Add

Topics without scriptures: Adam-ondi-Ahman, Adamic Language.

I am blessed to have a family with an income. My husband and I receive money from his work, and then we can spend that money on whatever we want. The bills get paid, we buy food, we put some away for savings, and then we buy things to help make our apartment feel more like a home. During the past few months while we've been moving in, we've been adding to the decor of our apartment. One week we'll buy a few curtains, the next week some bookcases. Though we may have made some large shopping trips to Target in the beginning, we're now just slowly yet steadily adding to our home.

I like to think that God does the same thing to us in our lives. In Matthew 6:33 it reads:

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

We are in constant development. Maybe in the beginning when we first turned towards God we made some pretty big changes and improvements on ourselves, but God is still always looking to improve and add to what we are.

Just as a side note because it came up in this section. In Revelations 22:18 it says not to add to what was written in that book. Mormons get a lot of flack from this because people read it as saying that the heavens are closed and there are no more scriptures yet to come. We interpret it as "don't add to or change the book of Revelations" as there are plenty of scriptures that were lost by the other Apostles, the book of Revelations was put at the end of the Bible for arbitrary reasons, because God said himself that his words were without end, and because if this verse is taken literally then according to Deuteronomy 4:2 we need to throw out pretty much the entire Bible.

Adam

When it comes to the story of Adam and Eve, the majority of the Christian world has one interpretation of the story. That Adam and Eve (especially Eve) messed up and we are all pretty much damned because of it. While Latter-Day Saints believe in the same story, we have a different interpretation that isn't quite so doom and gloom.

Though we believe that they did in fact disobey God's law, we also believe that it was not a "sin" but rather it was a "transgression" and though we feel the effects of it just as a child growing up feels the effects of the decisions of their parents, we do not believe that it is something we need to be forgiven of. Hence we do not practice infant baptism for "original sin."

The second more positive interpretation of the Adam and Eve story has to do more with Agency. Agency is the name given to our ability to choose right and wrong. We use our agency to be righteous or wicked. One of my most favorite chapters of scripture is 2 Nephi 2, where it talks about the importances of this agency:

11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

It later explains in that same chapter how this plays into Adam and Eve's story:

22 And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.

23 And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

Though Adam and Eve disobeyed God's law to them, they only had a partial understanding of what it meant to sin, as they did not have a knowledge of good and of evil until after they had partaken of the fruit. Their actions had consequences (the introduction of both physical and spiritual death into the world) but it was not something that condemned them. They committed the act in their state of innocence and hence were covered by the Atonement just as the wrongs of little children before they know better are covered by the Atonement.

As their children, we honor Adam and Eve for making the decision of beginning the human family and of beginning our Earthy experience. Maybe it was a combination of being tricked by Satan and choosing for themselves this necessary path to jump start the world, but in the end I am grateful for them and what happened in the garden of eden.

When LDS children are taught about Adam, they learn a song about the Old Testament Prophets called "Follow the Prophet". The first verse goes:

Adam was a prophet,

First one that we know.

In a place called Eden,

He helped things to grow.

Adam served the Lord

by following his ways.

We are his descendants

in the Latter-Days.

Though trying to understand the intricacies of The Fall is something that I have been working on for years, I'm comforted by these scriptures insisting that it was not only a fall downward from where we could live with God, but also a fall forwards towards us returning to him again someday.

Actions

It says in the verse for this topic that the "LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed." Sometimes we can think that God has no right to tell us how to live our lives, what we are capable of or even how we should be feeling. After all, sometimes we don't even know ourselves what is going on inside of us so how could someone else. If this was any other person, we could feel somewhat justified in our feelings and assumptions, but doing so misses the point of having a Savior.

One of the main points of Christianity is that Christ, through the Atonement, has a knowledge of us that exceeds even the knowledge we have of ourselves. This knowledge He uses to comfort us when we need comfort and to help us heal when our hearts are broken, but it also means that He knows what is best. This includes every aspect of our lives from what standards we need to live by to His commandment to forgive everyone. As the one offering His love and mercy, we also choose Him as our Lord. Going back to the middle age's definition of Lord, He's the one who chooses how our lives will be. Everyone has to choose a Lord to control their life, even if in their own minds that Lord is themselves. I chose to become a Christian because I came to a knowledge that Christ is my Savior, that He knows everything, and I wanted someone like that to be the one telling me how to live my life.

That may sound like I've given up my ability to think for myself, but unlike other Lords who would force their will on those they are over, it is always a choice every single time to follow Him.