“And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed
he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden…”
“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.”
-
2 Nephi 2:22-25
I’m sure that most of us here are familiar
with the story of Adam and Eve, and how because Eve listened to the serpent and
Adam listened to Eve and they both ate the forbidden fruit. I’m sure we all know
what happened after that as well; they were kicked out of the garden of Eden,
cursed to work the land, and Eve was cursed with painful childbearing, so on
and so forth (this can be found in Genesis 3, if you want to read it!).
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m guilty
of this (and I apologize if it’s a little TMI), but during that time of the
month, if the cramps are especially bad or I’m just in a crappy mood because of
it, I sarcastically state, “Thanks, Eve.” Because we all know that if she hadn’t
have listened to that serpent, we wouldn’t have to deal with periods, or times
of painful childbearing.
But what would we have had instead?
Slowly but surely, I’m making my way
through reading The Book of Mormon. I just finished reading (and practically
highlighting the entirety of) Chapter 2. It’s about how we can be saved through
Jesus Christ and His Atonement; how there has to be an opposition to everything
in life; WHY Adam had to fall; and that because of the Atonement, we have the
agency to make our own decision to choose eternal life in Christ, or death. As
first I felt weird for highlighting just about this whole chapter (really, I
just underlined in red pen, and shaded the parts that really stood out to me),
but as I was re-reading while I was underlining, I couldn’t help but think, Why wouldn’t I highlight so much of this
chapter? There is SO much to learn from this, so much that explains why things
are the way that they are. It’s ALL important, and it ALL should be highlighted
or underlined.
Now, back to my original question- what would
we have, if Eve hadn’t done what the serpent said, and Adam hadn’t done what
Eve said? To put it simply, we wouldn’t be here. Verses 22 and 23 explain what
would’ve happened if The Fall didn’t happen:
“And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed
he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden…”
“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.”
How crazy is that? If Adam and Eve had obeyed God, and refused to eat
from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, WE WOULD NOT BE HERE. Reading
those verses really opened my eyes. Maybe some time down the road, God would’ve
come up with some idea for His spirit children to come to Earth, but as far as
we know, we wouldn’t be here without Adam and Eve’s disobedience.
“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
(v.25)”
Think of some event, person, anything that has happened in
your life, that has brought you joy. I can think of a few myself: spending time
with my family, falling in love for the first time, graduating high school, joining
the military (kind of), but mostly anything having to do with my daughter. Now,
try to imagine those events minus the feeling of joy. Could you do it? I couldn’t.
For a while, I didn’t understand why this particular verse was my ex’s favorite
verse; but now I see the significance of it, and how it plays an integral part
in the Plan of Salvation. Adam and Eve fell, so that we could come to Earth and
have our own experiences. They fell, so that we could experience the happiness
and joy that we couldn’t experience without bodies. How amazing is that?
I don’t 100% know if The Book of Mormon is true or not, as I’m
still reading it. At the same time, when God shows me realizations such as
this, it does strengthen my testimony. I believe that this part of The Book of
Mormon that I just read is true. I believe that if I continue reading, that I
will slowly gain my testimony about the truthfulness of this book, and The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’m grateful for the prompting God
placed on my heart to write this. I hope that it has an impact on someone, and
if not, I’m grateful for being able to share my thoughts on this. I’m excited
to continue reading and seeing what else God has to show/teach me!
