Marriage and death before the fall
The Church teaches that Adam and Eve were placed on a paradisiacal earth as immortal beings and married by God before the fall brought death. For example: "Adam and Eve were married by God before there was any death in the world." (Gospel Principles, p.241.) Another example is President Henry B. Eyring in this month's First Presidency Message: "The first marriage was performed by God in the garden when Adam and Eve were not subject to death." (Ensign, Sep 2008, p.4; see also Ensign, May 1998, p.66.)
posted by R. Gary on 9/07/2008 04:47:00 PM
7 Comments:
Okay Gary, Adam and Eve were married before the Fall, so now what?
I would expect God to marry them before giving them the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth, but I don't see why this is so important. Maybe I am missing something.
Perhaps this is an unfinished blog.
Cheers ;)
Dave
Dave Collingridge: Some say our first parents didn't come to earth as immortal beings but rather that they descended from lower orders of the animal creation. Under this reasoning, Adam and Eve became immortal only by eating the fruit of the tree of life and they experienced mortality again when they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The fall, it is claimed, brought death only to Adam and Eve and their posterity—everything outside the Garden of Eden was already mortal.
It's a nice story, but where did it come from?
It didn't come from the apostles and prophets, including this month's First Presidency Message by President Eyring.
Genesis makes it clear that they were married before the fall:
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed…dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life…and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.
So the first marriage must have been eternal.
Exactly, the marriage took place after eating the Tree of Life "when Adam and Eve were not subject to death" and "before there was any death [brought back] in the world." :)
SteveP
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SteveP: May I expand on what you just said? What I'm hearing from you is that
(1) it was only while eating the Tree of Life that Adam and Eve were immortal beings,
(2) the rest of the world continued to experience universal death throughout the Garden of Eden time period, and
(3) Adam and Eve (and only Adam and Eve) became mortal again when they were prevented from eating the Tree of Life.
Are you saying this is what President Eyring believes and the Church teaches?
Hi Gary,
No. I'm saying nothing of the sort (you've got to get to know me better so you can tell when I'm joking and not. That ending smily thing on my comment means I'm being tongue in cheek). I really don't know the hows of what happened in Eden. I'm much more humble in my claims about what went on as far as the details about the trees and the other details about those events. I can state scientifically we that on Earth there were millions of years of creatures living and dying. As to their spirit state (for example if they had one) I have only speculation. I also know that Adam and Eve, lived Fell and brought about mortality as we know it. I can speak to the science very well. And I understand and have a testimony of the the Who and whys of creation, but the hows I, like the scriptures, remain silent. I see much of what you see as literal, as figurative as far as Adam and Eve are concerned.
Adam and Eve did not eat of the Tree of Life when they were in the Garden of Eden.
When the earth was created, it was in a Paradisaical state where there was no death, pain, etc. Adam and Eve were also created in this state, without having eaten of the tree of life.
In order to experience opposition and demonstrate obedience to God, Adam and Eve were presented with a choice between to the two trees.
They could either live forever in immortality in God's presence and progress no further, or they could choose to leave his presence in the state of mortality and learn from their own experience to distinguish between good and evil.
Once you become immortal, there is no going back to the state of mortality, which is what would have happened had they made the other choice.
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