Adam and Eve and their offspring – a Mormon contradiction — Section 49
Adam and Eve’s teachings in the Pearl of Great Price
Representative of a Christian church:
One of the most interesting of the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the contradiction they present at the time of the Creation. In 2 Nephi 2:25 in the Book of Mormon we reach that “Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy.” In another their writings, in the Pearl of Great Price, we read in Moses 5:10-11 that Eve said, “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy or our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.” If this is the case, could you prove to us from the Bible that Adam could not have had children, which the first command after the creation from the dust was to “multiply and replenish the earth”. This seems most absurd from the point of view of logic and of scriptural truth. According to your doctrine, Adam had to break a commandment, either partake of the forbidden fruit so he could multiply and replenish the earth, or not partake of the forbidden fruit and live forever without the seed. That sounds like a contradictory God, and that is not my God.
Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
My friend, the scriptures give a very accurate description of the state Adam and Eve were in when they were in the Garden of Eden prior to partaking of the forbidden fruit. They lived under ideal conditions, and all the fruits of the garden were theirs with the exception of two trees. They had several great disadvantages however. They had been commanded to multiply and replenish the earth, and yet they were in a state of innocence where “they were both naked, the man and the woman, and they were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:25) As such, they had no carnal urge to multiply because they knew not the difference between good and evil. 1 Peter 1:18-20 informs us that Christ was “foreordained” to come to this earth and to atone for the sin of Adam, and by not partaking of the forbidden fruit, they could have eliminated Christ from coming to save the world. God had told them that “the day that thou partakest thereof, thou shalt surely die”. (Genesis 2:17) Adam then had to partake of the forbidden fruit and bring death into the world, or Christ’s foreordination would have been useless, and he would not have been the Savior. Therefore, God knew that Adam would partake of the fruit when he gave the commandment because His Son had already been commissioned to save the world. It was when he partook of the fruit that “they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.” (Genesis 3:7) God went on to tell them that they had become as Gods, “knowing good and evil”. (Genesis 3:22) Because of this knowledge they had acquired, they were driven from the garden, and we find them fulfilling the first great commandment where “Adam knew his wife, and she conceived.” (Genesis 4:1) Since there is no doubt that Christ was foreordained to come into the world to atone for the sin of Adam, God gave the first command to rule over the second and made way for his beloved Son. If Adam had not partaken of the fruit, he would have remained in a state of innocence with Eve. Christ would not have come into the world as he was foreordained to do, and we would not have received the opportunity of becoming “as Gods, knowing good from evil.” Truly this was the wisdom of God to give the command as he did so that seed could have been born and so Christ could come into the world and pay for Adam’s sin. Therefore, it was not a contradictory commandment in that sense, because the infinite wisdom of God knew how Adam would react with his wife, Eve, under the set of circumstances to which they would be subject. However, Adam still had hs agency, and therefore it was still sin but it was our Father’s wisdom to make his plan after such a manner.
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