The Fall of Adam and Eve

The fall of Adam and Eve is an extremely important and fundamental topic to Christianity. Literally everyone that has walked the earth has had to live with the effects of the fall. Yet, it is often misunderstood and I have personally had many questions about it. Today I want to discuss what significance the events of the fall have. These events are important because it is literally impossible to fully understand the Atonement without understanding the fall. And without fully understanding the Atonement... Well we are going to be missing an extremely large amount of blessings.

An important scripture that provides a lot of insight to the fall is Genesis 3:22 "And he Lord God said, Behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:" Last week I talked a lot about how every one on earth has a sense of good and evil. Adam and Eve partaking of the fruit is the reason why.

But this scripture is insightful in other ways. It says that us knowing good and evil makes us like God. This makes since. We are children of God, shouldn't we be like him automatically? However the story of Adam and Eve suggests differently. Knowing good and evil and subsequently being like God was a choice. Adam and Eve made that choice by partaking of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. This means that the fall of Adam and Eve was not a terrible mistake that needs to be regretted. Instead it was an opportunity that God gave us to be like him. But we don't have to think that this choice was forced upon us by Adam and Eve. We each in turn made this choice. In the premortal life 1/3 of the hosts of heaven did not make this choice and missed this opportunity.

Adam and Eve choosing to partake of the fruit and us choosing to come here to earth was a significant choice. However there are still thousands of choices that we make each day. Each of these choices varies in significance but each can do the same thing that happened with that initial choice.  God saying "Behold the man is become as one of us" is not limited to one point in time. With each choice we make we are choosing to be more like God or we are falling away from that. With our choices we are not earning our way to heaven and neither are we expecting it to be given to us. We are changing so that we can be ready for heaven. Brad Wilcox said "Scriptures make it clear that no unclean thing can dwell with God, but no unchanged thing will even want to." I am thankful for the fall. It has given me a chance to learn and grow and become more like God. I hope that all of us can recognize that event for the wonderful opportunity that it gave us and that we can take advantage of it while we are here in this mortal life.

Do Morals Exist?

Thank you for checking out my new blog. My purpose for this blog is to flood the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The internet is a tool that God gave us. It is a huge part of the Lord hastening his work in these latter days. Hopefully my messages here can inspire those who read it to follow our Savior Jesus Christ. Whether you believe in Jesus Christ already or not. Whether you are a Mormon or not. Hopefully you will enjoy and act on them.

This week I read a scripture, "All men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil." 2 Nephi 2:5. But is this really true? It seems like a lot of people in the world seem to have a different senses of good and evil. I mean think about all the terrorism in the world. Or the huge debates about abortion and gay rights that are sweeping our country. Are we all really instructed sufficiently in good and evil. Why is the argument of good versus evil so prevalent today?

I want to tell you that we have been instructed sufficiently. God is not a liar and this scripture is true. A big argument an atheist will claim is that if God is so good why does he let so many bad things happen in the world. Automatically this argument contradicts itself. Obviously this person, because he makes this statement, feels that is there is injustice. That there is a standard for what is right and that it is being broken. He feels that the world is not as it should be. But how can this be if there is no God. Where does this atheists feelings of injustice come from? 

Many people will argue that what this person is feeling is an instinct, but that is only partly true. It is true all of us have instincts everyday. Suppose you hear someone in distress and danger call for help. Two instincts will immediately come upon you. The first is to go and to help that person. The second is to keep preserve yourself and stay out of danger. But then a third idea comes to your head. It is to follow the first instinct to help rather than the second. What is this third voice that judges between the two options we have? It is the light of Christ.

Everybody has the light of Christ. Nobody makes an argument about what is right or wrong without appealing to or mentioning this standard that is somehow built in us. "Hey why did you drink that milk? It was mine." "Tell me the truth. It will be better for you."  This escalates to all debates, including the biggest ones in our society now. Even the very argument of whether or not God exists makes reference to this moral code that we all have.

"Wherefore I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil;" Moroni 7:18. We all have the light of Christ in us. What we can tell from observing the world and from scriptures is that we do not always obey. The more we do listen though the easier it becomes and the happier we become. I like Moroni invite everyone to listen to that light so that we can "be a child of Christ." Moroni 7:18