Question
Dear Gramps,
Did Adam and Eve ever have a childhood?
Gary
Answer
Dear Gary,
The biblical account of the genesis of Adam and Eve is an allegorical account. It is not the literal history of the genesis of the parents of the human race. Adam was not made like a brick, nor was Eve manufactured from one of Adam’s ribs. However, there is some profound symbolism in the statement.
We read in the Book of Abraham,
It [the high priesthood] was conferred upon me from the fathers; it came down from the fathers, from the beginning of time, yea, even from the beginning, or before the foundation of the earth, down to the present time, even the right of the firstborn, or the first man, who is Adam, or first father, through the fathers unto me. (Abr. 1:3)
In this scripture, Adam, the first man, is called the firstborn, not the first made.
The prophets of the Restoration, principally Brigham Young, have given us some rather specific information on where Adam and Eve came from.
According to the prophets Adam and Eve were born as you and I were born. However, they were not born on this earth, rather on a terrestrial world. Adam was one of chief organizers of this earth, under the direction of our Father in Heaven. Quoting from Brigham Young–
“All this vast creation was produced from element in its unorganized state; the mountains, rivers, seas, valleys, plains, and the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms beneath and around us, all speaking forth the wonderful works of the Great God. Shall I say that the seeds of vegetables were planted here by the Characters that formed and built this world–that the seeds of every plant composing the vegetable kingdom were brought from another world? This would be news to many of you. Who brought there here?…It was some Being who had power to frame this earth with its seas, valleys, mountains, and rivers and cause it to teem with vegetable and animal life” (Brigham Young, JD 7:285, Oct. 9, 1859)
“Though we have it in history that our Father Adam was made from the dust of this earth and that he knew nothing about his God previous to being made here, yet it is not so, and when we learn the truth we shall see and understand that he helped to make this world and was the chief manager in that operation.
“He was the person who brought the animals and the seeds from other planets to this world and brought a wife with him and stayed here. You may read and believe what you please as to what is found written in the Bible. Adam was made from the dust of an earth, but not from the dust of this earth. He was made as you and I are made, and no person was ever made upon any other principle. (JD 3:319, April 20, 1856)
Gramps
