that we should do all that we do in the name of the Son, and that we should repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore (Moses 5:8). Adam-his very name means man or mankind. Adam-his very title implies the first man of all men, which are many (Moses 1:34). Indeed, in the words of President Brigham Young, "The name that was given to Adam was more ancient than he was. Through the work of the Restoration, the knowledge of antiquity and the understanding of God's dealings with earth's first prophets and Apostles-special witnesses of him and his message-have been made known.

Because God has spoken anew in our day about Adam and Eve, we know things about ourselves- about our nature and true relationship to Deity-that we would not know otherwise.

For example, through Joseph Smith's inspired translation of the early chapters of Genesis-some of which constitutes "Selections from the Book of Moses" in our Pearl of Great Price-we know the following:

1. Adam and Eve were vital parts of God's purpose and plan-the plan of salvation-which plan has been in existence since the days that they first walked the earth. The Saints today, and all who will listen, become privy to a foundational truth concerning Christ's eternal gospel-the knowledge that Christian prophets have taught Christian doctrine and administered Christian ordinances since the days of Eden.

2. Adam and Eve's doings in Eden are not to be understood in a spiritual vacuum.

 And Lucifer's actions in the garden must be seen as a part of his malevolent mischief begun in the premortal councils. The War in Heaven simply continues on earth. (See Moses 4.)

3. The fall of Adam and Eve was an essential part of God's plan. Thus the Fall is viewed by Latter-day Saints with an optimism that is uncharacteristic of traditional Christianity. Simply stated, Adam and Eve came into the Garden of Eden to fall. In fact, their partaking of the fruit was as much a part of the foreordained plan as the atonement of Christ. "Because that Adam fell," Enoch explained, "we are" (Moses 6:48; compare 2 Ne. 2:25).

4. God forgave Adam and Eve their transgression in the Garden of Eden. Though children are "conceived in sin"-though conception becomes the vehicle through which the effects of the Fall are transmitted to man; they are free from any original sin or guilt. Little children are whole from the foundation of the world. These blessings come as unconditional benefits of the atonement of Jesus Christ. (Moses 6:53-55.)

5. Through the redemptive labors of Christ and their own repentance, Adam and Eve were forgiven of their sins, born again, changed from a carnal and fallen state to a state of righteousness; they were justified, sanctified, and made ready for an entrance into the eternal presence (Moses 6:57-60). We can receive these blessings as well. Through the ordinances of salvation, Adam, Eve, and their posterity are "quickened in the inner man," are born of the Spirit, and thus become the sons and daughters of Christ (Moses 6:64-68). Then, through receiving the blessings of the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, these Saints may ultimately qualify to become sons and daughters of God the Father and receive, as joint-heirs with Christ, all that the Father has.

In summary, much of what we know of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement-the three pillars of eternity-we know in large measure because of what God has revealed, principally in the latter days, regarding our first parents.

Sadly, it seems that most in society live in ignorance in regard to the role of Adam. A large segment of the world's population dismisses him as myth and metaphor. Others, like my minister friend, spurn his actions in Eden and condemn him as rebellious. Still others, also misinformed and misled, worship him as a god. To misunderstand Adam is to misunderstand our own identity, as well as our relationship to the Lord and his plan.

The gospel light has shone forth, and people need not wander in darkness as to who they are, whose they are, and what they may become. Searching the revelations and attuning ourselves to the living oracles in our own day will prepare us for a time when further light and knowledge concerning the Adamic dispensation will be given (D&C 107:57), a time when the faithful will know "things which have passed, and hidden things which no man knew, things of the earth, by which it was made, and the purpose and the end thereof-things most precious" (D&C 101:33-34).  A knowledge of the origin and destiny of man-this is the legacy of the Latter-day Saints."