Verse 11:
"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteous could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness not misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if iy 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.'
One of the beliefs that I keep hearing (and that seems to be essential to the Mormon tradition), is that original sin was necessary for humanity to evolve out of the state of innocence. That life in Eden was not enough; it was not bad, but then it could not be good either. And so, it was necessary for them to obtain the knowledge of good and evil, so that they could practice their "agency" (agency is an essential concept in Mormonism) and thus grow in goodness towards God's perfection.
This idea is not quite dualistic by saying that life and world must always have good and evil, instead it admits goodness within a dualistic nature but goes on to explain that even though this dualism was necessary in the origin that the purpose of this dualism was to grow perfectly into goodness and eventually eradicate evil.
"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. 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."
- 2 Nephi 2:22-23
In a "Practical Theology" class I took I read about Niehbur and how he thought that the reason why man was prone to sin was because of his "dual" nature. Because man is both animal and spirit, both spiritual and physical, he ends up desiring things that he cannot have. This is a problem for man because he ends up resorting to inappropriate measure to obtain the impossible; what else would he resort to? In this sense, it is the conflicting nature of the way that God formed him, that forced man to sin. And through the same token, it makes sin not an unnecessary and negative element; but an unavoidable step in the process of the growth of man.
And so, it seems that we are still in our embryonic stage as mankind lives in the state of sin. God is still creating us, and he will only finalize his creation, we will only be born until we are resurrected into perfection. Then we will truly be able to say with God that what he created was indeed good. (Read Romans 8:19-29)
This reflects another common concept that without evil, good cannot be defined; without pain there would be no pleasure; and without tragedy there would be no success.
I may believe this common concept but I also believe that evil is unnecessary, and therefore it logically follows that I believe that good is also unnecessary. In other words, as the Mormons would put it, I would have preferred to have stayed in a state of innocence in Eden. But this is because, I think that good and evil are misconceptions of reality. The knowledge of good and evil really is a fall, because Adam and Eve fell from reality into an illusion, and I want to wake up out of that dream.
Written 9-4-2014
Verse 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."
In one of the conversations I had with the missionaries, they pointed out that God gave Adam two certain commandments... 1: Thou shall not take of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and 2: be fruitful and multiply. Also, they always say that if Adam would have not transgressed he would not have had any children. So in conclusion, what God was giving them was an impossible ultimatum. Either they would not take the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and not be fruitful and multiply, or they would be fruitful and multiply only after they took the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You cannot follow one commandment without breaking the other.
According to them, God knew this and he had planned for it all along.
"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteous could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness not misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if iy 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.'
One of the beliefs that I keep hearing (and that seems to be essential to the Mormon tradition), is that original sin was necessary for humanity to evolve out of the state of innocence. That life in Eden was not enough; it was not bad, but then it could not be good either. And so, it was necessary for them to obtain the knowledge of good and evil, so that they could practice their "agency" (agency is an essential concept in Mormonism) and thus grow in goodness towards God's perfection.
This idea is not quite dualistic by saying that life and world must always have good and evil, instead it admits goodness within a dualistic nature but goes on to explain that even though this dualism was necessary in the origin that the purpose of this dualism was to grow perfectly into goodness and eventually eradicate evil.
"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. 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."
- 2 Nephi 2:22-23
In a "Practical Theology" class I took I read about Niehbur and how he thought that the reason why man was prone to sin was because of his "dual" nature. Because man is both animal and spirit, both spiritual and physical, he ends up desiring things that he cannot have. This is a problem for man because he ends up resorting to inappropriate measure to obtain the impossible; what else would he resort to? In this sense, it is the conflicting nature of the way that God formed him, that forced man to sin. And through the same token, it makes sin not an unnecessary and negative element; but an unavoidable step in the process of the growth of man.
And so, it seems that we are still in our embryonic stage as mankind lives in the state of sin. God is still creating us, and he will only finalize his creation, we will only be born until we are resurrected into perfection. Then we will truly be able to say with God that what he created was indeed good. (Read Romans 8:19-29)
This reflects another common concept that without evil, good cannot be defined; without pain there would be no pleasure; and without tragedy there would be no success.
I may believe this common concept but I also believe that evil is unnecessary, and therefore it logically follows that I believe that good is also unnecessary. In other words, as the Mormons would put it, I would have preferred to have stayed in a state of innocence in Eden. But this is because, I think that good and evil are misconceptions of reality. The knowledge of good and evil really is a fall, because Adam and Eve fell from reality into an illusion, and I want to wake up out of that dream.
Written 9-4-2014
Verse 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."
In one of the conversations I had with the missionaries, they pointed out that God gave Adam two certain commandments... 1: Thou shall not take of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and 2: be fruitful and multiply. Also, they always say that if Adam would have not transgressed he would not have had any children. So in conclusion, what God was giving them was an impossible ultimatum. Either they would not take the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and not be fruitful and multiply, or they would be fruitful and multiply only after they took the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You cannot follow one commandment without breaking the other.
According to them, God knew this and he had planned for it all along.
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