“He [Adam] stood in the presence of his Maker,
conversed with him face to face, and gazed upon his glory, without a dimming
veil between. O reader, contemplate for a moment this beautiful creation, with
peace and plenty: the earth teeming with harmless animals,….the air swarming
with delightful birds whose never-ceasing notes filled the air with varied
melody;….while legions of angels encamped round about him and joined their glad
voices in grateful songs of praise and shouts of joy.
“Neither sigh nor groan was heard through the vast
expanse; neither was there sorrow, fear, pain, weeping, sickness, nor death;
neither contentions, wars, nor bloodshed, but peace crowned the seasons as they
rolled, and life, joy, and love reigned over all God’s works.” (Parley P. Pratt, “Key to the Science of
Theology and Voice of Warning, ; p 85)
Such was Parley P. Pratt’s vision of the idyllic world
of Eden. But as idyllic as it was, a Harvard philosopher, John Fiske, called it
rightly a “way-station, not a destination” a fool’s paradise where nothing called
‘character’ could have been produced
there” (Fiske, “Studies in Religion”, p 252)
The Garden of Eden, where such tranquility existed,
had two positives and two negatives. The positives were: 1. Immortality; 2. The
presence of God. This state of existence produced only one thing, “a world of
spiritual sterility” (Tad R. Callister, “The Infinite Atonement, p 34)
The two negatives of Eden were: 1. No knowledge of
good and evil hence no moral agency and no progression; and 2. No procreation.
“A continuation of this condition would literally defeat the plan of salvation
(ibid, p 35)
There is much that can be written about this subject
but this has to be the most important thing we should take away from it. When
Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, the seeds of death were planted in their
veins and when they were cast out from the Garden of Eden they became
‘spiritually dead’ (D&C 29:41). To be spiritually dead means to be ‘cut off
from the presence of the Lord’ (2 Nephi 9:6; see also Helaman 14:16).
“To be cast from the
presence of the Holy One is estrangement of the worst kind. It is to take from
us that which means most – our sense of belonging to the divine family. It is
to strip us of security and self-worth in one fatal blow…It is akin to
restricting our communication with a loved one to the telephone; the lines can
be clear, the conversation frequent, but the happiness that comes from being in
another’s physical presence is missing.” (Tad R. Callister, “The Infinite
Atonement, p 41). This is the state Adam and Eve were in after they left Eden. And
this is the state of us now. Only the telephone line is there.
This is what we should take notice of…..There is a
return from the first spiritual death through the Atonement of Christ but there shall be no return from the final spiritual
death that shall be pronounced upon all the wicked on Judgment Day when God
shall say: Depart, ye cursed (D&C 29:41).
This is something we would feel the effects of for eternity:
a perpetual sorrow, a wanting, a longing that can never be satisfied. To
be cut off from the presence of God is the greatest tragedy there is. Even Cain
in his depraved condition considered his banishment from God’s presence more
than he could bear (Genesis 4:13,14).
I think the Saviour
knew in the beginning what it means to be cut off from Father’s presence
forever. This is why He yearned to save us from this devastation, hence so much
emphasis on the sheep that are ‘lost’.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Creation of Eve by Rose Datoc Dall)
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