Essays TOC

ADAM & EVE -- THE GARDEN OF EDEN
THE FALL & THE ATONEMENT


Robert Hyatt
1996

1. Adam and Eve were born and raised by our heavenly parents
until they were ready to be brought here to Earth.

2. They were placed in the garden of Eden and were told to
enjoy their stay but commanded not to partake of the
forbidden fruit.

3. Adam and Eve were sent to the garden of Eden on our Earth
with immortal bodies. As immortals they were restricted
in many ways. They could not have children nor were they
subjected to any testings or trials, for they had no
knowledge of good and evil. They did not have blood in
their veins so they could not experience a mortal death.
They would have lived forever.

4. While in the garden, Eve was tempted by Satan to partake
of the forbidden fruit. She then gave Adam the fruit and
he also did eat. From this point on their bodies changed
from immortal to mortal. They immediately recognized
their mistake and Satan their elder brother.

5. Adam and Eve were told that they would be punished for their
sin by being casted out of the garden and the presence of
God. Our heavenly Father explained the conditions of the
fall to them in the garden. He told Eve that she would
have to covenant with Adam to obey his law and that Adam
would have to covenant to obey God's law. They made this
covenant then God continued to explain that a savior would
be sent to atone mankind from their sins.

6. Adam was told that he would have to work to sustain life.
Eve was told that she would bare children through pain and
suffering but tat her life would be spared. Both Adam and
Eve were told that they would experience a mortal death.
Because of the Fall, Adam and Eve experienced both a
temporal and spiritual death.

7. There is a good aspect of the fall. "Adam fell that men
might be and men are that they might have joy." Without
Adam's fall, mankind would have never come to Earth. It
was a necessary part of the plan of salvation.

8. Christ came to ransom us from the effects of the fall of Adam.

9. The divine Sonship of Jesus Christ was necessary. If Christ
was not the literal son of Deity, then he would not have been
able to bring to pass the resurrection of all mankind.

10. The atonement brings back spiritual life & temporal life - the
reverse of the Fall.

11. If Adam had not transgressed, then he would have remained in
the garden forever. All things that were created would have
remained in that same state forever.

12. The Atonement effects man, Earth, and the animals.

13. Definition of Atonement: Atone means to ransom, redeem, or to
pay the penalty.

14. The word atonement signifies deliverance through the offering
of a ransom from the penalty of a broken law.

15. Christ was without sin. This was an essential part of the
atonement.

16. Christ was not under the curse of Adam.

17. If there had been no atonement, then all mankind would be sons
of perdition.

18. Jesus inherited the power of mortality from Mary, which is the
ability to die, and he received the power of immortality from
his Father which gave him the ability to take it up again.

19. The suffering of the atonement started in Gethsemane and ended
on the cross.

20. Christ took on our sins according to our repentance.

21. The atonement was universal - not just for this Earth.

22. It is thought that Jesus died of a bursting heart.

23. Jesus will intercede on behalf of all of us.

24. There are two kinds of salvation: #1 universal (saved by
grace), #2 salvation in kingdom of God-limited. Eternal life
with God.

25. Read: Article of faith #3 & II Nephi chapter 9