I am about to take you on a journey, my journey, in trying to understand what is true about the Adam and Eve story. Alas, that is only part of why I am talking about this subject. Opinions and speculations abound in this post, for it is my mortal mind trying to accept and understand the scriptures and the teachings of modern prophets.
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| Adam and Eve from the movie Noah 2014 |
What first got me trying to discover this is when I was trying to understand and combat the anti-mormon information out there, including the false doctrine that Adam is God the Father. During this pursuit I found this quote from Journal of Discourses given by Brigham Young, "When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him." (Journal of Discourses v1 pg 50)
All accounting of Adam's creation in the scriptures describe him as being "formed from the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7, Moses 3:7, Abraham 5:7). However, President Brigham Young has stated, "Look for instance at Adam. Listen, ye Latter-day Saints! Supposing that Adam was formed actually out of clay, out of the same kind of material from which bricks are formed; that with this matter God mad the pattern of a man, and breathed into it the breath of life, and left it there, in that state of supposed perfection, he would have been an adobie to this day. he would not have known anything."
Though I am one of the first to admit this is faulty logic, for I believe in the same God that turn water into wine (John 2:1-11), that multiplied the loaves of bread and the fish (Mark 6:38-43), who parted the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21-22, Psalm 136:13-15), and raised the dead (Luke 7:12-15, John 11:14, 43-44). Therefore, if God wanted to, He could create Adam from clay and the dust of the earth, that is within His power. However, because of Prophet of God was permitted to teach this for doctrine, I must believe it is true. For we also see that if there is a natural way to bring something into existence then there is no need for Him to intervene so miraculously. As with the wine, they could not get wine for the party, so the transmutation needed to occur.
Similarly, there was a world-wide devotional this year in which Russel M Nelson talked about Divine Law. "I learned this as President Spender W. Kimball's surgeon." he said concerning divine laws, "When the implanted pacemaker for his heart suddenly failed, President Kimball came back to me for help. But first he asked me to give him a priesthood blessing. After the blessing, which promised correction of his failed pacemaker, he then said to me. 'Now you may do whatever you need to do to make that blessing a reality. I proceeded with the operation. One the wire that carried electricity from the pacemaker to his heart, I found a break in the insulation. When I replaced the faulty wire, the pacemaker immediately worked again, allowing President Kimball's heart to beat normally. Not even for God's prophet could the law relating to the transmission of electricity be ignored." Again, I believe in a God that could repair the pacemaker without surgery, but why would He need to when He has our natural and learned skills at His disposal. Thus the truth is made plain that there was another, natural way for God to create Adam.
It is interesting that while studying why Christ had to be born of the mortal Mary and the immortal Father in Heaven, that the logic dictated this truth. If Jesus was born of two mortals, He could not withstand the pains of the atonement and give up His life for us. Thus we would remain under the condemnation of sin. Nor could He raise Himself from the dead, and we would forever remain subject to death. Yet, if Jesus was born of two immortals, then He must needs remain immortal, unless He were to fall. Though, if He fell, He would no longer be perfect and without sin. Therefore, Jesus had to be born half mortal, half immortal, a demigod. Able to die, and yet live a perfect life. With this realization, I saw that Adam could have been born of two immortal beings, and as thus, he would need to fall to become mortal, to know pain, suffering and evil so that he can choose and rejoice with the good (2 Nephi 2:22-25).
Thus my conclusion that by the natural laws, dust of the ground was take and shaped into the fruits of the earth, literally fruits and vegetables likely in the Garden of Eden. As our Heavenly Mother bore Adam within her womb, she ate of this matter which was used to form Adam's physical body. This, to my mind, satisfies all of the laws of both God, man and the scriptures. For Adam was "formed from the dust of the ground" and yet begotten of the Father in immortality, celestial as his parents before him.
Until further light and knowledge is revealed, this explanation and conclusion satisfies me. Though it is clearly based upon quotes from the Journal of Discourses which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not proclaim and uphold as scripture (Church's standing), it does adhere to the Church's official stance upon the creation of Adam as stated in The Origin of Man. "True it is that the body of man enters upon its career as a tiny germ embryo, which becomes an infant, quickened at a certain stage by the spirit whose tabernacle it is, and the child, after being born, develops into a man. There is nothing in this, however, to indicate that the original man, the first of our race, began life as anything less than a man, or less than a human germ or embryo that becomes a man." That same article also refutes evolution as it is currently taught as "...the theories of men."
With this understanding that I have about the creation of Adam, I recently met up with some discrepancies with the creation of Eve. For the longest time, I had believed that the rib was literally taken of Adam, and with the knowledge that I have and seeing the symbolism of "woman" being taken out of "man" thought that maybe God had taken some cells from the rib and using them like gametes taking the x-chromosomes from Adam and formed Eve with a pair. However, as I brought up briefly in my post about the Creation, President Kimball stated with no uncertainty that Eve was not created from Adam's rib (The blessings and responsibilities of womanhood).
Though it has been argued by some that the entire creation story is all symbolic and only symbolic, I do not now believe that to be so. Which is why I struggled with accepting this doctrine. Luckily I had a friend that purposed this idea to me. The scriptures say that Adam was put into a deep sleep (Genesis 2:21). Therefore, there is a possibility that what the scripture states about Eve's creation was the vision that Adam was shown in a dream. Thus the symbolism of the rib, "The rib signifies neither dominion nor subservience, but a lateral relationship as partners, to work and to live, side by side." (Lesson from Eve). This makes more sense, though the scriptures do not say that Adam woke up, but assuming that he did so, or even if it was in the dream, he would proclaim "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." (Genesis 2:23-24).
Now, unsure if it was still in the dream not the scripture says "And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman..." (Genesis 2:22). To this I would like to sight how "man" stood for "mankind": "Man here is always in the plural. It was plural from the beginning." (In the Beginning: A Latter-day Perspective). Therefore, Eve being the symbolic rib was "taken from man" which could mean that she was taken or set apart from mankind, which at this stage was in the spirit world. This brings me full circle to the quote from Brigham Young that started this post, "When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him." (Journal of Discourses v1 pg 50).
If you want to know my position on Plural Marriage, you can read my post about it. For this post, it will be enough to acknowledge that fore-ordination or pre-destination (Destiny is not a matter of chance, but of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved. [William Jennings]) exist and that we were called to certain positions before mortality to serve in during mortality. With that realization, why couldn't a woman be called or fore-ordained to be a man's wife? or a man fore-ordained to be a woman's husband?
Thus, my understanding that Eve was fore-ordained to be Adam's wife, and the mother of all living. However, what if there were other women fore-ordained to be Adam's wives? Who are they and why don't we have a record of them?
By getting into some very strange stuff, there is Jewish mythology of a being known a Lilith that was supposedly Adam's first wife, but she sinned against God and was cast out. It is interesting to note that maybe this is true, maybe Lilith was a fore-ordained wife to Adam, but she sinned against God and His plan and was cast out with Lucifer. Therefore, she never received a body and we have no account of her in the creation.
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| Western Screech Owl |
Indeed, the only biblical reference we have for her is her name as a Hebrew word that was translated as "screech owl" in Isaiah 34:14 "The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest." (Bold Added).
As with the topic of Adam, context is important. Isaiah 33 is talking about apostasy and wickedness abounding before Christ's second coming. Isaiah 34 talks about the destruction and evil right before Christ's second coming, and Isaiah 35 talks about restoration, rebirth and blessings as Christ comes again. Thus this "screech owl" or Lilith might find rest, in the destruction, in the wicked world, right before it is cleansed and made new for Christ. It is also interesting to note that in Mesopotamia Lilim were female night demons and in Akkadian/Sumerian "lil" is a reference to wind which co-incided with the "breath of life" or spiritus (Latin for breath or breeze) or spirit, which could mean that she is still a spirit and is indeed a demon or angel of Satan.
Alas, Jewish folklore, not myth, but folklore has Lilith being made at the same time as Adam, from the same dirt. She then disobeys Adam and God and leave them for the archangel Samael. Whether she was actually born in the flesh or merely a fore-ordained spirit, there certainly seems some negative connotations associated with her. Least of all being Lilith, the first demon in the television show Supernatural. However, that show requires many grains of salt considering they also portrayed Eve as being the mother of monsters.
In any case, we do not have a credible account of their Eve's actual creation nor of Lilith even existing. Thus, until more light and knowledge is revealed, it satisfies my mind to think that Eve was created the same way as Adam. Though that would make them brother and sister, they would be perfect, with perfect genes, even relatively perfect after the fall enabling the genetic diversity to prevent deformities from inbreeding.
Now, with all of this stated, I don't want anyone to go away thinking that this idea of Adam's creation takes away from the majesty of Christ's birth. Not only is Jesus Christ the "Only Begotten Son in the flesh" it is a title as well as a state of being.
"The 'divine Sonship' also refers to the designation 'Only Begotten Son in the flesh.'... This title signifies that Jesus' physical body was the offspring of a mortal mother and of an immortal Eternal Father, which verity is crucial to the Atonement, a supreme act that could not have been accomplished by an ordinary man." (Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel chapter 7)
This signifies that "in the flesh" is a reference to mortal life. Christ is the only child that God has been the sire of into mortality.
I hope that these ideas get all of you thinking and pondering upon the beauty of the gospel and of the the Plan of Salvation.
Love,
Jacobugoth
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