Article of Faith 2
We believe that men will be punished for their own sins,
and not for Adam’s transgression.
This essay will begin a discussion about the Fall of Adam and Eve and the second article in my series on the Articles of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, before discussing the Fall, we should lay a proper foundation for the conditions under which Adam made his decision.
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches as doctrine that Heavenly
Father bestowed upon His spirit children certain inalienable rights while in
the spirit world. Moral agency, or freedom to choose, is one of those rights. Elder
James E. Talmage explained this doctrine as follows (Articles of Faith [1890],
52-55).
The
Church teaches as a strictly scriptural doctrine, that man has inherited among
the inalienable rights conferred upon him by his divine Father, freedom to
choose the good or the evil in life, to obey or disobey the Lord’s commands, as
he may elect. This right cannot be guarded with more jealous care than is
bestowed upon it by God Himself; for in all His dealings with man He has left
the mortal creature free to choose and to act, without compulsion or restraint
beyond the influences of paternal counsel and direction. True, He has given
commandments and has established statutes, with promises of blessings for
compliance and penalties for infraction; but in the choice of these, men are
untrammeled. In this respect, man is no less free than are the angels except as
he fettered himself with the bonds of sin and forfeited his power of will and
force of soul. The individual has as full a measure of capability to violate
the laws of health, the requirements of nature, and the commandments of God in
matters both temporal and spiritual, as he has to obey all such; in the one
case he brings upon himself the penalties that belong to the broken law; as in
the other he inherits the specific blessings and the added freedom that attend
a law-abiding life. Obedience to law is the habit of the free man; the
transgressor fears the law, for he brings upon himself deprivation and
restraint, not because of the law, which would have protected him in his freedom,
but because of his antagonism to law. [Emphasis added.]
The
predominant attribute of justice, recognized as part of the divine nature,
forbids the thought that man should receive promises of reward for
righteousness, and threats of punishment for evil deeds, if he possessed no power
of independent action. It is no more a part of God’s plan to compel men to
work righteousness than it is His purpose to permit evil powers to force His
childr4en into sin…. [Emphasis added.]
A
knowledge of good and evil is essential to the advancement that God has made
possible for His children to achieve; and this knowledge can be best gained by
actual experience, with the contrasts of good and its opposite plainly
discernible. Therefore has man been placed upon earth subject to the influence
of good and wicked powers, with a knowledge of the conditions surrounding him,
and the heaven-born right to choose for himself….
Samuel,
a converted Lamanite [taught:] “for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge
and he hath made you free. He hath given unto you that ye might know good from
evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death” (Helaman
14:30).
When
the plans for creating and peopling the earth were under discussion in heaven,
Lucifer [Satan; the devil] sought to destroy the free [moral] agency of man by
obtaining power to force the human family to do his will, promising the Father
that by such means he would redeem all mankind so that no one of them should be
lost. This proposition was rejected, while the original purpose of the Father –
to use persuasive influence of wholesome precept and sacrificing example with
the inhabitants of the earth, then to leave them free to choose for themselves –
was agreed upon; and the one to be known as the Only Begotten Son was chosen as
the chief instrument in carrying that purpose into effect.
Heavenly
Father gave each son and daughter an important and power gift when He bestowed
moral agency upon everyone. However, the gift came with responsibility. Elder
Talmage explained as follows (Articles of Faith [1890], 55-57.
Man’s
Accountability for his individual acts is as complete as is his agency to elect
for himself. The ultimate result of good deeds is happiness, the consequence of
evil is misery; these follow in every man’s life by inviolable laws. There is a
plan of judgment divinely foreordained, by which every man will be called to
answer for his deeds; and not for deeds alone but for his words also and even
for the thoughts of his heart…. John the Revelator was permitted to learn in
vision something of the scenes connected with the last judgment; he wrote: “And
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened;
and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their
works….”
The execution of judgment is not always made to follow
the acts of men immediately;
good deeds may not be at once rewarded, nor evil be peremptorily punished; and
this is according to divine wisdom, for were it otherwise the test of
individual character and the trial of human faith, for which purposes this
mortal probation was primarily ordained, would be greatly lessened: as
the certainty of immediate pleasure or pain would largely determine human acts
to secure the one and avoid the other. Judgment, therefore, is postponed,
that every one may prove himself, the good man increasing in righteousness, and
the evil-doer having opportunity for repentance and reparation….
It
is the prerogative of Jesus Christ to judge mankind, and He will do it as His
own purposes, which are the purposes of His Father, may be best served….
All the
above information can be summarized as follows: Heavenly Father desires all His
children to return to His presence to live with Him for eternity. However, He
will not force any of His children to do so. In other words, He desires us to want
to be with Him because we love Him –not out of duty or out of fear, but
out of love. Wanting to be with Him is different than simple obedience to His
commandments. If we genuinely love Him with all our heart, mind, might, and
strength, we will live our lives in such a way that we will be worthy of
returning to His presence. The choice is ours, but He stands ready to help us
in repenting of our sins and overcoming our weaknesses.
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