In spite of what McConkie goes on to say about this, I’m not sure I’m fully on board, yet, with the idea that the entire world fell because of Adam and Eve eating the fruit. There are a couple things that don’t line up with that for me. For instance we know that Lucifer and his group were kicked out of the Garden by God and his angels, led by Michael. We also know Lucifer and his gang were kicked down to this earth. There is no scriptural foundation I know of describing some sort of intermediary stop for them. Michael was Adam, in other words, Satan and his millions of followers were here on Earth before Michael became Adam. If Lucifer was kicked down to this earth, that means the earth was already built by God, Jesus, and some of us, before Lucifer was kicked down to it. Just like us, Lucifer was probably a skilled co-creator, but unlike us, he did not lose all of his talents, knowledge, and memory. In my view, he and his gang probably had plenty of wherewithal to immediately start wrecking havoc on this earth as soon as they were cast to it. While the earth was very likely created in a perfect Terrestrial state, Lucifer with his creation knowledge probably began the work of introducing disease, sickness, violence, and death to the earth. It could be the earth began to fall because of Satan’s introduction to it, even before Adam and Eve were introduced to the Garden, which is obviously distinct and protected from the rest of the world. Why would it be distinct and protected if the whole world was still Terrestrial?

Adam and Eve were introduced into the GARDEN, not the earth. And after they partook of the tree (which may have been a transplant from the outside world into which Satan had already sewed decay and disease). The tree obviously did not belong in the Garden. Do we really think that God created a diseased death tree? No, it’s much more likely that Satan introduced this disease to the tree in the outside world, and that it was allowed in the Garden for the sake of opposition. As important as opposition is, God doesn’t create it, he just allows it, so it makes sense that the tree of opposition was made that way by Lucifer.

After the Fall, Adam and Eve were cast OUT of the Garden and into the world. In other words, the Garden was still Terrestrial. Adam and Eve, eating the fruit chose to introduce disease and death from Satan’s outside world into their bodies. So their bodies became naturally fallen, but that didn’t cause the Garden to suddenly decay; just their bodies. So why would it cause the outside world to suddenly decay? I think it makes more sense to consider that Satan’s introduction to this earth is what changed it from Terrestrial to Telestial, not the Fall. And Adam and Eve’s fall was based on their following Satan’s advice and also in eating Satan’s diseased Telestial fruit.

JJ Brown
thinkpolicy@yahoo.com