John A. Widtsoe

The story of Eden should be viewed on (at least) 4 levels:

1. Historical Fact
2. Symbols & Metaphors
3. Where we are in our spiritual journey
4. A testament to the reality of our Heavenly Father and His plan of salvation.

Eve: "A righteous, brilliant, vital woman was chosen, called and tutored by God, loved and honored and cherished by Adam, and trusted by the spirits in the Grand Council to act with her magnificent eternal companion in their behalf."

"Eve was at Michael's side before the foundations of the earth were set in place. Further, Eve's role was vital, for she was actively engaged in the planning and preparations that would shape our sphere." (Note: In the premortal existence, Adam was Michael)

Did you get that? Eve was an active participant in the creation process. "Eve was sent to build, to organize, through the power of the Father, the bodies of mortal men, to be a creator of bodies under the faculties given her by the priesthood of God."

*Read D&C 138:38-39

President Hinckley: "Then, as His final creation, the crowning of His glorious work, He created woman. I like to regard Eve as his masterpiece after all that had gone before, the final work before He rested from His labors."

"Eve's assignment and stewardship as the Mother of All Living was endorsed, issued, codified and sanctified by God the Father so that His purposes for His children might be realized. Eve's relationship and future contracts were not only with Adam, but also with God."

"No spirit could come to earth, gain a body and thereby be allowed to work out his or her own salvation if Eve did not choose to make possible the fall to mortality."

*Read Genesis 2:18. a "helpmeet" the Hebrew word for "help" is EZER which is translated into two root words: "to rescue or save" and "to be strong". Also, "meet" is meant to infer equality - an equal status.

President Howard W. Hunter: "The Lord intended that the wife be a helpmeet for man -- that is, a companion equal and necessary in partnership."

THE FALL
There were three events planned by the councils of heaven to help us experience the great plan of happiness:

The creation
The fall
The Atonement

In the garden of Eden, Elder Dallin H. Oaks explains, "When Adam and Eve received the first commandment, they were in a transitional stage, no longer in the spirit world, but with physical bodies not yet subject to death and not yet capable of procreation." Sooo....somehow, they had to bridge the gap between the bliss of Eden and the trials of mortality. Elder Oaks continues, "[Eve's] act, whatever its nature, was formally a transgression but eternally a glorious necessity to open the doorway toward eternal life."

From Elder Boyd K. Packer: "The fall came by transgression of a law, but there was no sin connected with it. there is a difference between transgression and sin. Both always bring consequences."

Elder Dallin Oaks again: "The transition -Fall- could not happen without a transgression - an exercise of moral agency amounting to a willful breaking of a law. This would be a planned offense, a formality to serve an eternal purpose."

"Had God created Adam and Eve is mortal beings, He would have negated His own gift of agency. Thus, although the Fall was an essential ordinance, it was a step they had to perform for themselves and in proxy for all humankind."

*Read 2 Nephi 2:23

"With agency as the preeminent law of the universe, the choice was theirs and theirs alone. The Fall, even in light of its paramount importance to the Father's plan, could not be forced upon Adam and Eve. They had to VOLUNTARILY choose the course themselves. Nor could their choice be made in ignorance for a choice made in such a state would not be a true exerise of agency."

The gift of discernment (the ability to see beyond the literal to the divine essential) "has ever been God's gift to women...Frequently decisions are made and must be based on what serves the greater good for the greatest number. Often such decisions require women to set aside their own well-being in favor of anothers." A good example of this? CHILD BEARING.

PRIESTHOOD AND MOTHERHOOD:

"How marvelous is the plan of God and His wonderful scales of justice as He places recognition of the linkage of humankind through the mother and the lineage of the Priesthood through the Father." Heavenly Father has "a great interest in His daughters learning and respecting the meaning and use of the priesthood and in their claiming this power for their good."

*Read Moses 5:1-12. See how it describes the actions of Adam and Eve regarding their marriage and their parental responsibilities.

To recap:
We neither choose nor call ourselves to a particular calling. "Eve had been chosen, and her mission and calling as the Mother of All Living had been made known to her. It would not be unreasonable to suppose that she had been promised that should she choose to carry out her calling, she would be blessed with the knowledge, courage and freedom to execute that calling as she was prepared and as was timely."

"The very reason a world was created, agency adopted as the central principle, and a Savior provided was so that Eve and Adam would choose to descend to a mortal sphere where all might have the opportunity to claim mortal bodies and begin their time of testing."

"Without some knowledge of right and wrong, there can be no true exercise of agency."

"Such was the problem before our first parents: to remain forever at selfish ease in the garden of Eden, or to face unselfishly tribulation and death, in bringing to pass the purposes of the Lord for a host of waiting spirit children. They chose the latter. This they did with open eyes and minds as to the consequences." Elder John A. Widstoe

"Mankind's passage into mortality was the result of the free and informed choice of a noble parent."

This site updated 14 JUNE 2003