Truth Reconciled

In the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is one of the most important pillars of God’s Plan of Salvation. It was the starting point of mortality for the children of God, the moment when sin, pain, and death became a part of our Earthly experience. This experience is a necessary step in our eternal progression, but that doesn’t mean it’s pleasant.

Many people have questioned how God could put us into this painful state and still maintain his innocence. Many have also wondered why Satan helped to initiate the Fall, knowing that it was an essential part of the plan. Still more have been confused by the seemingly contradictory commandments that God gave to Adam and Eve.

The purpose of this post is to try and understand why the Fall happened the way it happened. We will see how God strategically set up the whole situation in a way that would ensure an expeditious Fall while keeping himself blameless. We will see that God’s commandments were not contradictory. We will also see what motivated Satan to help it happen, what strategy he was implementing, and why he still deserved punishment rather than praise.

Setting the Stage

First, let’s go over the circumstances that existed preceding the Fall. The Earth was completed and ready for habitation. The rebellious Lucifer and his followers were already there, after having been cast out of God’s presence. The children of God who were faithful and still remained with him would have the opportunity to move forward according to the plan. Lucifer and his followers would not.

All of the children of God were spirits without physical bodies. The next step in the plan involved obtaining a physical body and experiencing mortal life, with all of its difficulties. If we proved ourselves faithful in this second state, and strived to follow Jesus Christ and make use of his Atonement, then we could be perfected and counted worthy of returning to God’s presence with our resurrected bodies.

The Rules

There are at least two laws that God, being perfect, must follow during this entire procedure:

The Law of Justice: God must give all actions consequences that align with the action’s moral value, good for good and bad for bad.
The Law of Mercy: God must forgive the sinner and withhold punishment if the sinner improves his or her behavior.

These two laws must be satisfied or God would cease to be God. The question is, how can God put his faithful children into a state of pain and eventual death when they have done nothing wrong? Wouldn’t he be returning bad for good? According to the law of Justice, God could not allow us to fall into this painful mortal state unless it came as a consequence of our own actions or the actions of some other imperfect being.

One solution is for us to be born into a situation that was made imperfect by our imperfect parents. If we can blame our parents for the injustice of this world, then God remains guiltless. This works for almost all of us, except for our first parents. The human family would have to start with at least one couple who could only claim their heavenly father and mother as parents. Since our heavenly parents are incapable of any injustice, the injustice would have to start with that first couple, Adam and Eve.

The Garden of Eden

Before Adam and Eve transgressed, they could not be sent into mortality. In the meantime, God prepared the Garden of Eden. It would serve as a perfect place for Adam and Eve to live with physical bodies but without the pain of mortality. In order to transition into mortality, Adam and Eve would have to break a rule, with full knowledge that the punishment would include a painful life and eventual death.

But Adam and Eve were among the righteous children of God who remained with him, so how could he expect them to break one of his commandments? There would have to be a strong incentive. One incentive was the priceless knowledge that would come from the experience of mortal life. But that still might not be enough for them to decide to indulge, at least not quickly. If they delayed and began to have children in paradise then that would really complicate things.

Enter Lucifer, commonly called Satan. God knew that Satan was on the Earth and that he would do anything to destroy God’s plan. Maybe God could allow Lucifer to tempt Adam and Eve to break a commandment. But Satan knew that this step was necessary to initiate God’s plan, so why would he help? There had to be some kind of unique opportunity there to completely derail the plan. Otherwise, his best option would be to just sit and wait while Adam and Eve delayed in the Garden of Eden.

For Satan, the only thing better than stalling the plan would be to break the plan. God knew this and used it to his advantage. In the Garden of Eden, he planted not just one special tree, but two. The fruit of one tree would be forbidden by God, and consuming that fruit would constitute the transgression that brought the punishment of mortality. This tree became the tree of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. The other tree was called the Tree of Life, and the reward for eating its fruit was immortality. The Tree of Life may have been an essential part of the Garden of Eden, keeping it free from death.

This was Satan’s opportunity. He knew that if Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, then they would become sinners and would have to be barred from God’s presence. But this state would only be temporary, because they would eventually die. The Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ would then allow them to become perfected again and return to God’s presence as resurrected beings, thus fulfilling the Law of Mercy. However, if they were to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life after consuming the forbidden fruit, then they would be immortal, and their imperfect state would be permanent. They would never be able to become perfected and return to God. All of their descendents would suffer the same fate. The Law of Mercy could not be fulfilled, and God would cease to be God. It would be the ultimate payback against God and his kingdom.

Two Commandments

God gave two commandments to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. First, he commanded them to multiply and replenish the earth. Second, he commanded them not to partake of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because if they did, then they would die.

Here we see how God is setting things up perfectly. He forbids the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and explains the consequences of partaking. Adam and Eve now understand that they will be mortals if they make that choice. This means the punishment for their action will be justified.

We also see that Adam and Eve were capable of having children. God can do no injustice, so he cannot command us to do something that we are incapable of doing. If he did, our failure to comply could only be laid on God’s head, and he would cease to be God. This particular detail made the incentive for Satan all the more desirable. He could damn all of God’s children, not just Adam and Eve.

I have heard people teach that Adam and Eve were biologically incapable of having children before partaking of the fruit. This supposition implies that God’s commandments were contradictory, because there was no possible way that Adam and Eve could obey both commandments. If this is the case, then they could not be at fault for their transgression, because transgression was unavoidable. The fault must then lie with God.

But the scriptures say that a punishment was inflicted on Adam and Eve for the transgression. How could they receive a punishment if it was really God’s fault? How could God continue to be God after doing something so unjust. We have to conclude that Adam and Eve were capable of having children, otherwise it just doesn’t make sense.

Satan’s Move

When the opportunity arose, Satan immediately put his own plan of sabotage into action. When he thought God was away, he went into the garden. He convinced Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit, by explaining how it was necessary in order to become like God. Eve partook, not out of ignorance, lust, or animalistic craving, but out of a desire to become better. She demonstrated that she was wise and willing to pass through suffering to become more than what she was.

Satan knew that Eve by herself was not enough to damn all of God’s children; she needed Adam to be with her to be able to bear children. Satan sent Eve to get Adam to partake. Weighing his options, Adam decided that he would rather suffer a mortal life with Eve than remain alone in the paradise of the Garden of Eden. Because of his love for his wife, Adam partook of the fruit also.

Now it was necessary for Satan to quickly convince them both to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life, but God was waiting for this moment and promptly returned to the Garden. Satan, realizing he would lose his chance at sabotage if God removed Adam and Eve from the Garden, convinced them both to hide from God.

But it didn’t work. Like a small child trying to outsmart his parents, Lucifer didn’t stand a chance. Rather than sabotage the plan, he ended up being used to help get it started. Of course, that wasn’t his intent. As soon as God arrived, the scriptures say he placed cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the Tree of Life. He was completely aware of Lucifer’s evil intentions, and justly punished him for his actions.

Aftermath

Because of their decision, Adam and Eve had to leave the paradise of the Garden of Eden. They became mortal, and suffered much. The consequences of their transgression continue affecting all of their descendents to this day. But it was all done for a reason, to become like our infinitely wise and glorious heavenly parents.

We came into this fallen world as a consequence of the transgression of our first parents. Although Satan tempted them, it was, in the end, their choice to partake of the forbidden fruit. They did so against God’s command, and without being forced, which leaves God without guilt for our state of suffering.

Satan and his followers still roam the Earth today, tempting the children of God and doing all they can to separate them from their loving heavenly parents. But God is prepared for everything, and his plan will not fail. His son Jesus Christ is the path back to him. Jesus paid the price of Justice for all the evil that we do in this life, and thus made it possible for God to extend his mercy to all of us. We can be forgiven. We can become better. We can be perfected in Christ and rise again, as he did, to return home to God. But because of the knowledge we gained during the travail of our mortal experience, we will be much more like him when we see him again.