Questions Answered: Was there reproduction, blood, sin, pain and other mortal conditions on the earth before the Fall? In addition to man, did the Fall affect plants, animals and the earth itself? Why is the doctrine that Adam was the first flesh upon the earth critical when discussing the fall of man?
Commentary
The Bible Dictionary found in the LDS edition of the scriptures contains this statement about the condition of the world prior to the Fall. Bible Dictionary: Fall of Adam– The process by which mankind became mortal on this earth. The event is recorded in Genesis 2-4 ; and Moses 3-4. The fall of Adam is one of the most important occurrences in the history of man. Before the fall, Adam and Eve had physical bodies but no blood. Tere was no sin, no death, and no children among any of the earthly creations. With the eating of the “forbidden fruit,” Adam and Eve became mortal, sin entered, blood formed in their bodies, and death became a part of life. Adam became the “first flesh” upon the earth (Moses 3:7), meaning that he and Eve were the first to become mortal. After Adam fell, the whole creation fell and became mortal. Adam’s fall brought both physical and spiritual death into the world upon all mankind (Helaman 14:16–17). Latter-day revelation supports the biblical account of the fall, showing that it was a historical event that literally occurred in the history of man. Many points in latter-day revelation are also clarified that are not discernible from the Bible. Among other things it makes clear that the fall is a blessing, and that Adam and Eve should be honored in their station as the first parents of the earth. (2 Nephi 2: 15–16; 2 Nephi 9: 6-21; Mosiah 3: 11-16; Alma 22: 12-14; Alma 42: 2-15; D&C 29: 34-44; Moses 5: 9-13, also see Bible Dictionary on Flesh)
The scriptures and the Prophets of God have taught that there was no blood, the agent of mortality, in the bodies of Adam and Eve when they were first placed upon the earth. Additionally, there are several passages in scripture and in the writings of Latter-day Prophets that teach that Adam and Eve as well as the animal kingdom, as originally created, could not reproduce. Some have failed to see the significance of these statements. Without blood, death and reproduction, the Darwinian principles of natural selection could not have operated. The scriptural account is far different than the theories of men. Rather than eons of time and brutal killing to bring the creation into being, God followed the pattern taught by President Joseph Fielding Smith.
“Now let us reason together . . .
- Worlds without number have been created.
- They have been created as habitations for the children of God.
- The great work and glory of our Father is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
- Inhabitants of other worlds are begotten sons and daughters of God.
- When one earth passes away to its exaltation another comes.
- The making of earths is a glorious work which has been carried on eternally.
This being true, then does it not appear to you that it is a foolish and ridiculous notion that when God created this earth he had to begin with a speck of protoplasm, and take millions of years, if not billions, to bring conditions to pass by which his sons and daughters might obtain bodies made in his image?
Why not the shorter route and transplant them from another earth as we are taught in the scriptures? Surely to any reasonable mind, the Lord would not have to start with an amoeba, pass through the stage of lower fish to higher fish to reptiles to apes and to man! When we stop to consider how perfect are the workings of God; how thorough he is and orderly, surely these theories flatten out and are without substance.” 1
As President Smith taught, the Creation consisted of transplanting the seeds, animals and man from Celestial parents to this earth in a paradisiacal state. All of the Creation was in a glorified state, without blood, sin, death and reproductive ability. At this point the Lord declared the Creation good. John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt have given us a glimpse of this beautiful world.
First, then, it becomes necessary for us to take a view of creation, as it rolled in purity from the hand of its Creator; and if we can discover the true state in which it then existed, and understand the changes that have taken place since, then we shall be able to understand what is to be restored
. . . the beasts of the earth were all in perfect harmony with each other; the lion ate straw like the ox—the wolf dwelt with the lamb—the leopard lay down with the kid—the cow and bear fed together, in the same pasture . . . . all was peace and harmony, and nothing to hurt nor disturb, in all the holy mountain.
. . . the earth yielded neither noxious weeds nor poisonous plants, nor useless thorns and thistles; indeed, every thing that grew was just calculated for the food of man’ beast, fowl, and creeping thing; and their food was all vegetable
[Man] stood in the presence of his Maker, conversed with him face to face, and gazed upon his glory, without a dimming veil between.2
This is in vast contrast to the story promoted by evolutionists. The Darwinian account includes millions of years of needless and brutal killing to accomplish its end, a fallen and degenerate world. What of the scriptural account which explains:
“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.”(2 Nephi 2:22)
One of the foundations of our faith is attacked by the Darwinian teachings. In Article of Faith 10 we are taught that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory. To renew means to bring something back to the state in which it once was. If there never was a Garden of Eden and paradisiacal earth, we would have no hope that it could be returned to that state.
Some have felt that somehow the two stories can be harmonized. Possibly the earth was evolving while in parallel the Lord planted a garden in a small portion. Maybe both stories can be true. First, there are numerous statements in the scriptures and writings of the Prophets that contradict this. One sample that teaches that the Fall affected plants, animals and the earth itself was given by President Wilford Woodruff and reprinted in one of our recent Teachings of the Presidents of the Church manuals.
“We acknowledge that through Adam all have died, that death through the fall must pass upon the whole human family, also upon the beasts of the field, the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air and all the works of God, as far as this earth is concerned. It is a law that is unchangeable and irrevocable . . . .3
Second, the question must be asked, “Why and how would the Lord create something fallen, while at the same time creating a beautiful garden?”
Then there is the other problem of the dual nature of man and animals. All animals have a spirit as well as a mortal body and will eventually be resurrected as well. Some have imagined that maybe the animal kingdom evolved without spirits and then God breathed the spirits into their bodies. Have the adherents to this philosophy forgotten that the definition of physical death is separation of spirit and body? Often missionaries use the analogy of a hand and glove. The hand represents the spirit while the glove represents the body. While the hand is inside the glove, there is life. When the hand is removed from the glove, only an empty limp glove remains, representing death. In the light of this simple doctrine of the spirit and the body does the suggestion of evolution occurring without spirits need further debunking?
Finally, the doctrine that Adam was the first flesh upon the earth corrects any more false contentions. The scriptures teach that the plants and animals were placed upon the earth prior to Adam; Adam and Eve being the final Creation. But the scriptures also teach that Adam was the first flesh, meaning mortal, upon the earth. If there were pre-Adamites and animals dying for many thousands or millions of years, then Adam was not the first flesh. President Harold B. Lee in a First Presidency Message to the Church made this very clear.
“I was somewhat sorrowed recently to hear someone, a sister who comes from a church family, ask, ‘What about the pre-Adamic people?’ Here was someone who I thought was fully grounded in the faith. I asked, ‘What about the pre-Adamic people?’ She replied, ‘Well, aren’t there evidences that people preceded the Adamic period of the earth?’ I said, ‘Have you forgotten the scripture that says, ‘And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also….'(Moses 3:7). I asked, ‘Do you believe that?’ She wondered about the creation because she had read the theories of the scientists, and the question that she was really asking was: How do you reconcile science with religion? The answer must be, If science is not true, you cannot reconcile truth with error.”4
Additional support for this doctrine can be found in the scriptures starting with the references given in the Bible dictionary under Flesh and Fall of Adam.
Since flesh often means mortality, Adam is spoken of as the “first flesh” upon the earth, meaning he was the first mortal on the earth, all things being created in a nonmortal condition, and becoming mortal through the fall of Adam. Jesus is the “Only Begotten of the Father” in the flesh, meaning he is the only one begotten of the Father into mortality (Moses 3: 7).
See also Fall of Adam
Prophetic Statements
First Presidency
“It is held by some that Adam was not the first man upon this earth, and that the original human being was a development from lower orders of the animal creation. These, however, are the theories of men. The word of the Lord declares that Adam was ‘the first man of all men’ (Moses 1:34), and we are therefore in duty bound to regard him as the primal parent of our race.” 5
Brigham Young
#1:
The diseases that are and ever have been prevalent among the human family are from beneath, and are entailed upon them through the fall—through the disobedience of our first parents; but Jesus, having the issues of life at his command, could counteract those diseases at his pleasure. 6
#2:
How strange it is that mankind do not better understand and conduct themselves! True, as is written, sin was introduced to the human family by the transgression of our first parents, and thereby the Adversary of all righteousness gained great power over our bodies, as we can daily see exhibited,—the flesh, as the Apostle has written, warring against the spirit. So in a garden, the weeds spring up spontaneously; and if you wish to produce certain fruits and vegetables, you must carefully till the soil, because the ground is cursed to produce thorns and thistles and obnoxious weeds. The original transgression subjected the flesh to weakness and infirmities, but not the spirit; which explains how much easier it is for a person to sin than to work righteousness, by the power sin has obtained over earthly tabernacles, notwithstanding the promptings to do right, and that a person feels better in doing right than wrong. 7
#3:
[Adam] helped to make and organize this world. . . . They came here, organized the raw material, and arranged in their order the herbs of the field, the trees, the apple, the peach, the plum, the pear, and every other fruit that is desirable and good for man; the seed was brought from another sphere, and planted in this earth. The thistle, and thorn, the brier, and the obnoxious weed did not appear until after the earth was cursed. When Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, their bodies became mortal from its effects, and therefore their offspring were mortal. When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family . . . from the fruits of the earth, the first earthly tabernacles were originated by the Father, and so on in succession. 8
#4:
There are no persons without evil passions to embitter their lives. Mankind are revengeful, passionate, hateful, and devilish in their dispositions. This we inherit through the fall, and the grace of God is designed to enable us to overcome it. 9
#5:
We are like children with regard to learning. If we could understand the effects of the fall or of sin upon intelligence, we would see that its tendency is downward, that it is retrograde in its nature. 10
#6:
The spirits that live in these tabernacles were as pure as the heavens, when they entered them. They came to tabernacles that are contaminated pertaining to the flesh, by the fall of man. The Psalmist says, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” This Scripture has established in the minds of some the doctrine of total depravity—that it is impossible for them to have one good thought, that they are altogether sinful, that there is no good, no soundness, and no spiritual health in them. This is not correct, yet we have a warfare within us. We have to contend against evil passions, or the seeds of iniquity that are sown in the flesh through the fall. 11
#7:
We have been keeping the commandments of the Lord, and should continue to do so more diligently; for he has commanded us to do so—to strive to overcome the evils and put away the follies and sins which have been sown in our nature by the fall of our first parents, and let every feeling and affection be centred upon him and the things of his kingdom, that when we awake in the morning of the resurrection we may be crowned with honour and glory in our Father’s kingdom. 12
#8:
How did Adam and Eve sin? Did they come out in direct opposition to God and to his government? No. But they transgressed a command of the Lord, and through that transgression sin came into the world. . . . Then came the curse upon the fruit, upon the vegetables, and upon our mother earth; and it came upon the creeping things, upon the grain in the field, the fish in the sea, and upon all things pertaining to this earth, through Man’s transgression. 13
#9:
When our first parents fell from their paradisiacal state, they were brought in contact with influences and powers of evil that are unnatural and stand in opposition to an endless life. So far as mankind yield to these influences, they are so far removed from a natural to an unnatural state from life to death. Adam and Eve did not sin because it was in their nature to love sin, but, as Paul says in his Epistle to Timothy, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in child bearing, if they continue in faith, and charity, and holiness, with sobriety.” The enemy of all righteousness deceived the woman, and Adam went with her that man might be, and that she might be saved in child-bearing. 14
#10:
“We have been keeping the commandments of the Lord, and should continue to do so more diligently; for he has commanded us to do so—to strive to overcome the evils and put away the follies and sins which have been sown in our nature by the fall of our first parents, and let every feeling and affection be centered upon him and the things of his kingdom, that when we awake in the morning of the resurrection we may be crowned with honor and glory in our Father’s kingdom.” 15
#11:
Is it necessary that we should know good from evil? I can answer this to suit myself by saying it is absolutely necessary, for the simple reason that if we had never realized darkness we never could have comprehended the light; if we never tasted anything bitter, but were to eat sweets, the honey and the honeycomb, from the time we come into this world until the time we go out of it, what knowledge could we have of the bitter? This leads me to the decision that every fact that exists in this world is demonstrated by its opposite. If this is the fact—and all true philosophy proves it—it leads me to the conclusion that the transgression of our first parents was absolutely necessary, that we might be brought in contact with sin and have the opportunity of knowing good and evil. . . . Our first parents transgressed the law that was given them in the garden; their eyes were opened. 16
#12:
Marvel not that the kingdom of God is not in its fulness. Marvel not that you see every man and woman subject to the passions that belong to fallen nature. There never was a Prophet on the earth but what was subject to passions, as we are. Every son and daughter of Adam that has come into this world has been subject to sin, and prone to wander. . . . When we have streets paved with gold, we will have placed it there ourselves. When we enjoy a Zion in its beauty and glory, it will be when we have built it. If we enjoy the Zion that we now anticipate, it will be after we redeem and prepare it. If we live in the city of the New Jerusalem, it will be because we lay the foundation and build it. If we do not as individuals complete that work, we shall lay the foundation for our children and our children’s children, as Adam has. If we are to be saved in an ark, as Noah and his family were, it will be because we build it. 17
#13:
When shall we receive our inheritances so that we can say they are our own? When the Savior has completed the work, when the faithful Saints have preached the Gospel to the last of the spirits who have lived here and who are designed to come to this earth; when the thousand years of rest shall come and thousands and thousands of Temples shall be built, and the servants and handmaids of the Lord shall have entered therein and officiated for themselves, and for their dead friends back to the days of Adam; when the last of the spirits in prison who will receive the Gospel has received it; when the Savior comes and receives his ready bride, and all who can be are saved in the various kingdoms of God—celestial, terrestrial and telestial, according to their several capacities and opportunities; when sin and iniquity are driven from the earth, and the spirits that now float in this atmosphere are driven into the place prepared for them; and when the earth is sanctified from the effects of the fall, and baptized, cleansed, and purified by fire, and returns to its paradisiacal state, and has become like a sea of glass, a urim and thummim; when all this is done, and the Savior has presented the earth to his Father, and it is placed in the cluster of the celestial kingdom, and the Son and all his faithful brethren and sisters have received the welcome plaudit—”Enter ye into the joy of your Lord,” and the Savior is crowned, then and not till then, will the Saints receive their everlasting inheritances. 18
#14:
In my fullest belief, it was the design of the Lord that Adam should partake of the forbidden fruit, and I believe that Adam knew all about it before he came to this earth. I believe there was no other way leading to thrones and dominions only for him to transgress, or take that position which transgression alone could place man in, so descend below all things, that they might ascend to thrones, principalities, and powers; for they could not ascend to that eminence without first descending, nor upon any other principle. 19
#15:
We believe that we have a correct idea of the character of the Son from the writings of the Apostles, so far as they learned it. But while he was tabernacling in the flesh, he was more or less contaminated with fallen nature. While he was here, in a body that his mother Mary bore him, he was more or less connected with and influenced by this nature that we have received. According to the flesh, he was of the seed of Adam and Eve, and suffered the weaknesses and temptations of his fellow-mortals. . . . That thread of faith, of feeling, of hope, of joy, and of action may be found through all the instructions that have ever come from heaven to earth, in order to bring the children of God—that is, the whole of the human family—the children of our Father, and we as brethren and sisters, parents and children, all emanating from one parentage, back again into the presence of the Father and the Son, to bring up the whole posterity of father Adam and mother Eve to enjoy the light, glory, intelligence, power, kingdoms, thrones, and dominions that are prepared for exalted beings, which could not be until they had taken upon them tabernacles. They could not be exalted unless they were prepared for an exaltation; and upon no other principle could they be prepared, without taking tabernacles of flesh and being made subject to vanity. The whole of the Divine teachings, from the days of Adam until now, have been to teach the human family to yield to the teachings, dictations, influence, and power of the holy Gospel to make them one. Without that oneness, there is no salvation for us in the celestial kingdom of God. 20
#16:
It is true that man is first. Father Adam was placed here as king of the earth, to bring it into subjection. But when Mother Eve came she had a splendid influence over him. A great many have thought it was not very good; I think it was excellent. After she had partaken of the fruit she carried it to her husband, saying, “Husband, a certain character came to me and said if you will eat of this fruit you will find it excellent, and it will make you as Gods, knowing good from evil; and I have tasted it, and I assure you it is excellent.” Her influence was so great with Adam that he also partook of it, and his eyes were opened. You know the result—they were both driven from the garden. Before this, however, they were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth and thus fill the measure of their creation. 21
John Taylor
#1:
“Without Adam’s transgression those children could not have existed.” 22
#2:
Now, restoration signifies a bringing back, and must refer to something which existed before . . . when a prophet speaks of the restoration of all things, he means that all things have undergone a change, and are to be again restored to their primitive order, even as they first existed. . . . “First, then, it becomes necessary for us to take a view of creation, as it rolled in purity from the hand of its Creator; and if we can discover the true state in which it then existed, and understand the changes that have taken place since, then we shall be able to understand what is to be restored
. . . the beasts of the earth were all in perfect harmony with each other; the lion ate straw like the ox—the wolf dwelt with the lamb—the leopard lay down with the kid—the cow and bear fed together, in the same pasture . . . . all was peace and harmony, and nothing to hurt nor disturb, in all the holy mountain.
. . . the earth yielded neither noxious weeds nor poisonous plants, nor useless thorns and thistles; indeed, every thing that grew was just calculated for the food of man’ beast, fowl, and creeping thing; and their food was all vegetable
[Man] stood in the presence of his Maker, conversed with him face to face, and gazed upon his glory, without a dimming veil between.
Now, reader, contemplate the change. This scene, which was so beautiful a little before, had now become the abode of sorrow and toil, of death and mourning: the earth groaning with its production of accursed thorns and thistles; man and beast at enmity . . . . Soon man begins to persecute, hate, and murder his fellow; until at length the earth is filled with violence; all flesh becomes corrupt, the powers of darkness prevail . . .
But men have degenerated, and greatly changed, as well as the earth. The sins, the abominations, and the many evil habits of the latter ages, have added to the miseries, toils, and sufferings of human life. The idleness, extravagance, pride, covetousness, drunkenness, and other abominations, which are characteristics of the latter times, have all combined to sink mankind to the lowest state of wretchedness and degradation 23
#3:
If He could reveal unto Adam all of the events which would transpire upon the earth associated with coming generations, he certainly must himself have had a knowledge of those things which he communicated to our first parents, or he could not have revealed them. Among other things which the Lord designed should be introduced upon the earth was what is termed the dispensation of the fullness of times, wherein he would gather together all things in one, whether they be things on the earth or things in heaven; but all should be gathered together in one. . . .
We find that Adam offered sacrifices, and when he did this, he said in answer to a question put to him by an holy angel, I do not know why I do it, only the Father has commanded it. And then the angel commenced to explain to him that this rite was a type of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father who should come in the meridian of time to offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world; and said he,
“Thou shalt do all things in the name of the Son, and call upon the Father in his name for evermore.”
When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, the mercy of God was extended to them, and they perceived as Eve expressed it, that if there had been no fall, they would have had no posterity, and that they would have been deprived of many joys and blessings relating both to this life and the life to come. And so Adam and Eve rejoiced in their hearts that God had provided the plan, and although they were fallen, yet in this life, through the atonement, they would have joy, and by and by they would return to their Father, and there rejoice exceedingly in the abundant mercy of God, and in the redemption wrought out for them by the Son of God. . . .
Now, with regard to Noah and his day. God made arrangements beforehand, and told Methuselah that when the people should be destroyed, that a remnant of his seed should occupy the earth and stand foremost upon it. And Methuselah was so anxious to have it done that he ordained Noah to the Priesthood when he was ten years of age. Noah then stood in his day as the representative of God; and after him Abraham was selected to take the lead in relation to these matters pertaining to man’s salvation. Some people suppose that Abraham was an old fogy who knew but little, a kind of dull, dumpy old shepherd. But we were informed that he was a man that followed after righteousness, and that he sought to obtain more righteousness; that he searched the records of his fathers as they had come down to him, and traced them back until the days of Adam, and even before the world was. 24
#4:
One of the very first commandments that God gave to Adam was, when He placed him in the garden, He told him to dress or till it, so that he might be able to provide for his necessities. The fiat of the Almighty, at the time when Adam was expelled from the Garden of Eden was to him, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread;” that we cannot avoid. By this inscrutable law we are compelled to attend to some of the first necessary affairs of life or to go without bread and necessarily die. 25
#5:
How did Adam get his information of the things of God? He got it through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and through this same Priesthood of which we have been speaking. God came to him in the garden and talked with him. 26
#6:
Adam was thrust out of the garden after he fell, and had to take care of himself. Doubtless he was taught to spin, to weave, and to raise flax. We read that Abel used to raise sheep; so he must have known something about the use of wool. Cain was a tiller of the ground, and he went to work and raised wheat, corn, squashes, onions, beets, carrots, and such things.
What had Adam to clothe himself with at first? We are told that he and his wife had fig-leaves with which they covered themselves. That was rather a poor scrape to be in! They did not have many bedclothes to put on, nor many hats or bonnets. There were no merchants to sell, or manufacturers but themselves, in those days. 27
#7:
“The world, more or less, has found a great deal of fault with Mother Eve and with Father Adam, because of the fall of man; what I have to say with regard to it, I express as my own opinion. Adam and Eve came to this world to perform exactly the part that they acted in the Garden of Eden; and I will say, they were ordained of God to do what they did, and it was therefore expected that they would eat of the forbidden fruit in order that man might know both good and evil by passing through this school of experience which this life affords us. That is all I want to say about Father Adam and Mother Eve. Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have joy; and some have found fault with that.—JD 23:125, May 14, 1882.” 28
Wilford Woodruff
#1:
One of the first commands given to Adam, after being placed in Eden, was to dress the garden; and he was permitted to eat of the fruit of every tree except one. After a while Adam and his wife, Eve, partook of the fruit of this tree, and the history of the Fall is before us and the world. After Adam was cast out of the garden the Lord told him that there should be a curse on the earth, and instead of bringing forth beautiful flowers, fruit and grain spontaneously, as before the Fall, it should bring forth thorns, briers, thistles and noxious weeds, and that man should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow; and from that time to the present mankind has had this curse to contend with in the cultivation of the earth. 29
#2:
I wish to say a few words on one of the verses I have read, the 22nd: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” The world, more or less, has found a great deal of fault with Mother Eve and with Father Adam, because of the fall of man; what I have to say with regard to it, I express as my own opinion. Adam and Eve came to this world to perform exactly the part that they acted in the garden of Eden; and I will say, they were ordained of God to do what they did, and it was therefore expected that they would eat of the forbidden fruit in order that man might know both good and evil by passing through this school of experience which this life affords us. That is all I want to say about Father Adam and Mother Eve. Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have joy; and some have found fault with that. It has been said that God commanded Adam to multiply and replenish the earth; and it has been said that Adam was not under the necessity of falling in order to multiply and replenish the earth, but you will understand that the woman was deceived and not the man; and according to the justice of God she would have been cast out into the lowly and dreary world alone, and thus the first great command could not have been complied with unless Adam had partaken of the forbidden fruit. We acknowledge that through Adam all have died, that death through the fall must pass upon the whole human family, also upon the beasts of the field, the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air and all the works of God, as far as this earth is concerned. It is a law that is unchangeable and irrevocable. . . . There was no prophet, no saint or sinner, from the days of Father Adam to the days of Jesus that ever rose from the dead through the keys and power of the resurrection. Although we read of some who were restored to life, but this was not what is termed the resurrection.
With regard to redemption, Paul said: All the children of Adam are redeemed from the fall by the atoning blood of Jesus, and all infants are redeemed as well as other people. . . . What is the Gospel as taught by Jesus himself? The very first principle was faith in the Messiah; this was the first principle ever taught to man. When Adam, after being driven from the garden of Eden, went to Adam-ondi-Ahman to offer sacrifice, the angel of the Lord asked him why he did so. Adam replied that he did not know, but the Lord had commanded him to do it. He was then told that the blood of bulls and goats, of rams and lambs should be spilt upon the altar as a type of the great and last sacrifice which should be offered up for the sins of the world. The first principle, then, ever taught to Father Adam was faith in the Messiah, who was to come in the meridian of time to lay down his life for the redemption of man. 30
#3:
“We acknowledge that through Adam all have died, that death through the fall must pass upon the whole human family, also upon the beasts of the field, the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air and all the works of God, as far as this earth is concerned. It is a law that is unchangeable and irrevocable…The Savior himself tasted of death; He died to redeem the world; His body was laid in the tomb, but it did not see corruption; and after three days it arose from the grave and put on immortality. He was the first fruit of the resurrection.” 31
Lorenzo Snow
You, therefore, whether you acknowledge it or not, have assumed an importance before God and man that cannot be overlooked, and from which you cannot be released if you wish to sustain the name you bear.
And what of the prospects of that individual? I say that if he honors his calling, and is found faithful to the trust reposed in him, his prospects for salvation and exaltation in the kingdom of God are just as good as any other man’s. If he comprehends his position and lives accordingly, his prospects are equally good with any man that ever lived since the days of father Adam to the present moment; and it is just as important that he deport himself properly according to the sphere in which he walks, as it is that any other individual should, who may be called to act in a higher position; or, in other words, who may have been made steward over a larger number of talents. 32
Joseph F. Smith
#1:
It was instituted by the Savior in the place of the law of sacrifice which was given to Adam, and which continued with his children down to the days of Christ, but which was fulfilled in his death, he being the great sacrifice for sin, of which the sacrifices enjoined in the law given to Adam were a similitude.
The Lord designed in the beginning to place before man the knowledge of good and evil, and gave him a commandment to cleave to good and abstain from evil. But if he should fail, he would give to him the law of sacrifice and provide a Savior for him, that he might be brought back again into the presence and favor of God and partake of eternal life with him. This was the plan of redemption chosen and instituted by the Almighty before man was placed on the earth. And when man did fall by transgressing the law which was given him, the Lord gave to him the law of sacrifice, and made it clear to his understanding, that it was for the purpose of reminding him of that great event that should transpire in the meridian of time, whereby he and all his posterity might be brought forth by the power of redemption and the resurrection from the dead, and partake of eternal life with God in his kingdom. For this reason Adam and his posterity, from generation to generation, observed this law, and continually looked forward to a time when there should be provided for them a means of redemption from the fall and restoration from death to life, for death was the penalty of the law transgressed, which man was powerless to avert, the fiat of God being, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” and this penalty was to follow upon all flesh, all being as helpless and dependent as he was in this matter. . . . In anticipation, therefore, of this great sacrifice which was to be offered for Adam and his seed, they offered sacrifices, more or less acceptably, and in conformity to the pattern given, in proportion to the knowledge of God and of the gospel which they had, and their faithfulness from generation to generation, to the days of Jesus. . . . How do we know that the Bible accounts of Adam and the succeeding generations are correct? How do we know anything pertaining to God and his dealings with men anciently? We know many things by tradition, naturally, by intuition. “There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth it understanding.” There is an inherent principle in man that leads him to faith in a superior or a Supreme Being, who has designed and created all things. The Bible account, being the most rational and indeed only historical one of the creation and the dealings of God with men, we are constrained to accept it, in the main, as truth. Then we behold the wonderful works of God spread out before us, the starry heavens, the sun and moon, the earth on which we dwell, and its times and seasons, its fruits and grains, its herbs and varied productions, its fountains and rivers, mountains, valleys and plains, and the mighty deep, all teeming with life and animation; also the laws that govern these vast creations, and man, the crowning work of God, on this earth, the masterpiece, if you please, whom inspiration teaches us, is the offspring of that eternal being who is the Creator of all things, he being the most perfect in his organization, possessing greater attributes, powers of reason, and intelligence than all other beings, constituting him the “lord of creation,” and the nearest in resemblance to the Creator. We look at these things and we cannot but come to the conclusion that this is not the work of chance, but the result of matured omniscient designs and purposes, that man is the son of God, possessing the attributes and image of his Father, and in the beginning much of this intelligence, insomuch that he was the companion and associate of God and dwelt with him, and knew no sin. The Lord gave him the earth as a possession and an inheritance, and laws for his government, that he might fill the measure of his creation and have joy therein.
We look at these things in this manner, and they appear rational and true, and we are convinced that they are true, that the Scriptures, the Bible and Book of Mormon, are of divine origin.
But is this all we have to convince us of the truth of these things, and to confirm upon our minds the principles laid down as the Gospel of Christ, which is called “Mormonism?” These are the only means of knowing in regard to the truth of religion that the world claim to have, or that we had prior to becoming acquainted with the doctrines of this Church, and we were in a measure satisfied because it was the best light we possessed. There are thousands of the most intelligent and best educated men that live, and some of the greatest and brightest minds in many nations now engaged in the dissemination of what they believe to be the Gospel of Jesus Christ, claiming no other means of knowing the truth, than tradition and reason, and they appear to be satisfied with their convictions and faith. Millions of dollars are expended annually in promulgating their religion, they “compass land and sea to make proselytes,” with no other acknowledged evidence of the truth of the Bible, or of the divine mission of Jesus Christ, than that I have cited.
But we go farther than this, although to my mind this mode of reasoning is conclusive so far as it goes, and no doubt is left as to the existence of our Father and God, or that he created all things for a wise purpose, for his glory, and for the glory and happiness of his children, that the earth and the fullness thereof are God’s, although designed for man and his use, and finally to be given to him as an everlasting inheritance, when he shall, through obedience, prove worthy of it. But, as I said before, we go farther than this—there is “a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto we do well to take heed.” There is revelation, a means of direct communication from God to man, a power which can rend the veil between us and God, open the eyes of our understanding, and bring us into proximity to him, so that we may know him as he is, and learn from his own mouth and from the mouths of his holy messengers his laws and will concerning us, as anciently. This is the principle by which Adam knew God in the garden where he was placed in the beginning. God came to him day by day, and conversed with him as one man converses with another, giving him instructions and counsel, for man was pure. And when he was cast out, God did not forsake him, but appeared to him, sent his angels to communicate with him concerning the plan of salvation, and gave him the Holy Ghost to be a light in his path through the world, made dreary to him by being banished from the immediate presence of God. 33
#2:
In this natural body are the seeds of weakness and decay, which, when fully ripened or untimely plucked up, in the language of scripture, is called “the temporal death.” The spirit is also subject to what is termed in the scriptures and revelations from God, “spiritual death.” The same as that which befell our first parents, when through disobedience and transgression, they became subject to the will of Satan, and were thrust out from the presence of the Lord and became spiritually dead, which the Lord says, “is the first death, even that same death which is the last death, which is spiritual, which shall be pronounced upon the wicked when I shall say, Depart, ye cursed!” And the Lord further says, “But, behold I say unto you, that I the Lord God gave unto Adam and unto his seed, that they should not die as to the temporal death until I the Lord God should send forth angels to declare unto them repentance and redemption from the first death through faith on the name of mine only begotten Son. And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation, that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe, and they that believe not unto eternal damnation, for they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall because they repent not.” . . . If men will not repent and come unto Christ, through the ordinances of His Gospel, they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall, but must remain forever subject to the will of Satan and the consequent spiritual darkness or death into which our first parents fell, subjecting all their posterity thereto, and from which none can be redeemed but by belief or faith on the name of the “only Begotten Son” and obedience to the laws of God. 34
#3:
“Adam and his posterity…continually looked forward to a time when there should be provided for them a means of redemption from the fall and restoration from death to life, for death was the penalty of the law transgressed, which man was powerless to avert, that fiat of God being, “In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die,” and this penalty was to follow upon all flesh, all being as helpless and dependent as he was in this matter. Their only hope of redemption from the grave and the power of death was in the Savior whom God had promised.” 35
#4:
For even Christ himself, though without sin, was required to observe the outward ordinance of baptism, in order to fulfill all righteousness. So after his resurrection from the dead he could return to the Father, there to receive the welcome plaudit, “Well done, you have done your work, you have accomplished your mission; you have wrought out salvation for all the children of Adam; you have redeemed all men from the grave; and through their obedience to the ordinances of the Gospel which you have established, they can also be redemed from the spiritual death, again to be brought back into our presence, to partake of glory, exaltation and eternal life with us.” And so it will be when we come forth out of the grave, when the trump shall sound, and these our bodies shall rise and our spirits shall enter into them again, and they shall become a living soul no more to be dissolved or separated, but to become inseparable, immortal, eternal. . . . We read in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, that the devil tempted Adam and he partook of the forbidden fruit, and transgressed the commandment, wherein he became subject to the will of the devil because he yielded unto temptation, and because of this transgression he became spiritually dead, which is the first death “even that same death which is the last death, which is spiritual, which shall be pronounced upon the wicked when I shall say, depart ye cursed!”—Book of Doc. and Cov, p. 147. 36
George Albert Smith
#1:
“The atonement of Jesus Christ removed from us the responsibility of atoning for the sin of father Adam, and he has made it possible for us to live here upon the earth, . . .” 37
#2:
“We are informed that we will not be held responsible for the sin of Adam, but that we will be held responsible for our own sins. The atonement of Jesus Christ removed from us the responsibility of atoning for the sin of father Adam, and he has made it possible for us to live here upon the earth, and in due time, if we take advantage of our opportunities, we will be prepared to be resurrected from the dead when that time shall come.” 38
Joseph Fielding Smith
#1:
“Now let us reason together . . .
- Worlds without number have been created.
- They have been created as habitations for the children of God.
- The great work and glory of our Father is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
- Inhabitants of other worlds are begotten sons and daughters of God.
- When one earth passes away to its exaltation another comes.
- The making of earths is a glorious work which has been carried on eternally.
This being true, then does it not appear to you that it is a foolish and ridiculous notion that when God created this earth he had to begin with a speck of protoplasm, and take millions of years, if not billions, to bring conditions to pass by which his sons and daughters might obtain bodies made in his image? Why not the shorter route and transplant them from another earth as we are taught in the scriptures? Surely to any reasonable mind, the Lord would not have to start with an amoeba, pass through the stage of lower fish to higher fish to reptiles to apes and to man! When we stop to consider how perfect are the workings of God; how thorough he is and orderly, surely these theories flatten out and are without substance.” 39
#2:
“APOSTASY COMES WHEN TRUTH NOT TAUGHT. Modern education declares that there never was such a thing as the fall of man, but that conditions have always gone on in the same way as now in this mortal world. Here, say they, death and mutation have always held sway as natural conditions on this earth and everywhere throughout the universe the same laws obtain. It is declared that man has made his ascent to the exalted place he now occupies through countless ages of development which has gradually distinguished him from lower forms of life.
Such a doctrine of necessity discards the story of Adam and the Garden of Eden, which it looks upon as a myth coming down to us from an early age of foolish ignorance and superstition. Moreover, it is taught that since death was always here, and a natural condition prevailing throughout all space, there could not possibly come a redemption from Adam’s transgression, hence there was no need for a Savior for a fallen world.
Is it any wonder, under such circumstances, that churches are deserted; that more than half of the population of this country has become indifferent, if not antagonistic, to religion? This, also, is just as true of other lands. 40
#3:
Then what is meant by the “first flesh”? It is simple when you understand it. Adam was the first of all creatures to fall and become flesh, and flesh in this sense means mortality, and all through our scriptures the Lord speaks of this life as flesh, while we are here in the flesh, so Adam became the first flesh. There was no other mortal creature before him, and there was no mortal death until he brought it . . . 41
#4:
“Any theory that presents as a fact a statement that man has evolved from other forms, and has not always been a sentient being, capable of thought, of reasoning, is in conflict with the word of the Lord, as has been pointed out already by Elder Taylor in his remarks here yesterday. Any doctrine that presents a view contrary to that which has been given by revelation, that Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden, that by violation of the law he brought death into the world, and through that death sin and all the vicissitudes of mortality have come,—such a doctrine is in conflict with the revealed word of God.
Any doctrine that declares that man has always been a fallen creature, or in other words, subject to the mortal conditions as we find them today, strikes at the vitals of the Christian faith. Any doctrine that will say there was no Garden of Eden, no need of Adam, no transgression by our first parents, also teaches that there is no redemption from the fall and that the need of Jesus Christ as the Redeemer is unnecessary. If there had been no fall there would have been no redemption; there would have been no need of Jesus Christ coming, as he declared he did come, and as it has been declared by the prophets, to repair a broken law and to restore again that which was lost and to redeem men from the fallen condition. I think what I say is logical, reasonable, and above all, it is scriptural.” 42
#5:
“IF EVOLUTION IS TRUE, THE CHURCH IS FALSE. If life began on the earth, as advocated by Darwin, Huxley, Haeckel who has been caught openhanded perpetrating a fraud, and others of this school, whether by chance or by some designing hand, then the doctrines of the Church are false. Then there was no Garden of Eden, no Adam and Eve, and no fall. If there was no fall; if death did not come into the world as the scriptures declared that it did—and to be consistent, if you are an evolutionist, this view you must assume—then there was no need for a redemption, and Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, and he did not die for the transgression of Adam, nor for the sins of the world. Then there has been no resurrection from the dead! Consistently, logically, there is no other view, no alternative that can be taken. Now, my brethren and sisters, are you prepared to take this view?” 43
#6:
The great honor to come here and be the first parents of all men was given to Adam and Eve. They were placed by the Father in the Garden of Eden where there was no death. Adam and Eve in the condition in which they were when placed in the Garden of Eden could have lived there forever if they had not broken a law, but they would have lived alone and would have had no children. (2 Nephi 2:22-25, Moses 5:11) The Lord told them they could eat the fruit of every tree in the garden except the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” and if they did eat this fruit they would surely die. Satan tempted them and they ate this fruit and broke this commandment. By doing this a change came over their bodies and they became subject to death, as the Lord has said, and they were driven out of the garden. After they were driven out children were born to them and they have spread over all the earth. All the children inherited death from our first parents, so we will all have to die as our ancestors have done before us. This made it necessary that something be done to redeem us from death and restore us to life again where there would be no death, for this trangression of Adam and Eve, placed all of us subject to Satan’s power after death. 44
#7:
“When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, they did not have to die. They could have been there to this day. They could have continued on for countless ages. There was no death then. But it would have been a terrific calamity if they had refrained from taking the fruit of that tree, for they would have stayed in the Garden of Eden and we would not be here—nobody would be here except Adam and Eve. So Adam and Eve partook. Eating of that forbidden fruit subdued the power of the spirit and created blood in their bodies. No blood was in their bodies before the Fall. The blood became the life of the body. And the blood was not only the life thereof, but it had in it the seeds of death. And so we grow old and we die. But it would have been a dreadful thing if Adam and his posterity had been forced, because of the Fall, to die and remain dead; that would have been the case had there been no redemption.” 45
#8:
Adam did only what he had to do. He partook of that fruit for one good reason, and that was to open the door to bring you and me and everyone else into this world, for Adam and Eve could have remained in the Garden of Eden; they could have been there to this day, if Eve hadn’t done something.
Gratitude to Mother Eve: One of these days, if I ever get to where I can speak to Mother Eve, I want to thank her for tempting Adam to partake of the fruit. He accepted the temptation, with the result that children came into this world. And when I kneel in prayer, I feel to thank Mother Eve, for if she hadn’t had that influence over Adam, and if Adam had done according to the commandment first given to him, they would still be in the Garden of Eden and we would not be here at all. We wouldn’t have come into this world. 46
#9:
These principles were taught to Adam after he was driven from the Garden of Eden, who repented and was baptized in water for the remission of his sins, and received the Holy Ghost. And Eve, when she heard the gospel plan, rejoiced, 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. “And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known to their sons and daughters.”
Thus the principles of the gospel were taught from the beginning among the children of Adam. 47
#10:
“NO DEATH ON EARTH BEFORE FALL. The Lord pronounced the earth good when it was finished. Everything upon its face was called good. There was no death in the earth before the fall of Adam. I do not care what the scientists say in regard to dinosaurs and other creatures upon the earth millions of years ago, that lived and died and fought and struggled for existence. When the earth was created and was declared good, peace was upon its face among all its creatures. Strife and wickedness were not found here, neither was there any corruption.” 48
#11:
“If death was always here, then Adam did not bring it, and he could not be punished for it. If Adam did not fall, there was no Christ, because the atonement of Jesus Christ is based on the fall of Adam. And so we face these problems. If there is anybody here that believes that death has always been going on, and that sin was always here, he will have a difficult time to explain Adam and the fall, or the atonement. You see from these writings what a dreadful state these men get in when they do not believe in the fall and the introduction of sin into the world.” 49
#12:
“THEORY OF EVOLUTION DENIES CHRIST. Then Adam, and by that I mean the first man, was not capable of sin. He could not transgress, and by doing so bring death into the world; for, according to this theory, death had always been in the world. If, therefore, there was no fall, there was no need of an atonement, hence the coming into the world of the Son of God as the Savior of the world is a contradiction, a thing impossible. Are you prepared to believe such a thing as that? Do you believe that the first man was a savage? That he lacked in the power of intelligence? That he has been on the constant road of progression? These are the teachings of such theorists.” 50
#13:
“EVOLUTIONISTS REJECT FATHERHOOD OF GOD. The modern world is fulfilling the scriptures which say that in the last days men would be “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Today the world has discarded the great truth concerning the Fatherhood of God and has turned to fables. It has adopted and is promulgating in textbooks and schools the debasing doctrine that man is not the offspring of God, but a natural development through countless ages from the lowest forms of physical life to his present form and intelligence. Such a doctrine is an insult to our Father in whose Image we were created, and yet in this teaching vast multitudes seem to glory. Paul saw our day and by prophetic vision declared that such conditions would prevail in this dispensation and the Lord should ‘send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness’.” 51
#14:
“Question asked of Joseph Fielding Smith: “Since reading your book, Man: His Origin, and Destiny, I have been troubled by your difference in view of organic evolution and the age of man and the teachings of some of our most outstanding scientists who maintain that scientific evidence prove the earth and man to be much older than you claim. Your statements are contrary to what I have been taught and believe.”
President Smith’s Answer: If what I have written is in criticism of the present theories in relation to organic evolution and the age of man upon the earth, in which you believe, then I can readily see why you disagree with what I have taught. I will state frankly and positively that I am opposed to the present biological theories and the doctrine that man has been on the earth for millions of years. I am opposed to the present teachings in relation to the age of the earth which declare that the earth is millions of years old. Some modern scientists even claim that it is a billion years old. Naturally, since I believe in modern revelation, I cannot accept these so-called scientific teachings, for I believe them to be in conflict with the simple and direct word of the Lord that has come to us by divine revelation.” 52
#15:
When Adam fell, the earth and all things upon it partook of the fall, and were henceforth subject to mortal, or temporal, conditions. The Lord said to Adam, “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life (Moses 4:23)”; and so the earth became suited to Adam’s condition and became a temporal earth, or subject to all the conditions of mortality and death. After it has filled the measure of its temporal existence it will die and since it and all creatures upon it have been redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ, it will rise again, receiving the resurrection and will become a glorious celestial habitation for the righteous. (“Man: His Origin and Destiny“, Joseph Fielding Smith, pp. 465‑466)
Harold B. Lee
#1:
“[In the Garden of Eden] Adam and Eve, as an organized, intelligent man and woman, were here in “unmortality,” as we might say, for the purpose of becoming mortal and, through the plan of salvation, eventually returning back to the presence of the Lord. To become mortal required the interplay of free agency. Having partaken of the forbidden fruit, which was to eventually bring about the dissolution of their bodies, they became subject to death—not immediately, but after the span of their life. Now with mortal blood they could beget children. Without mortality, they could not have had children and the great plan of salvation by which spirit children would come to tabernacles in the flesh would have been nullified. (9/14/67)
By way of the Fall, the opportunity for eternal life was opened. Besides the Fall having had to do with Adam and Eve, causing a change to come over them, that change affected all human nature, all of the natural creations, all of the creation of animals, plants—all kinds of life were changed. The earth itself became subject to death, that it might be cleansed likewise. How it took place no one can explain, and anyone who would attempt to make an explanation would be going far beyond anything the Lord has told us. But a change was wrought over the whole face of that creation, which up to that time had not been subject to death; and from that time henceforth all in nature was in a state of gradual dissolution until mortal death was to come, after which there would be required a restoration in a resurrected state.
Parley P. Pratt speaks about that change. He describes it thus: “We can never understand precisely what is meant by restoration, unless we understand what is lost or taken away.” And then he describes how the earth was pronounced very good. “From this we learn that there were neither deserts, barren places, stagnant swamps, rough, broken, rugged hills, nor vast mountains, covered with eternal snow; and no part of it was located in the frigid zone so as to render its climate dreary and unproductive, subject to eternal frost, or everlasting chains of ice. The whole earth was probably one vast plain, or interspersed with gently rising hills and sloping vales, well calculated for cultivation.” He is describing what he surmises may have been the glory of the Creation. 53
#2:
“Now, finally, we read again the Lord’s great pronouncement, the revelation that came by the power of the Holy Ghost to Eve—one of the greatest sermons. (I suppose the shortest sermon ever preached by a person was preached by Mother Eve.) Mother Eve declared that the power of the Holy Ghost opened her eyes and gave her understanding. She said: “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 5:11).
So should we, with Eve, rejoice in the Fall, which permitted the coming of the knowledge of good and evil, which permitted the coming of children into mortality, which permitted the receiving of joy of redemption and the eternal life which God gives to all. And so Adam likewise, blessed with the gift of the Holy Ghost, “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” (Moses 5:10).
May the Lord give us His understanding of the great boon that has thus come to us. And let us honor in our minds and in our teachings the great legacy which Adam and Eve gave to us when, through their experience, by the exercise of their own agency, they partook of fruit which gave them the seeds of mortal life and gave to us, their descendants down through the generations of time, that great boon by which we too can receive the joy of our redemption, and in our flesh see God, and have eternal life. (54-08)
The Garden of Eden was located in the area of present-day Missouri. It is not difficult for me, as we travel from Adam-ondi-Ahman down to Independence and back and forth to Liberty and up to Kingston and to Far West, to think of this as the Garden of Eden. It is in truth today a beautiful and verdant place. It may not be known to you people, but to us it is the center place because it is here where the commencement of the inhabitation of human beings upon the earth began.
Now, so often we are not given to know exact places, because since the creation of the world there have been certain devastating things happen to the earth—such as the Flood and such as the great upheavals that transpired upon this continent at the crucifixion of the Savior—so that many of these places that may have been identified to be where these great events happened have been obliterated, but we know the general area in which these things have been placed (D&C 116) (Matthias F. Cowley, Wilford Woodruff: History of His Life and Labors [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964], p. 481). (68-10)” 54
#3:
This statement on the Fall was placed in the Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee, manual in 2000.
Adam and Eve … exercised their agency and of their own volition had partaken of the fruit, of which they were commanded not to eat; thus they had become subject to the law of Satan. In that disobedience, God was now free to visit upon them a judgment. They were to learn that besides God being a merciful Father, he is also a just Father, and when they broke the law they were subject to the receiving of a penalty and so they were cast out of that beautiful garden. They were visited by all the vicissitudes to which mortals from that time since have been heir. They were to learn that by their disobedience they received the penalty of a just judgment. They were forced to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, for now they had become mortals…Pain, misery, death, all now came in their wake, but with that pain, quite like our own experiences from that time to this, there came knowledge and understanding that could never have been gained except by pain…Besides the Fall having had to do with Adam and Eve, causing a change to come over them, that change affected all human nature, all of the natural creations, all of the creation of animals, plants—all kinds of life were changed. The earth itself became subject to death. … How it took place no one can explain, and anyone who would attempt to make an explanation would be going far beyond anything the Lord has told us. But a change was wrought over the whole face of the creation, which up to that time had not been subject to death. From that time henceforth all in nature was in a state of gradual dissolution until mortal death was to come, after which there would be required a restoration in a resurrected state. 55
#4:
President Harold B. Lee was a strong supporter of Joseph Fielding Smith’s book Man, His Origin and Destiny. President Lee also taught the following in a First Presidency Message as the President of the Church:
“I was somewhat sorrowed recently to hear someone, a sister who comes from a church family, ask, “What about the pre-Adamic people?” Here was someone who I thought was fully grounded in the faith. I asked, “What about the pre-Adamic people?” She replied, “Well, aren’t there evidences that people preceded the Adamic period of the earth?” I said, “Have you forgotten the scripture that says, ‘And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also….’ ” (Moses 3:7) I asked, “Do you believe that?” She wondered about the creation because she had read the theories of the scientists, and the question that she was really asking was: How do you reconcile science with religion? The answer must be, If science is not true, you cannot reconcile truth with error.” 56
Spencer W. Kimball
#1:
“Our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God. By eating the forbidden fruit, they became mortal. Consequently, they and all of their descendants became subject to both mortal and spiritual death, mortal death, the separation of body and spirit; and spiritual death the separation of the spirit from the presence of God and death as pertaining to the things of the spirit. In order for Adam to regain his original state to be in the presence of God, an atonement for this disobedience was necessary. In God’s divine plan, provision was made for a redeemer to break the bonds of death and, through the resurrection, make possible the reunion of the spirits and bodies of all persons who had dwelt on earth…”For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22.)” 57
#2:
“As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. Adam and Eve transgressed a law and were responsible for a change that came to all their posterity, that of mortality. Could it have been the different food which made the change? Somehow blood, the life-giving element in our bodies, replaced the finer substance which coursed through their bodies before. They and we became mortal, subject to illness, pains, and even the physical dissolution called death.” 58
#3:
“God has given us a plan. He has sent us all to earth to obtain bodies and to gain experience and growth. He anticipated the fall of Adam and Eve and the consequent change in their mortal condition and provided his Son Jesus Christ to redeem man from the effects of the fall.” 59
#4:
“When Adam intentionally and wisely partook of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, he brought upon all of us, his descendants, two deaths-the physical or “mortal death,” and the spiritual death or the banishment from the presence of the Lord.” 60
Ezra Taft Benson
We all need to take a careful inventory of our performance and also the performance of those over whom we preside to be sure that we are teaching the “great plan of the Eternal God” to the Saints. Are we accepting and teaching what the revelations tell us about the Creation, Adam and the fall of man, and redemption from that fall through the atonement of Christ? 61
In the twentieth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord devotes several verses to summarizing the vital truths which the Book of Mormon teaches. (See verses 17-36.) It speaks of God, the creation of man, the Fall, the Atonement, the ascension of Christ into heaven, prophets, faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, endurance, prayer, justification and sanctification through grace, and loving and serving God.
We must know these essential truths. Aaron and Ammon and their brethren in the Book of Mormon taught these same kinds of truths to the Lamanite people 62, who were “in the darkest abyss” 63. After accepting these eternal truths, the Book of Mormon states, those converted Lamanites never did fall away. 64 65
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. . . . Are we accepting and teaching what the revelations tell us about the Creation, Adam and the fall of man, and redemption from that fall through the atonement of Christ? 66
The first and most central theme of the Book of Mormon is that Jesus is the promised Messiah, our Lord and Redeemer. He came to redeem mankind from a lost and fallen condition brought about by Adam’s transgression. Nearly all Christian churches accepted this truth as a fundamental to their faith when the Book of Mormon was published to the world in 1830. The fact that another book had come forth as a second witness to Christ’s divinity was regarded by many churches as being both superfluous and spurious. They said, “We already have a Bible, why do we need another?” 67 68
Howard W. Hunter
“The Old Testament unfolds the story of the creation of the earth and mankind by God. Should we now disregard this account and modernize the creation according to the theories of the modernists? Can we say there was no Garden of Eden or an Adam and Eve? Because modernists now declare the story of the flood is unreasonable and impossible, should we disbelieve the account of Noah and the flood as related in the Old Testament? Let us examine what the Master said when the disciples came to him as he sat on the Mount of Olives. They asked him to tell them of the time of his coming and of the end of the world. Jesus answered: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” 69 In this statement the Master confirmed the story of the flood without modernizing it. Can we accept some of the statements of the Lord as being true and at the same time reject others as being false? When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, and they discussed the matter of the death of her brother and the resurrection. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” 70 Both of these statements, the one regarding Noah and the fact of the flood and the one in which he declared himself to be the resurrection and the life, were made by the Lord. How can we believe one and not the other? How can we modernize the story of the flood, or refer to it as a myth, and yet cling to the truth of the other? How can we modernize the Bible and still have it be a guiding light to us and a vital influence in our beliefs? There are those who declare it is old-fashioned to believe in the Bible. Is it old-fashioned to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God? Is it old-fashioned to believe in his atoning sacrifice and the resurrection? If it is, I declare myself to be old-fashioned and the Church to be old-fashioned. In great simplicity, the Master taught the principles of life eternal and lessons that bring happiness to those with the faith to believe.” 71Adam and Eve were chosen to be the first people to live on the earth 72. Their part in our Father’s plan was to bring mortality into the world. They were to be the first parents. 73 Adam and Eve were among our Father’s noblest children. In the spirit world. . . . When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, they were not yet mortal. They were not able to have children. There was no death. . . . The changes that came upon Adam and Eve because they ate the fruit are called the Fall.
. . . Their physical condition changed as a result of their eating the forbidden fruit. As God had promised, they became mortal. They were able to have children. They and their children would experience sickness, pain, and physical death. . . . Because of the Fall, we are blessed with physical bodies, the right to choose between good and evil, and the opportunity to gain eternal life. None of these privileges would have been ours had Adam and Eve remained in the garden.
After the Fall, Eve said, “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed [children], 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” 74.
The prophet Lehi explained:
“And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen [been cut off from the presence of God], 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 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.
“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” 75. 76
Darwinist and Neo-Darwinist Statements
John Fisk
“Theology has much to say about original sin. This original sin is neither more nor less than the brute-inheritance which every man carries with him.” 77
Charles Darwin
“Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin” 78
Dr. E.W. McBride
“If mankind have been slowly developing out of ape-like ancestors, then what is called sin consists of nothing but the tendencies which they have inherited from these ancestors: there never was a state of primeval innocence, and all the nations of the world have developed out of primitive man by processes as natural as those which gave rise to the Jews.” 7980
Dr. H.D.A. Major
“Science has shown us that what is popularly called ‘original sin’…consists of man’s inheritance from his brute ancestry.” 81
Oliver Lodge
“As a matter of fact, the higher man of today is not worrying about his sins at all, still less about their punishment. His mission, if he is good for anything, is to be up and doing; and insofar as he acts wrongly or unwisely he expects to suffer. He may unconsciously plead for mitigation on the ground of good intentions, nut never either consciously or unconsciously will anyone but a cur ask for the punishment to fall on someone else, nor rejoice if told that it already has so fallen. 82
Scriptures
Bible Dictionary: Flesh
The flesh is often spoken of as being a part of our mortal or fallen nature (as in Matt. 26: 41; Rom. 7: 5, 14-23; Rom. 8: 3; 1 Cor. 3: 1-2; Eph. 2: 3); as opposed to the Spirit (Rom. 8: 5-9; Gal. 3: 3; Gal. 5: 17-25), and as needing to be overcome (Matt. 4: 4; Rom. 8: 7, 12-13; Gal. 5: 17, 24; Gal. 6: 8; Col. 2: 11; Col. 3: 5; 1 Pet. 4: 2; 1 Jn. 2: 16-17). Since flesh often means mortality, Adam is spoken of as the “first flesh” upon the earth, meaning he was the first mortal on the earth, all things being created in a nonmortal condition, and becoming mortal through the fall of Adam. Jesus is the “Only Begotten of the Father” in the flesh, meaning he is the only one begotten of the Father into mortality (Moses 3: 7).
Bible Dictionary: Fall of Adam
The process by which mankind became mortal on this earth. The event is recorded in Gen. 2, 3, 4; and Moses 3, 4. The fall of Adam is one of the most important occurrences in the history of man. Before the fall, Adam and Eve had physical bodies but no blood. There was no sin, no death, and no children among any of the earthly creations. With the eating of the “forbidden fruit,” Adam and Eve became mortal, sin entered, blood formed in their bodies, and death became a part of life. Adam became the “first flesh” upon the earth (Moses 3: 7), meaning that he and Eve were the first to become mortal. After Adam fell, the whole creation fell and became mortal. Adam’s fall brought both physical and spiritual death into the world upon all mankind (Hel. 14: 16-17).
Latter-day revelation supports the biblical account of the fall, showing that it was a historical event that literally occurred in the history of man. Many points in latter-day revelation are also clarified that are not discernible from the Bible. Among other things it makes clear that the fall is a blessing, and that Adam and Eve should be honored in their station as the first parents of the earth. Significant references are 2 Ne. 2: 15-16; 2 Ne. 9: 6-21; Mosiah 3: 11-16; Alma 22: 12-14; Alma 42: 2-15; D&C 29: 34-44; Moses 5: 9-13.
Moses 3:5,7
“And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air; . . . And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless, all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word.”
Moses 4:22
“Unto the woman, I, the Lord God, said: 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 rule over thee. And unto Adam, I, the Lord God, said: Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the fruit of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying—Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed shall be the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also, and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.”
Moses 5:11
“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.”
2 Nephi 2:22-23, 25
“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.
Adam fell that men might be; and men care, that they might have joy.”
2 Nephi 9:6
For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfill the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord.
Mosiah 4:7
I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world.
Moses 6:59
“That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death. . .”
Moses 5:9-10
And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying: I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will. 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.
D&C 29:40,42
Wherefore, it came to pass that the devil tempted Adam, and he partook of the forbidden fruit and transgressed the commandment, wherein he became subject to the will of the devil, because he yielded unto temptation. But, behold, I say unto you that I, the Lord God, gave unto Adam and unto his seed, that they should not die as to the temporal death, until I, the Lord God, should send forth angels to declare unto them repentance and redemption, through faith on the name of mine Only Begotten Son.
Mosiah 3:11,16, 19
For behold, and also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned. . . . And even if it were possible that little children could sin they could not be saved; but I say unto you they are blessed; for behold, as in Adam, or by nature, they fall, even so the blood of Christ atoneth for their sins. . . . For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
Jacob 4:6-10
. . . we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea. Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God. For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure? Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand.
Supporting Statements
Bruce R. McConkie
In Eden we will see all things created in a paradisiacal state ‑ without death, without procreation, without probationary experiences. We will come to know that such a creation, now unknown to man, was the only way to provide for the Fall. We will then see Adam and Eve, the first man and the first woman, step down from their state of immortal and paradisaical glory to become the first mortal flesh on earth.
Mortality, including as it does procreation and death, will enter the world. And because of transgression a probationary estate of trial and testing will begin. Then in Gethsemane we will see the Son of God ransom man from the temporal and spiritual death that came to us because of the Fall.. And finally, before an empty tomb, we will come to know that Christ our Lord has burst the bands of death and stands forever triumphant over the grave.
Thus, Creation is father to the Fall; and by the Fall came mortality and death; and by Christ came immortality and eternal life. If there had been no fall of Adam, by which cometh death, there could have been no atonement of Christ, by which cometh life.83
Parley P. Pratt
First man fell from his standing before God by giving heed to temptations, and his fall affected the whole creation as well as man and caused the various changes to take place. He was banished from the presence of his Creator and the veil was drawn between them, and he was driven from the Garden of Eden, to till the earth, which was then cursed for his sake. 84
Gospel Principles Manual
Adam and Eve were chosen to be the first people to live on the earth. Their part in our Father’s plan was to bring mortality into the world. They were to be the first parents. Adam and Eve were among our Father’s noblest children. In the spirit world. . . . When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, they were not yet mortal. They were not able to have children. There was no death. . . . The changes that came upon Adam and Eve because they ate the fruit are called the Fall.
. . . Their physical condition changed as a result of their eating the forbidden fruit. As God had promised, they became mortal. They were able to have children. They and their children would experience sickness, pain, and physical death. . . . Because of the Fall, we are blessed with physical bodies, the right to choose between good and evil, and the opportunity to gain eternal life. None of these privileges would have been ours had Adam and Eve remained in the garden.
After the Fall, Eve said, “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed [children], 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”.
The prophet Lehi explained:
“And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen [been cut off from the presence of God], 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 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.
“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy”
Russel M. Nelson
Adam and Eve were first created with bodies of flesh and spirit, without blood, and were unable to die or beget children. Thus, we might describe this as a paradisiacal creation 85
Times and Seasons
The earth no longer (at the transgression of Adam) retained its standing in the presence of Jehovah; but was hurled into the immensity of space; and there to remain till it has filled up the time of its bondage to sin and Satan. It was immediately cursed, and Adam and Eve were obliged to procure their food and raiment by the sweat of the brow. The beasts became ferocious, and went prowling about the wilderness seeking the inferior animals for a prey.
But says one, Wherein did the sin of man affect the whole creation? We answer, that Adam was placed in the garden or capitol of the whole earth, and power was given unto him to sway his sceptre over all things upon the earth; therefore, when he fell from the presence of the Lord, the whole of his dominions fell also… 86
Mark E. Peterson
You believe in our Articles of Faith. One of them says, “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.” Do you believe there was an Adam, described in the scripture as the first man? Do you believe there was such a thing as Adam’s transgression, sometimes called the Fall? Now I ask you, can you believe in Adam and in Darwinian evolution at the same time? Our religion teaches that there was no death in the world before the Fall. Do you believe that? And if you do, how can you accept Darwinism, which says there was death before Adam ‑ or before the first human being, as some will accept it? This then becomes one of the great hurdles for LDS anthropologists, doesn’t it? 87
- ↑ Moses 3:7
- ↑ Helaman 14:16-17
- ↑ 2 Nephi 2: 15-16
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Man, His Origin and Destiny [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954], 276
- ↑ John Taylor, The Government of God [Liverpool: S. W. Richards, 1852], 105
- ↑ 2 Nephi 2:22
- ↑ Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff, 2000, p. 20
- ↑ Moses 3:7
- ↑ Harold B. Lee, “First Presidency Message: Find the Answers in the Scriptures,” Ensign, Dec. 1972, 2
- ↑ Moses 1:34
- ↑ First Presidency of the Church, The Origin of Man, Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81
- ↑ see also Ensign, February 2002, p. 26
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 13: 141 – 142
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 7: 203
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 1: 51
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 160 – 161
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 16: 108 – 109
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 10: 105 – 106
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 119
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 10:312
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 9: 304
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 119
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 14: 71 – 72
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 352 – 353
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 17: 117 – 118
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 2: 302 – 303
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 6: 96-97
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 14: 102
- ↑ John Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom: Selections from the Writings and Discourses of John Taylor, selected, arranged, and edited, with an introduction by G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1941], 119
- ↑ John Taylor, The Government of God [Liverpool: S. W. Richards, 1852], 105.
- ↑ John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 22: 298 – 299
- ↑ John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 11: 159 – 160
- ↑ John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 7: 363
- ↑ Elder John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 6: 168
- ↑ Wilford Woodruff, The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, edited by G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], 233
- ↑ Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 15: 79
- ↑ Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 23: 126
- ↑ Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff, 2000, p. 20
- ↑ Lorenzo Snow, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 18: 299 – 300
- ↑ Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 15: 324 – 325
- ↑ from the first death
- ↑ President Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 23: 171
- ↑ Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 202
- ↑ Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 21: 12
- ↑ George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1926, Second Day—Morning Session 102
- ↑ George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1926, Second Day—Morning Session 102
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Man, His Origin and Destiny [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954], 276.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:315.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Seek Ye Earnestly [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1970], 281.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1934, Second Day—Morning Meeting 64
- ↑ who has been caught openhanded perpetrating a fraud
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:143.
- ↑ 2 Nephi 2:22-25{{END_INLINE; Moses 5:11
- ↑ Your Question by Joseph Fielding Smith, Improvement Era, 1954, Vol. Lvii. August, 1954. No. 8
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1967, Afternoon Meeting 122
- ↑ President Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1967, Third Day—Morning Meeting 121
- ↑ Salvation Universal. by Joseph F. Smith, Jr., Assistant Church Historian., Improvement Era, 1909, Vol. Xiii. November, 1909. No. 1
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 1, p. 108.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:119-120.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:142.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:143.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 5: 112.
- ↑ 9/14/67
- ↑ A Voice of Warning [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978], pp. 83, 84
- ↑ Moses 5:11
- ↑ Moses 5:10
- ↑ 54-08
- ↑ D&C 116
- ↑ Matthias F. Cowley, Wilford Woodruff: History of His Life and Labors [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964], p. 481
- ↑ 68-10
- ↑ Harold B. Lee, The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, edited by Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996], 33
- ↑ Harold B. Lee, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee, 2000, p. 20.
- ↑ Moses 3:7.
- ↑ Harold B. Lee, “First Presidency Message: Find the Answers in the Scriptures,” Ensign, Dec. 1972, 2.
- ↑ mortal death, the separation of body and spirit; and spiritual death the separation of the spirit from the presence of God and death as pertaining to the things of the spirit
- ↑ to be in the presence of God
- ↑ 1 Corinthians 15:22.
- ↑ Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 15.
- ↑ Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 44.
- ↑ Spencer W. Kimball, “Absolute Truth”, Ensign, September 1978, p. 3
- ↑ Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 25
- ↑ Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 68
- ↑ Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 28 – 29
- ↑ Alma 18:22-39
- ↑ Alma 26:3
- ↑ Alma 23:6
- ↑ Ezra Taft Benson, A Witness and a Warning: A Modern-Day Prophet Testifies of the Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1988], 11
- ↑ Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 28.
- ↑ 2 Nephi 29:3
- ↑ Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 49.
- ↑ Matthew 24:36-39
- ↑ John 11:25
- ↑ Howard W. Hunter, That We Might Have Joy, p. 23
- ↑ Moses 1:34
- ↑ D&C 107:54-56
- ↑ Moses 5:11
- ↑ 2 Nephi 2:22-25
- ↑ Gospel Principles Manual, 2009, pp. 27-29
- ↑ Moses 1:34
- ↑ First Presidency of the Church, The Origin of Man, Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81
- ↑ see also Ensign, February 2002, p. 26
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 13: 141 – 142
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 7: 203
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 1: 51
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 160 – 161
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 16: 108 – 109
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 10: 105 – 106
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 119
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 10:312
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 9: 304
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 119
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 14: 71 – 72
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 352 – 353
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 17: 117 – 118
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 2: 302 – 303
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 6: 96-97
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 14: 102
- ↑ John Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom: Selections from the Writings and Discourses of John Taylor, selected, arranged, and edited, with an introduction by G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1941], 119
- ↑ John Taylor, The Government of God [Liverpool: S. W. Richards, 1852], 105.
- ↑ John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 22: 298 – 299
- ↑ John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 11: 159 – 160
- ↑ John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 7: 363
- ↑ Elder John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 6: 168
- ↑ Wilford Woodruff, The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, edited by G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], 233
- ↑ Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 15: 79
- ↑ Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 23: 126
- ↑ Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff, 2000, p. 20
- ↑ Lorenzo Snow, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 18: 299 – 300
- ↑ Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 15: 324 – 325
- ↑ from the first death
- ↑ President Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 23: 171
- ↑ Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 202
- ↑ Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 21: 12
- ↑ George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1926, Second Day—Morning Session 102
- ↑ George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1926, Second Day—Morning Session 102
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Man, His Origin and Destiny [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954], 276.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:315.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Seek Ye Earnestly [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1970], 281.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1934, Second Day—Morning Meeting 64
- ↑ who has been caught openhanded perpetrating a fraud
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:143.
- ↑ 2 Nephi 2:22-25 ; Moses 5:11
- ↑ Your Question by Joseph Fielding Smith, Improvement Era, 1954, Vol. Lvii. August, 1954. No. 8
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1967, Afternoon Meeting 122
- ↑ President Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1967, Third Day—Morning Meeting 121
- ↑ Salvation Universal. by Joseph F. Smith, Jr., Assistant Church Historian., Improvement Era, 1909, Vol. Xiii. November, 1909. No. 1
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 1, p. 108.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:119-120.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:142.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:143.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 5: 112.
- ↑ 9/14/67
- ↑ A Voice of Warning [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978], pp. 83, 84
- ↑ Moses 5:11
- ↑ Moses 5:10
- ↑ 54-08
- ↑ D&C 116
- ↑ Matthias F. Cowley, Wilford Woodruff: History of His Life and Labors [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964], p. 481
- ↑ 68-10
- ↑ Harold B. Lee, The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, edited by Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996], 33
- ↑ Harold B. Lee, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee, 2000, p. 20.
- ↑ Moses 3:7
- ↑ Harold B. Lee, “First Presidency Message: Find the Answers in the Scriptures,” Ensign, Dec. 1972, 2.
- ↑ 1 Corinthians 15:22
- ↑ Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 15.
- ↑ Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 44.
- ↑ Spencer W. Kimball, “Absolute Truth”, Ensign, September 1978, p. 3
- ↑ Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 25
- ↑ Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 68
- ↑ Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 28 – 29
- ↑ verses 17-36.
- ↑ Alma 18:22-39
- ↑ Alma 26:3
- ↑ Alma 23:6
- ↑ Ezra Taft Benson, A Witness and a Warning: A Modern-Day Prophet Testifies of the Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1988], 11
- ↑ Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 28.
- ↑ 2 Nephi 29:3
- ↑ Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 49.
- ↑ Matthew 24:36-39
- ↑ John 11:25
- ↑ Howard W. Hunter, That We Might Have Joy, p. 23
- ↑ “The Destiny of Man,” p. 103. John Fisk
- ↑ Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man p. 405
- ↑ Dr. E.W. McBride, The Modern Churchman, September 1924, p. 232
- ↑ http://en.fairmormon.org/Primary_sources/Evolution/MOD_360
- ↑ Dr. H.D.A. Major
- ↑ Oliver Lodge, Man and the Universe, p. 204
- ↑ Moses 1:34
- ↑ See D&C 107:54-56.
- ↑ Moses 5:11
- ↑ 2 Nephi 2:22-25
- ↑ Gospel Principles Manual, 2009, pp. 27-29
- ↑ Russell M. Nelson, “Standards of the Lord’s Standard-Bearers,” Ensign, Aug. 1991, 5
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Man, His Origin and Destiny [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954], 276
- John Taylor, The Government of God [Liverpool: S. W. Richards, 1852], 105
- Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff, 2000, p. 20
- Harold B. Lee, “First Presidency Message: Find the Answers in the Scriptures,” Ensign, Dec. 1972, 2
- First Presidency of the Church, The Origin of Man, Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81, see also Ensign, February 2002, p. 26
- President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 13: 141 – 142
- President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 7: 203
- President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 1: 51
- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 160 – 161
- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 16: 108 – 109
- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 10: 105 – 106
- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 119
- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 10:312
- President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 9: 304
- President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 119
- President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 14: 71 – 72
- President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 352 – 353
- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 17: 117 – 118
- President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 2: 302 – 303
- President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 6: 96-97
- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 14: 102
- John Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom: Selections from the Writings and Discourses of John Taylor, selected, arranged, and edited, with an introduction by G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1941], 119
- John Taylor, The Government of God [Liverpool: S. W. Richards, 1852], 105.
- John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 22: 298 – 299
- John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 11: 159 – 160
- John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 7: 363
- Elder John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 6: 168
- Wilford Woodruff, The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, edited by G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], 233
- Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 15: 79
- Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 23: 126
- Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff, 2000, p. 20
- Lorenzo Snow, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 18: 299 – 300
- Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 15: 324 – 325
- President Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 23: 171
- Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 202
- Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 21: 12
- George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1926, Second Day—Morning Session 102
- George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1926, Second Day—Morning Session 102
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Man, His Origin and Destiny (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954), 276.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:315.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Seek Ye Earnestly [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1970], 281.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1934, Second Day—Morning Meeting 64
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:143.
- Your Question by Joseph Fielding Smith, Improvement Era, 1954, Vol. Lvii. August, 1954. No. 8
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1967, Afternoon Meeting 122
- President Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1967, Third Day—Morning Meeting 121
- Salvation Universal. by Joseph F. Smith, Jr., Assistant Church Historian., Improvement Era, 1909, Vol. Xiii. November, 1909. No. 1
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 1, p. 108.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:119-120.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:142.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:143.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 5: 112.
- A Voice of Warning [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978], pp. 83, 84
- Harold B. Lee, The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, edited by Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996], 33
- Harold B. Lee, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee, 2000, p. 20.
- Harold B. Lee, “First Presidency Message: Find the Answers in the Scriptures,” Ensign, Dec. 1972, 2.
- Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 15.
- Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 44. See also: Spencer W. Kimball, “Absolute Truth”, Ensign, September 1978, p. 3
- Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 25
- Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 68
- Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 28 – 29
- Alma 18:22-39
- Alma 26:3
- Alma 23:6
- Ezra Taft Benson, A Witness and a Warning: A Modern-Day Prophet Testifies of the Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1988], 11
- Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 28.
- 2 Nephi 29:3
- Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 49.
- Matthew 24:36-39
- John 11:25
- Howard W. Hunter, That We Might Have Joy, p. 23
- Moses 1:34
- D&C 107:54-56
- Moses 5:11
- 2 Nephi 2:22-25
- Gospel Principles Manual, 2009, pp. 27-29
- 182
- 183
- 184
- 185
- 186
- 187
- Elder Bruce R. McConkie, April 1985 General Conference.
- Parley P. Pratt, “Voice of Warning”, pp. 91‑92.
- 193
- Times and Seasons, III, February 1, 1842, p. 672
- Elder Mark E. Peterson, BYU Speeches Of The Year, 1973
