Sunday, March 8, 2015

If Thou Doest Well, Shalt Thou Not Be Accepted?




The account of Adam and Eve in the Garden is a familiar one. Their subsequent fall is generally viewed as a tragedy that has been at the root of human ills to this day.

I wish to point out a few details in the narrative, aspects I had until now somehow not perceived. I will start with the blessing The Lord pronounced upon Adam and Eve as He married them in His garden, (which garden, by the way, is the prototype of every subsequent Temple):

Point 1: Adam and Eve Commanded to Subdue the Earth
28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:28)
This is where I will begin my journey: God blessed Adam and Eve to subdue the earth, and whatever that conquest is viewed as conveying, in the Hebrew its primary meaning is "to tread, trample on". The Lord may have simply instructed Adam and Eve to multiply and inhabit or tread through the earth. Why does this matter? Because Adam and Eve had not only been commanded to propagate; they had been commanded to leave Eden and tread or subdue the earth, and this departure and ambulation was a blessing placed upon them by their Father before they had fallen. I had always thought that the fall had precipitated their expulsion, but a departure to the broader earth was their blessing from the start. At least, as first prescribed, Adam and Eve would have spread out starting from Eden, and presumably would have had full access to reenter Eden at will.

Point 2: A Commandment Given with a Penalty Affixed

As the narrative continues in greater detail we see The Lord first establishing a parameter on behavior; God lays out the importance for nourishment along with a restriction on one form with a penalty for the infraction:
16: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17)
4: And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:4-5
At this point the narrative is only getting underway. Though this commandment is given in chapter 2, in the actual succession of events this commandment preceded the marriage. That is to say, in the Genesis account The Lord first prescribed behavior and also placed a limitation on behavior. Then He married His two children and pronounced upon them a huge blessing, one that included inheriting or establishing a presence throughout the entire earth. Then the serpent makes an appearance to tempt Adam and Eve to behave contrary to God's commandment.

Point 3: Recognition Only After the Fall

When discussing Adam and Eve many people speak as though Adam and Eve would have had "perfect offspring" had they only not transgressed. But what does the record indicate?
25: And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:25)
7: And they eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:7)
It is worth pointing out that inasmuch as neither Adam nor Eve even realized they were naked until they had partaken of the forbidden fruit, and this because of their state of childlike innocence, the arch patriarchs of the human family only reached the one realization ("bare anatomy") that enabled them to procreate as a consequence of their fall. Why does this matter? This aspect matters because it shows that the fall was not a thwarting of God's plan for humanity but a critical part of it; the fall did not affect how humanity came about; the fall determined that humanity would come about, which provenance was God's plan from the start, as evidenced by His blessing on Adam and Eve to replenish or "fill up" the earth before they even fell.

Point 4: God Allowed One Choice But Not the Other

The common interpretation has been that Adam and Eve "upset God's plans for them" by transgressing his prohibition on eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but there are two details that should be factored in:
8: And they heard the voice of The Lord God, [while they were] walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)
22: And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:
23: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, whence he was taken.
24: So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24)
Before we conclude, as most traditionally have, that, "Sure, Adam and Eve did proceed to propagate spread out just as God commanded, but the conditions were substantially lower than they would have been had they not transgressed, and that transgression was contrary to God's plan for humanity," consider that (a) God left Adam and Eve for a time and it was during His absence that they were tempted to transgress His prohibition and fell, but that (b) God returned before they could partake of the tree of life in their fallen state, which act would have caused them to remain fallen forever, never to return to His presence. God clearly did not allow for mankind to come forward in a state of permanent and perpetual separation from Him. Rather, God did allow for the fall to happen but in a way that would produce a temporal or temporary separation from Him. God could have returned prior to Adam and Eve's partaking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and prevented it had the prevention been His plan all along. Instead, God chose to allow a space for the transgression to occur, the one transgression that enabled Adam and Eve to propagate children, but God mercifully, we might add, chose to return and thwart that the act, partaking of immortality though in a fallen state, that would have caused mankind's complete demise.

Point 5: The Fall Did Not Annul Their Mission

Maybe this was obvious to the reader, but the fall of Adam and Eve did not annul the blessing or mission that The Lord had pronounced upon Adam and Eve. This observation is worth contemplating mainly because many people, regardless of whether they view this narrative as factual or fictional, believe that the fall "thwarted" God's intentions for mankind.
15: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16: Unto the woman he 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.
17: And unto Adam he said, 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;
18: Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 2:15-19)
We can see something interesting afoot: Now that it is evident that the fall of Adam of Eve was the act that precipitated their ability to have children in the first place, and God allowed for that chain of events to occur, but God was quick to prevent a chain of circumstances that would have caused His children to be born into permanent separation from Him, we must conclude that as Adam and Eve now proceeded forth from Eden the conditions that were pronounced upon them after their fall--that children would be born into an experience that would obligatorily acquaint them with painful experience and all achievements would be wrought against opposition to the contrary--were also part of the plan all along. The common belief is that, "Had Adam and Eve not transgressed, we would have pain-free pregnancies and childbirths, and work would be effortless and exponentially more profitable." This is simply not what the records teach; life was intended to be a period of growth through pain, sorrow, and constant opposition. But as we shall see, life was not meant to be miserable, simply beneficial via the gaining of experience.

Point 6: We Can Be Accepted by Overcoming Sin The Lord's Prescribed Way

There is a teaching that The Lord shared with Cain, a powerful message whose importance I had long not appreciated:
3: And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4: And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5:  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6: And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7: If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. (Genesis 4:3-7)
When I was a boy I was taught that Cain's sacrifice was rejected because it was wrong type of sacrifice, to whit, vegetables, unlike Abel's proper animal sacrifice. Let us bear in mind what the record says, namely, that Abel "also" brought of the firstlings, which in Hebrew it reads "firstborns", of his flocks. Yes, Cain worked in agriculture, as Adam was commanded to do, and Abel worked in animal husbandry. I am told that per Jewish tradition Cain purchased his animals for sacrifice from Abel. Animals for sacrifice had to be raised by one holding the Priesthood, and inasmuch as Cain raised crops, a trade prescribed by The Lord, Cain, (per tradition) had to purchase his sacrificial animals from someone who raised such animals, namely Abel. Abel selected sacrificial animals from the firstborns. So the issue here may not be the "type" of sacrifice, but rather the intention. This very point is evident from Genesis. In the Pearl of Great Price, The Book of Moses, chapter 5:18 we find that intention was indeed the issue:
18: And Cain loved Satan more than God. And Satan commanded him, saying: Make an offering unto the Lord. 
So it was indeed Cain's intention, that of serving Satan, that invalidated his sacrifice before The Lord. But there is another aspect that becomes apparent here: that Satan does not just tempt people to break God's commandments, but to follow his own, even if outwardly the resultant behavior is precisely what God commanded. This event reveals an unsavory reality: that Satan's objective is to rule over us, and he will command us to break or to abide by God's laws, all in the hope of subjecting us to his will.

But look again at The Lord's counsel to Cain: "If thou doest right [by its root "good"], shalt thou not be accepted?" Now, the King James translators chose to phrase this "if thou does well, shalt thou not be accepted", but the Hebrew, I wish to note, reads even more brightly and hopefully: "If thou doest well (good), shalt thou not be exalted?" Then The Lord continues, "sin lieth at the door." Now I ask, "the door" to what? I had always read this as some idiomatic expression, like, "get one's foot in the door". As it happens, the Hebrew says "pethakh" which means 'opening' or 'gate'. So I ask, in the narrative what has been the only opening or gate that had been indicated or implied to exist? The opening that lead to the tree of life, the opening to the garden of Eden, the place where God's presence could abide even after Adam and Eve transgressed (remember how He returned to them there)? The sacrifices were animal sacrifices, shedding the blood of firstborn animals, ones that had to be selected (presumably to be without blemish), by a certain Priesthood-holder, but even then the sacrifice had to be offered in love of The Lord. The Lord taught that we cannot love God and mammon but rather that we will love God or mammon, but He taught this principle from the very beginning. And the objective was to do right The Lord's way in order to enter by the gate. Sin is lying there to prevent our entry, but as The Lord said, and as I am currently and always struggling to do, rule over it, so that I may be "accepted" or "exalted."

Also, it is a feature of ancient Hebrew to use a form of future tense to issue a command. This aspect carried through in our King James Translation, hence we read "Thou shalt not kill" rather than "Kill not" or the more modern "Do not kill." Notice now what The Lord so lovingly told Cain: "Sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." In more Modern English we would have "Sin is lying at the door (blocking your entry), and his desire is to have you, but rule over him instead/you can rule over him." The Lord never misses an opportunity to raise us up and encourage us. Sadly, Cain disregarded this loving counsel.

Now at this stage it would be helpful to take a step back and look at this scenario from a broader perspective. A son of God, Adam, fell, and this fall precipitated mortality but also humanity. God has not ever indicated that He would simply, by virtue of His power, disregard His own word--"in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die"--but He did allow for a mortality that would consist of learning by experience and choosing to do "right" with the promise of being "exalted". This doing right had at its center a form of sacrifice (animal offering and shedding its blood), but this sacrifice did not automatically undo the result of the fall of Adam or bring about exaltation (acceptance). Therefore this sacrifice was clearly only a similitude of what had to happen to restore mankind to God's presence: the ultimate sacrifice. And the teaching is right here if we will behold it: that as one immortal Adam fell by choice, Another Immortal Adam would have to ascend by choice. If one Adam fell ushering in a sinful nature, another Adam would have arise to usher in a restoration of a sinless nature. The fact that the firstborn of animals was sacrificed, the ultimate sacrifice would also be the "firstborn", which means He would have to have been chosen to be the Sacrifice before the world even was made. This Sacrifice was already identified by God when Adam and Eve transgressed (His promise of mercy): The "Firstborn" would be born of a woman, the "Seed of the Woman", a seed of her but not her mortal Adam. And this Seed would bruise the head of the serpent, or rather crush his plan to destroy mankind and make mankind lost and fallen forever, like he is.

As a related side note, in The Qur'an Jesus is referred to frequently as "Jesus the Son of Mary", which title has traditionally been taken to mean "Jesus is not the Son of God, but a miraculous son of Mary nonetheless". In reality "Jesus the Son of Mary", may actually mean "Jesus, the Seed of the Woman".

Point 7: The Order of Details

Among folks who view these records as the recorded myths of ancient wanderers, texts that preserve the random ramblings of those less gifted in worldly sciences, I would point out that the order of the details was also a teaching method of the ancient patriarchs.
  1. God pronounced "separation" and "death" as the consequence of transgressing His prohibition on eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
  2. God blessed Adam and Eve to have children and tread the entire earth.
  3. God stopped Adam and Eve from partaking of the tree of life in their fallen state thereby converting their mortality from a demise to death into a period to accomplish what He commanded them to do even before they fell.
  4. The conditions of their fall were not regrettable consequences but rather are the very conditions upon which any probationary state is predicated: experience with sorrows and opposition in order to grow by the efforts to overcome them. 
  5. God's intervention (to prevent Adam and Eve's partaking of the tree of life in their fallen state) reveal that mercy is His overarching motivation, and it is mercy and love that motivate Him.
  6. God nevertheless caused Adam and Eve to leave the garden. This act demonstrates that God cannot and will not rob justice. We are responsible for our actions, and actions carry consequences. Now, Adam and Eve would have been able to leave regardless, but now their reentry became restricted (flaming sword, Cherubim), but not forever. They would sacrifice by Eden's entry with the objective of reentering and being exalted. These sacrifices had to be prescribed by God Himself.
  7. Satan would have come and tempted Adam and Eve to follow his instructions regardless of whether God had issued commandments or prohibitions. By giving commandments God and affixing a punishment God enabled repentance to take place because repentance, by covenant, would enable God to bless man and exalt him back to His presence.
  8. Mercy does not rob justice, so inasmuch as from the beginning God granted repentance and required sacrifice and obedience for rebellious mankind to reenter His presence and be exalted, from the beginning the need for an ultimate sacrifice to reunite mankind with Him was being indicated.
  9. Therefore, God's plan all along was to bring His children to earth into a probationary period of mortality, and this plan that leads to salvation is predicated upon choosing God over all else, a choice that is manifest not only by our actions but by our heart, our intentions. The entire plan of salvation hinges upon the Sacrifice of The Son of God, and God laid this entire plan out before the world was even made.
So I ask if the following statements that entered our modern world from the past in 1829 can be seen as anything but the bonafide truth:

  1. 5: Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy. (2 Nephi 2:25)
  2. 15: And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also. 
  3. 16: Now, repentance could not come unto men except there were a punishment, which also was eternal as the life of the soul should be, affixed opposite to the plan of happiness, which was as eternal also as the life of the soul. 
  4. 17: Now, how could a man repent except he should sin? How could he sin if there was no law? How could there be a law save there was a punishment? 
  5. 22: But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would destroyed, and God would cease to be God.
  6. 23: But God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement; and the atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God; and thus they are restored into his presence, to be judged according to their works, according to the law and justice. (Alma 42:15-17,22-23)
  7. 12: Behold, he created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man. And because of the fall man came Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man.
  8. 13: And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all men be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and the shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before the bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death. (Mormon 9:12-13)
The Gospel of Jesus Christ was declared from the beginning. In our day it was declared again in its purity and to confirm what came before. The Holy Bible and The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ are an inseparable witness of Jesus Christ and of the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith.

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