Eve an elect lady.

Eve an elect lady.

Before to start I'd like to point out that the Lamb was well foreordained before the foundation of the world, so the fallen was foreseen and not a surprise to God.

When taking about the fall of Adam and Eve, we need to always remember that Jesus was the lamb of God who was prepared to be slain for man before the earth was ever created. This clearly shows that the fall of man was foreseen by God, and did not happen by accident.

In Genesis 1:26,27 we read,  "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

The first thing we notice from this scripture is that man was created to be both male and female. In Genesis 2:5 we read, "Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."  "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:28).

The scriptures tell us that the man was created first when there was no "help meet for him" (Genesis 1:20). Therefore, Eve was needed so that Adam (and all of mankind) could obey and fulfill the two commandments which God had given him (have dominion over the earth and multiply his seed). If it wasn't for Eve, mankind wouldn't exist and Adam would have lived alone forever.
Many people teach that Eve made a grave and terrible mistake by taking the forbidden fruit, but this is not so.  Because God knows everything from the very beginning, if He had wanted to prevent the fall of man He could have easily done it.
But rather than talk about Adam, I wish to focus on womanhood and how important women are in God's plan for mankind. Both men and women were created to fulfill specific duties. Man was called to lead, and woman was called to provide support. It is learning how to balance these two responsibilities where we find the secret of happiness in marriage.
Adam was alone in the garden when the first commandment was given to him, Eve surely may have been taught it by her husband.
Curiosity is the fountain of knowledge. Scientists and scholars, who are curious by profession, seek to understand the world around us by asking where and why things happen. Curiosity, when used with discretion  allows us to learn more. A person who has no curiosity has no desire for learning. As a general rule, women possess this quality to a greater extent than men.
Satan used this trait of curiosity to tempt Eve. We need to keep in mind, that when he tempted her, she didn't possess the knowledge of good and evil, but Satan did. As such, she was like a child who was mislead by a mature adult. We all know how curious children are, and how many times they ask "why?" or "how come?" There's nothing wrong with curiosity. It's natural. And it was the same for Eve. Even though she had received a commandment from the Father, she was still a child in her thinking. But more than that, she was mislead and TRICKED (deceived, beguiled) into disobeying God. For this reason , she didn't sin, but "transgressed" God's word. She couldn't sin, because to commit sin she first had to understand the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. Without that understanding, she couldn't possible disobey God with evil intent.
The same is true of Adam, but he ate from the forbidden fruit for a different reason than Eve. Had he not done so, Eve would have died, and he would remained a lone man in the garden with no way to fulfill God's command to multiply and replenish the earth. At that point he was faced with a conflicting problem. He had to break one commandment in order to keep the other. Adam made a deliberate decision to stay with Eve, thereby taking upon himself her transgression and thereby inheriting her punishment. But in doing this he made it possible for mankind to be born.
It is interesting to note that Jesus did nearly the same thing when He atoned for our sins. He took upon Himself our sins to make it possible for mankind to be resurrected and inherit eternal life. In a smaller way, this is exactly what Adam. He took upon himself the transgression of Eve to make it possible for mankind live.
Jesus taught that the truth would make us free. If that is true, then how could Adam and Eve really be free without the knowledge of the truth? They couldn't! Life on earth is a process by which we can become more like our Father in Heaven, and to be like Him we must know and practice the truth as He does. This was the real reason for the fall of man. The scriptures tell us in Genesis 3:5 "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."  Eve was aware of that, so by eating the fruit, she became like God, and thereby was able to freely exercise her own will, just as God does. It tells us in Genesis 3:6 "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took "
Eve was the key to fulfilling both commandments which God had given to man, but today mankind blames Eve for allowing us to exist and be free. To me, this seems a rather strange form of logic.
Many have wondered about the origins of the sexes, but this knowledge has not been revealed. Elder John A. Widtsoe, an apostle, wrote, "A wiser power than any on earth understands why a spirit in the far off beginning was male or female."
>From the Book "Woman and the priesthood" by Rodney Turner, on page 16, we read, "In growing apart, men and women do not develop traits and emotions which are wholly unique, much less antithetic to one another. Male and female qualities are found in both sexes in balanced, but not equal, proportions. As with hormones, those qualities which are dominant in one sex are designated to be recessive by its chief characteristics. This permits each to draw upon the virtues and strengths and without any claim to moral exclusiveness.
"Compassion is no more unique to women than is courage to men. Both sexes are designated to manifest all of the attributes of God, but each is to do so, without doing violence to its own nature and calling. Both should sing the same song, but not the same part.. Jesus often manifested love, compassion and gentleness, but He did so in the context of His manhood. He did not become effeminate in order to effect a gentle demeanor."
When we talk about Eve, we are also talking about womanhood, its characteristics, its purposes, and responsibilities. And these were given to woman by God. The main role of a woman is to be both a wife and a mother. This was why she was created, and this is her divine calling.
Today , the feminist movement wants us to believe there is no difference between the roles of men and woman.  Instead of following the divinely decreed design of a wise and just God, they want woman to disregard their feminine inclinations and behave like men. Because of this, our lifestyle has been radically changed.  Although technology has created more free time for us, yet it has led to a decreased, rather than an increased emphasis on the family. As it becomes easier to have children and care for the home, we are less inclined to do so, with more people making a deliberate decision to have only one child or less. At one time, children were considered an economic asset, but now they are considered a social liability.
In my opinion, the  feminist movement is actually anti-woman. Contrary to their charge, it is not the male ego, but the female nature which has rightly defined the role of the wife and mother. They claim that such a position is demeaning, when instead, it is the noblest of all callings. Extremists in the feminist movement utterly reject this idea. They say that losing their lives in a cause other than themselves is considered laughable. They  demand that they should be allowed to be equal with men, which really means they want to renounce their God given uniqueness as a woman.
Certainly, everyone should be respected as an individual person, but this doesn't mean that we have to disregard and denigrate those characteristics which make one person a  male and another person a female. In insisting upon the privilege of being something they are not, these deluded souls are reducing themselves to something less than a complete human being. While women are fully justified in denouncing male exploitation, to insist upon being accepted as simple "a person," rather than as a female person, is to expose themselves to even more pernicious forms of male exploitation in the future.
A woman's true nature was meant to have a mollifying effect on man. It is from her that man first learns to be tender and compassionate. Only by magnifying their roles as mothers, can women effectively instill these noble characteristics in their sons. When women reject their divine appointment in pursuit of some false idea of  liberty, patterned after the way men behave, there is no one left to teach gentleness to their sons and prepare them to love and honor woman as they should. Instead, they are teaching young boys to treat woman as though they were men. When this happens, our lives get out of balance as we seek after that which is material and earthly rather than that which is spiritual and heavenly. It is no wonder that lives become blighted, minds are destroyed, bodies are corrupted, and souls are lost. God designed woman to be a "helpmeet" for man, not his competitor.
Since it is the male who determines the sex of the child, a woman is the product of man. And since the female brings forth the race, man is a product of woman. Each is necessary to the other and no one is more important than the other. They each have different callings which need to work together in order to fulfill the reason for their creation.

Another important insight concerning the stewardship of Adam towards Eve is the fact that she received her name from Adam, not God. God made Adam to have dominion over all of creation. That means Adam has the right to rule over everything in creation. By Eve accepting her name from Adam, she acknowledges his dominance over her. The same situation exists in marriage when the wife takes upon herself the last name of HIS family and gives up her family's name.

Unfortunately this right to rule is often misunderstood by both men and women. It is often used as an excuse for man to behave as a dictator instead of being a loving, caring husband who does everything with the best interest of his wife and family in mind. The right to rule doesn't justify being a tyrant. The Lord explained this in D&C 121:41-46 when He said,  "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile-- Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death. Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever."

We must remember that marriage was instituted by God before of the fall had occurred In Genesis 2:24 we're told, "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."

Although they were married before the fall,  neither one of them comprehended how to multiply and replenish the earth. They had the potential to do so but they lacked the understanding. It would be like telling a 3 year old that they needed to multiply and replenish the earth. They heard the words but they didn't grasp the meaning. It was only after they gained the knowledge of good and evil that they then had the power to carry out this command of God. It is like having a car but not the key to the ignition, or the fuel to run the car.

The reason I am emphasizing this point is because today there are those who are trying to prescribe a new and better way for marriages to operate. They claim that it is just a business partnership in which each one of the partners having 50% of the voting stock. But that would be like having two presidents directing the same company. It would be a stalemate! Both sides preside but no one leads. This is a recipe  for confusion and disaster. Maybe this is one of the reasons why marriages today are falling apart. Instead to working together the way the Lord designed it to be, each partner tries to fulfill their personal goals instead of honoring a commitment to each other.

Paul explained the role of women in marriage when he wrote, in Ephesians 5:22 ,"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Savior of the body.  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing." The apostle Peter likewise wrote,  "Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement." (1 Peter 3:6)

Do not misunderstand what they are saying. The term "in the Lord" requires that a woman follow her husband, but only "in the Lord." She is to be obedient to God before being obedient to her husband. Joseph F. Smith, the sixth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declared in the Journal of Discourses, 16:247, "We have got to learn to stand or fall for ourselves, male and female. It is true that we are taught in the principles of the Gospel that man is the head of the woman, and Christ is the head of man; and according to the order that is established in the kingdom of God, it is the duty of the man to follow Christ, and it is the duty of the woman to follow the man in Christ, not out of Him. But has not a woman the same volition that the man has? Can she not follow or disobey the man as he can follow or disobey Christ? Certainly she can, she is responsible for her acts, and must answer for them. She is endowed with intelligence and judgment, and will stand upon her own merits as much so as the man."

The story of Thomas B. Marsh, first president of the Council of the Twelve in the time of Joseph Smith is a clear example of this. He was excommunicated because he supported the actions of his wife, even though her behavior was not righteous. He was excommunicated in 1838, but was rebaptized in 1857. It was only then that he admitted that, in the heat of the moment, he had once said that he would sustain his wife's character even if he had to go to hell for it. His remarks upon returning to the church prove that he had done just that. And the same thing is true of wives. They should not go to hell just to be obedient to an unrighteous husband.

If we take a good look at what the scriptures say, it is evident that the union of the sexes is a holy thing. That's why it's called holy matrimony. And the reason for this is because it is the Lord who has degreed that this is the way things should be done. Satan, on the other hand, tries to persuade men to believe in things that are unholy and which are not good for them.  However, he presents his ideas in such a way that doesn't embarrass people or disturbs their conscience. Instead, he tries to make evil seem acceptable. There is an old saying  that goes, "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, as, to be hated, needs but to be seen; yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, we first endure, then pity, then embrace."

>From the same book I quoted before, "We are on holy ground when we discuss the human body and the means by which life is organized (by the Family). Unfortunately, the blatant candor of our times has robbed the subject of the sensitive treatment it merits. The nomenclature of the Physiologist is stark and dehumanizing when contrasted with that used by the Lord and his prophets. Scripture provides us with a spiritual nomenclature of those things pertaining to human reproduction which can add needed dimension to any purely scientific treatment of the subject. While the language of science maybe more precise in describing the physical aspects as sex, the language of the Lord lifts us above the flesh and reveals its soul. Contrast the following."

It is interesting to note the difference between the language which science uses and that which the scriptures use. For example,
"to menstruate" versus "the custom of women."
"Sperm" verses "seed."
"To be unfertile or sterile" versus "to be barren."
"The uterus" versus "the womb."
"To have intercourse" versus "to know one."
"To become pregnant" versus "to conceive."
"To be pregnant" versus "to be with a child."
"A baby" versus "the fruit of the womb."

While some technical terms, of necessity, must be used when teaching young people about the nature and functions of the body, such instructions would be far more effective if the spiritual implications of these terms were also considered. When the growth and development of the human body is taught in the context of just  the physical aspect alone, it is only half the truth at best. Only when the subject is placed in its proper spiritual setting can it be rightly understood and appreciated. Elder Mark E. Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said. "When schools are prevented from teaching anything of a spiritual nature, they are thereby disqualified from teaching sex at all, for in its nature, sex is spiritual and inseparable connected with the creative work of God.

You may be wondering what this has to do in connection with our discussion about Eve. It's been said that Eve was the most beautiful woman God created, and man was created to have a very strong attraction for the beauty of a woman. And the purpose of this attraction is so they could "multiply and replenish the earth."

If we misunderstand what God was doing here it will lead us in the wrong direction, so we need to perfectly understand not only the role of Eve but the role of all woman concerning the principles by which life and womanhood are connected. This is important to understand because Satan uses many different and powerful means to destroy those principles. Pornography and false ideas on sex and marriage are just a couple of examples how he does this.

Eve and Adam were the only ones who did not have a choice concerning marriage. They were commanded by God to do so. Fortunately they didn't have any imperfections in their natural feelings towards one another. However, their children had the choice, and married to show their faith in God, and desire to follow Him.

Rebecca  married Isaac because she wanted a husband from the Lord. Perhaps she also liked him because of his looks, but we don't know that, but she is an example of loyalty to the commandments of the Lord. Does this mean that we shouldn't marry without love? Not at all. Marriage is not meant to be an imposition  We know that Jacob loved Rachel and worked for 14 years to have her. Love should be balanced between wisdom and passion Since the Lord is perfect, He is also our perfect Advisor. Therefore, we should ask for His guidance and help when selecting a companion for marriage. Even so, we are free to make our choice and the Lord will not rebuke us for properly using our free agency. However, if we listen to Him and follow His promptings, we could avoid possible future problems. Samson loved Delilah but He didn't listen to the counsel of his parents and he paid a terrible price for this mistake.

It is interesting to note that Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel were all barren. Why? In my opinion, this is because all of them were a prototype of Mary, the mother of Jesus, just like their husbands, in some ways, were the prototype of the Father and Son. But in what way were these women a prototype of Mary, since she wasn't barren! The answer is that all of them needed a miracle from the Lord to have children. And it was from their children that the rest of mankind has been blessed.

It is also interesting to note that Abraham had just one son from his wife, Sarah, just like our Father in heaven had just one begotten and beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Isaac had two sons. They represent mankind, who are looking for spirituality. According to prophecy, spirituality will overcome selfishness, which was typified by the elder son serving the younger one.

Israel had twelve sons from many different wives. This represents the church which is led by twelve apostles. In fact, Israel was scattered everywhere, thereby being mixed with all the nations of the earth, so they mingled their blood with the Gentiles which then brought them the same blessings given to Abraham upon his bloodline.

In order for Jacob to marry Rachel, Jacob twice spent seven years serving Laban. The number seven signifies something which is complete. Therefore, Jacob went the second mile to have his precious wife. From her he had Joseph and Benjamin.

Did Eve accomplish her mission in the garden? Absolutely! God knew that she would be mislead. That is why the Lamb of God had already been prepared for that very reason. Just because she was not aware that this would happen doesn't change the fact that God did know. Eve accomplish her mission on earth. According to the scriptures she was the mother of all living and she set a very good example for all of HER daughters. Have you ever thought about the fact that you and I are not only the children of Adam but also of  Eve?


Adam and Eve, looking at the world today, could proudly say: "we made it happen. And even if they were unaware they were obedient to the two commandments that the Lord gave to them from the very beginning : "Be fruitful and multiply!"